MONTEVIDEO – Montevideo residents bade farewell to 2017 on Sunday with their traditional cider “battle” at the Port Market in the Uruguayan capital, where hundreds of people gathered and danced to the rhythms of the Samba School while dousing one another with cider.

Around midday, there were already dozens of people on the scene awaiting the start of the battle, while in the vicinity vendors sold cups of cider as more and more local residents – and tourists – flocked to the area.

Suddenly, one boy broke the ice and doused a group of people walking in the area, unleashing the cider war.

Without regard for gender or age, everyone on hand joined in to dance, winding up soaked with cider in the process.

In contrast to other years and despite the fact that it is mid-summer in Uruguay, this time around the day wasn’t too hot and it was even threatening to rain, but that did not prevent many more people from flocking to the site, which is one of Montevideo’s prime tourist attractions.

Even foreign tourists on hand for the unusual event bought cups of cider and entered into the fray, and a group of people shot off fireworks toward the end of the celebration as a final goodbye to 2017.

The cider battle is a classic occurrence in Montevideo on the last day of the year.