The festival of San Fermín in the city of Pamplona, is a deeply rooted celebration held
annually from 12:00, 6 July, when the opening of the party is marked by setting off the
pyrotechnic chupinazo, to midnight 14 July, with the singing of the Pobre de Mí.
While its most famous event is the encierro, or the running of the bulls, which happens
at 8:00 am from 7 July to 14 July, the week long celebration involves many other traditional
and folkloric events.
It is known locally as Sanfermines and is held in honor of Saint Fermin, the co-patron
of Navarre.
Its events were central to the plot of The Sun Also Rises, by Ernest Hemingway, which
brought it to the general attention of English-speaking people.
It has become probably the most internationally renowned fiesta in Spain.
Over 1,000,000 people come to participate in this festival.
History Saint Fermin
Fermin is said to have been the son of a Roman of senatorial rank in Pamplona in the 3rd
century, who was converted to Christianity by Saint Honestus, a disciple of Saint Saturninus.
According to tradition, he was baptised by Saturninus at the spot now known as the "Small
Well of Saint Cernin" Fermin was ordained a priest in Toulouse and returned to Pamplona
as its first bishop.
On a later preaching voyage, Fermin was beheaded in Amiens, France; and is now considered a
martyr in the Catholic Church.
It is believed he died on 25 September, AD 303.
There is no written record of veneration in Pamplona of the Saint until the 12th century.
Saint Fermin, as well as Saint Francis Xavier, are now the two patrons of Navarre.
At Pamplona, Saint Fermin is now sometimes said to have met his end by being dragged
through the streets Origins
The celebration of the festival has its origin in the combination of two different medieval
events.
Commercial secular fairs were held at the beginning of the summer.
As cattle merchants came into town with their animals, eventually bullfighting came to be
organized as a part of the tradition.
Specifically, they were first documented in the 14th century.
On the other hand religious ceremonies honoring the saint were held on October 10.
However in 1591 they were transferred to 7 July to take place at the same time as the
fair; when Pamplona's weather is better.
This is considered to be the beginning of the Sanfermines.
During medieval times acts included an opening speech, musicians, tournaments, theatre, bullfights,
dances or even fireworks.
Bullrunning appears in 17th and 18th century chronicles together with the presence of foreigners
and the first concerns on the excessive drinking and dissolute behavior during the event.
The Giant's Parade was created by the end in the mid of the 19th century.
The first official bullring was constructed in 1844.
Modern times
The worldwide fame of the modern festival, and the great number of foreign visitors it
receives every year, are closely related to the description by Ernest Hemingway's book
The Sun Also Rises and his job as a journalist.
He was greatly amused in his first visit in 1923 coming back many times until 1959.
Hemingway was also deeply fond of bullrunnings and bullfights, but he did not participate
in the running.
Different city locations are famous in part due to the fact that the writer used to visit
them, such as La Perla Hotel, or the Iruña Café.
Single day events Chupinazo
The opening of the festival is marked by setting off the pyrotechnic chupinazo.
The rocket is launched at 12:00 noon on 6 July from a city hall balcony with thousands
of people celebrating the act in the city hall square and other locations in Pamplona.
The chupinazo has officially marked the beginning of the fiesta since 1941.
The person who sets it off is decided by the city mayor.
Nevertheless since 1979 tradition has been that each year after city elections the chupinazo
is set off by a person from the different city council political groups beginning with
the mayor and then political groups ordered by number of representatives.
There have been exceptions to this tradition with some non-politicians being in charge
of the act when they had performed significant achievements during the year.
Examples of these exceptions were a player of the local football team, or the president
of the "giants and big-heads" group in its 150 years anniversary.
Riau-Riau The Riau-Riau was a mass activity held on
6 July.
The members of the city council parade from the City Hall to a nearby chapel dedicated
to Saint Fermín with participants dancing to the Astrain Waltz along the way.
The tradition is thought to have began in 1911.
The procession was removed from the festival calendar in 1992 for the sake of public order,
as political activists used the "Riau-Riau" to promote clashes with authorities.
Protesting youths would often block the way and it often took up to five hours for the
city councilors to walk the 500 meters to the Saint Fermin chapel.
Nevertheless in recent years it has been held unofficially without the participation of
the members of the city council.
In 1996 and 2012 there were two failed attempts to restore the original act with the participation
of the city council, both of them being cancelled due to the violent clashes with some participants.
Saint Fermin procession The key day of the festival is 7 July, when
thousands of people accompany the 15th-century statue of Saint Fermin through the old part
of Pamplona.
The statue is accompanied by dancers and street entertainers, and different political and
religious authorities including the city mayor.
During procession a Jota is performed for the saint, a rose is offered in the Saint
Cernin well, and the "gigantes" dance and twirl while the cathedral bell named María
peals.
Struendo "El Struendo" is a single day event with more
than 50 years of tradition.
It has been purposely left outside the official program and each year is celebrated on a different
day, usually on a weekday so as to keep the crowds manageable.
People gather at 11:59 pm at the Town Hall and make as much noise as possible for several
hours mainly with drums but also bowls, whistles or any other object.
Pobre de mí After nine days of partying, the people of
Pamplona meet in the Townhall Plaza at midnight on 14 July, singing the traditional mournful
notes of the Pobre de Mí, in a candlelit ending.
The city mayor closes the festival with participants lighting a candle and removing their red handkerchief.
The act began in the twenties of the 20th century.
Daily events Running of the bulls
The running of the bulls involves hundreds of people running in front of six bulls and
another six steers down an 825-metre stretch of narrow streets of a section of the old
town of Pamplona.
The run ends in the Pamplona's bullring taking a mean time of around 3 minutes where the
bulls would be held until the afternoons bullfight when they would be killed.
Bullruns are held between 7 and 14 July.
The event begins at 8 a.m. when a first firecracker is lit to announce the release of the bulls
from their corral.
Before the year 1924 it started at 6 and at 7 between 1924 and 1974.
Runners gather earlier at the beginning of the itinerary to ask for the protection of
the Saint by singing a chant three times before a small statue of San Fermin which has been
placed in a raised niche in a wall.
A second cracker signals that the last bull has left the corral.
There are six fighting bulls accompanied by six oxen that guide them to the "plaza" and
followed by three more not fighting oxen.
There are also some shepherds guiding the bulls, wearing green T-shirts and holding
long poles.
Once all of the bulls have entered the arena, a third rocket is released while a fourth
firecracker indicates that the bulls are in their bullpens and the run has concluded.
After the end of the run young cows with wrapped horns are released in the bullring and toss
the participants, to the amusement of the crowd.
The circuit has only changed slightly since 1852 as the former bullring was located close
to the present one.
Before that date the bullrunning ended in the "castle plaza", still not far from the
present bullring.
While the origin of this tradition was the necessity to move the bulls from outside the
city to the bullring for the bullfight it is not clear when did citizens begin to run
in front of them.
There are written records in 1787 that the tradition was already well established with
no memory of its beginning.
The tradition of singing for protection to the saint dates back to 1962.
The event is dangerous.
Since 1925, 15 people have been killed during the event –– most recently on 10 July
2009—and every year between 200 and 300 people are injured during the run although
most injuries are contusions due to falls and are not serious.
Giants and big-heads parade
Every day, during the morning, there is a parade of gigantes y cabezudos, with the giants
figures being more than 150 years old.
The eight giants figures were built by the painter from Pamplona Tadeo Amorena in 1860,
and represent four pairs of kings and queens of four different races and places.
Their size is around 4 metres each and are carried by a dancer inside a wooden structure.
During the parade giants dance following the rhythm of traditional music.
The remaining 17 figures include 6 kilikis, 5 big-heads, and 6 zaldikos and were built
at different times between 1860 and 1941.
Kilikis and big-heads are caricaturesque, but human-like figures that are carried as
helmets.
Big-heads masks are up to 1 metre high and kilikis slightly smaller.
While big-heads simply precede the giants and wave their hands at spectators, kilikis
run after children and carry a foam truncheon which they use to hit them with.
Zaldikos, figures representing horses with their riders, also run after children with
a truncheon.
Traditional sports There are exhibitions and competitions of
Basque rural sports every morning in the "Plaza de los Fueros", a square close to the city
citadel, although they were formerly held in the bullring.
Sports include stone lifting, wood cutting, or hay bale lifting.
On the other hand the Jai alai tournament of Sanfermin is a prestigious competition
of this variety of basque pelota.
It is held in one of the courts of the city.
Betting is common during these events.
Bullfight Every afternoon between 6 and 14 July there
is a bullfight in which the 6 bulls that have been driven to the bullring during the bullrunning
of that day are killed.
It begins at 18:30.
In addition the 5th bullfight with younger bulls and not fully trained bullfighters is
performed while the 6th features bullfighters on horses.
While the bullring of the city is the fourth largest in size in the world, it is full every
afternoon and tickets are hard to find.
Fireworks Every night a firework spectacle is held at
the citadel park.
Fireworks spectacles have been known to occur in Sanfermin as far back as 1595.
Since the year 2000 an international fireworks contest is held.
Thousands of people watch them seated on the grass around the citadel.
See also Fiestas of International Tourist Interest
of Spain Notes and references
External links Fiesta of San Fermin at Spanish National Television
website, RTVE.es The running of the bulls Encierros San Fermín
Live at 07.15 AM Central European Time, GMT+2 The opening of the fiesta, chupinazo 2010
The open ceremony by a girl from Pamplona Official guide to the fiesta of San Fermin.
Official Foto Auma Web specialized in the San Fermin festival photography, includes
photographs of the bulls.
Unofficial website on San Fermin and on encierro San Fermin Festival
How to attend in safety