The festival of San Fermin is a deeply rooted celebration held annually from 6 July to 14 July in the city of Pamplona in north-eastern Spain. While its most notorious event is "the running of the bulls" (the encierro), the weeklong celebration involves numerous other traditional and folkloric events. It is known locally as Sanfermines and is held in honor of Saint Fermin, the patron saint of Pamplona and Navarre as a whole; its events were immortalised by Ernest Hemingway in his book Fiesta. It has become the most internationally renowned fiesta in Spain.

For the saint, see Saint Fermin.

Origins

The festival's origins are not clear. When certain relics of the saint were brought back to Pamplona in 1196, the city decided to mark the occasion with an annual event. Over the centuries, the saint's festival, the ancient annual fair, the running of the bulls and the subsequent bullfights have all melded together.

Archives document the bull runnings only as far back as the late 14th century, but even if one does not know that the bull is a sacred animal in the Mediterranean world, or is unaware of the bull-dancers in Minoan frescos, an unprejudiced outsider still may detect the remnants of an ancient pre-Christian ritual. At Pamplona Saint Fermin, who was actually martyred at Amiens, is now sometimes said to have met his end by being dragged through the streets of Pamplona by bulls, a fate also attributed to his mentor, Saint Saturnin of Toulouse. Up to the 15th century, the festival was held on Saint Fermin's feast day, September 25. The Pamplona fiesta was transferred to July in 1591.

The running of the bulls

The Encierro involves running in front of bulls down an 825-metre stretch of cobbled streets of a section of the old town of Pamplona. The biggest day is 7 July, when thousands of people accompany the effigy of Saint Fermin along the streets of Pamplona, along with dancers and street entertainers, such as carnival giants.

Preparation

Each morning's event starts at 8 A.M. Competitors are clad in white, with a red handkerchief tied about their necks. The racers gather in an area beneath a church, where they sing three times an ode to Saint Fermin:

A San Fermín pedimos, por ser nuestro patrón, nos guíe en el encierro dándonos su bendición. ("We ask San Fermín, as our Patron, to guide us through the Bull Run and give us his blessing.")

Anyone who survives a close encounter with a panicky bull is said to have been protected by San Fermin's cloak.

The actual run

The fiesta begins with the letting off of a rocket, an event known as the Chupinazo. A firecracker announces the release of the bulls from their corral, and a second firecracker signals that the last bull has left the corral.

The event is dangerous. Since 1924, 14 people have been killed (the most recent, a 22-year-old American in 1995), and 200 have been injured. Most injuries nowadays, however, are caused by the stampede of participants seeking to run away from the powerful bulls. The organisers release multi-lingual guides (with safety tips) to running the event: it is strongly recommended that these be read beforehand.

It must be said that in more recent years, beginning with the publication of Ernest Hemingway's novel in 1926 about the event called The Sun Also Rises, a large percentage of runners are tourists. Many tourists have made the event much more dangerous due to their lack of the experience and skill needed to run safely in the Encierro. Local people, as well as visitors from certain areas of Spain have had more opportunity to practice in other encierros, bull and cow fests, which use to be held in a wider space than in Pamplona Oldtown.

Stray bulls become extremely agitated (they are herd animals who do not like to be separated from the pack), and so the organisers arrange for a "second wave" of calmer and older steers to run through the streets after the "first wave," on order to collect any stragglers. The shops and residences along the course are boarded up to prevent damage by either bull or human during the race. One particular stretch of the course, called Mercaderes, is particularly notorious for injuries: on rainy days the bulls cannot turn well on the cobblestones, and often collide into the wall; tear marks from the sharpened horns against the pulp wood barriers give an indication as to the events of days before. While locals are always keen to avoid this corner, it is not uncommon to see tourists getting trampled and seriously injured there.

The course concludes at Pamplona's Plaza de Toros, and the bulls are herded inside the Corralillos to participate in the afternoon's Corrida.

The participants of the Encierro are left in the stadium, and smaller bulls (with wrapped horns) are released into the arena and toss the participants, to the general amusement of the crowd. Once all of the bulls have entered the stadium, a third rocket is released while a fourth firecracker indicates that the bulls are in their bullpens and the run has concluded.

Connected activities

During the days, the town has a carnival with rides and ferris wheels, as well as an abundance of sangria sold by bars and restaurants.

At night, the town erupts into an enormous party, and the thousands of tourists find themselves asleep in parks. The Comparsa de Gigantes (Company of Giants) parade the streets— enormous puppets accompanied by brass bands. The streets are filled with drunken revellers. The city hall is offered by the town as a storage facility for backpackers' gear.

After nine days of partying, the people of Pamplona meet in the Plaza Consistorial at midnight on July 14, singing the traditional mournful notes of the "Pobre de Mí? ('Poor Me'), in a magical, candlelit ending Nowadays on the 15th of the month, after the fiesta is over, some diehards assemble once more at 7 a.m. and run one last time, pursued this last time by the early-morning commuter bus.

External Links

• Unofficial website on San Fermin (http://www.sanfermin.com) and on encierro (http://www.sanfermin.com/guia/in_encierro1.shtml)
• Guide to the running of the bulls. (http://www.pamplonaadventuretours.com/patron.htm)
• Official guide to the fiesta of San Fermin. (http://www.pamplona.net/VerPag.asp?IdPag=763&Idioma=5)
• Guide to the running of the bulls. (http://www.pamplonaadventuretours.com/patron.htm)