Let them eat cake! Revellers dressed in military uniform throw flour, eggs and firecrackers in 200-year-old traditional ‘Els Enfarinats’ battle in Spain
- The festival takes place every year in Ibi, Alicante, on December 28 to mark the Day of the Innocents
- Participants stage a mock takeover using flour, eggs and firecrackers instead of weapons
- The fight is accompanied by a day of celebrations including fireworks and a mock election
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Revellers dressed in military uniform have pelted each other with flour and eggs as part of a 200-year-old festival in Spain.
The Els Enfarinats festival takes place every year on the streets of Ibi, Alicante, with a battle outside the town hall.
The traditional get-together requires participants to dress in military garb and stage a mock takeover using flour, eggs and firecrackers in lieu of weapons.
Revellers dressed in mock military garb cover themselves in flour as they take part in the ‘Els Enfarinats’ battle in the southeastern Spanish town of Ibi
During this 200-year-old traditional festival participants known as Els Enfarinats (those covered in flour) dress in military clothes and stage a mock coup d’etat
The participants battle using flour, eggs and firecrackers outside the city town hall as part of the celebrations of the Day of the Innocents
The festival is a 200-year-old tradition that coincides with the Spanish April Fools day
The annual festivity takes place on December 28 to mark the biblical Massacre of the Innocents by King Herod.
The fight, where ‘soldiers’ also spray firecrackers, is accompanied by a day of celebrations including fireworks and a mock election.
Starting at 8am, the battle takes place between two groups – the ‘Els Enfarinats’ – who take control of the town for one day under the slogan ‘New Justice’ and another group called ‘La Oposicio’, who try to restore order.
The annual festivity takes place on December 28 to mark the biblical Massacre of the Innocents by King Herod
The fight, where ‘soldiers’ also spray firecrackers, is accompanied by a day of celebrations including fireworks and a mock election
Starting at 8am, the battle takes place between two groups – the ‘Els Enfarinats’ – who take control of the town for one day under the slogan ‘New Justice’ and another group called ‘La Oposicio’, who try to restore order
An hoAn hour after the battle commences, the ‘Race for Mayor’ decides who will be the leader of the ‘Els Enfarinats’
At the end of the day, the authority of ‘Els Enfarinats’ comes to an end and money collected from the fines is donated to charitable causes in the town
The festival has been celebrated for more than 200 years, when the town of Ibi discovered the tradition. The Spanish are known for their bizarre food-throwing traditions
An hour after the battle commences, the ‘Race for Mayor’ decides who will be the leader of the ‘Els Enfarinats’.
At midday, a collection takes place through the streets of the old quarter of the town.
At the end of the day, the authority of ‘Els Enfarinats’ comes to an end and money collected from the fines is donated to charitable causes in the town.
The festival has been celebrated for more than 200 years, when the town of Ibi discovered the tradition.
The Spanish are known for their bizarre food-throwing traditions.
Every year they launch tomatoes at each other during the Tomatina Festival, which takes place in the town of Bunol in August every year.
Participants battle using flour, eggs and firecrackers outside the city town hall as part of the celebrations of the Day of the Innocents, a traditional day in Spain for pulling pranks
Incredible photographs show the dirtied ‘fighters walking through the streets with food scattered on the floor and fire burning
The festival is held every year on December 28 and it comes from the Valencian word for ‘breading’, and roughly translates to ‘the breaded ones’ or ‘the floured ones’
A man holding boxes of eggs is pelted in all directions as yolks smash against his protective helmet and goggles