User:Seanose/Sfumato day

Sfumato Day is a yearly festival occurring at San Francisco State University on October 22 centering around tomatoes.

The origin of the festival is unclear, although pagan tomato worship by druids in Stone Age Iceland might have influenced both the subject matter and the date. Icelandic tomatoes ripen in late October as the sun fails to rise above the horizon, and sacrificing hamsters to the tomato deity was held to ensure that the sun (considered by Icelandic tomato druids to be a giant flaming tomato) would return in the spring.

During the festival, paintings of the tomato deity, often using sfumato technique, are displayed on university buildings, alongside portraits of the Mona Lisa, who is considered to strongly resemble the tomato deity.