Festival de San Fermín
The annual San Ferm??n festival begins today in Pamplona, Spain. This weeklong festivity celebrates Saint Ferm??n, the patron saint of bakers and makers of wine skins.
Traditionally, participants wear all white with a red neckerchief and red belt. Made famous by Ernest Hemmingway, the festival is generally associated by Americans with the running of the bulls. The running, or encierro, takes place each morning of the festival at about 8am. The bulls and cows are moved daily from the waiting pens to the bullring for the afternoon corrida, or bull fight. Many Americans don’t realize that there are also cows which are intended to calm the bulls as they make their way through the streets to the bull ring.
Runners carry a rolled up newspaper, and the idea is to run in front of the bulls for a short distance, long enough to let a bull get close enough to touch him on the nose with the paper, and then to safely exit the path. No one actually runs the full length since it would be virtually impossible to stay ahead of the bulls the entire way, particularly on the initial up hill portion of the run. Only the most experienced runners attempt the uphill sections.
Misunderstood by many, the injuries which occur are most often drunken foreigners who’ve been up all night drinking and think it would be “fun” to try the run. With no understanding of the process, they are a danger to themselves and others, and if they don’t get hurt, they often get in the way of more experienced and sober runners, resulting in injury to others.
For more information about the San Ferm??n festival, see: