History of the Pamplona Bull Run - Learn Spanish in Spain with Alhambra-Instituto
The festival of San Fermin, or the Pamplona Bull Run as it's more commonly known outside of Spain, officially begins at midday on 6th July every year with the 'chupinazo' which takes place on the balcony of the Casa Consistorial in Pamplona. Thousands of people congregate in the square awaiting the mayor's official announcement that the fiestas have begun. A rocket is launched and the parties begin...
The history of the bull-running in Pamplona is not clear. There is evidence of the festival from as far back as the 13th century when it seems the events took place in October, as this coincided with the festival of San Fermin on October 10th. It seems that the modern day celebration has evolved from this, as well as individual commercial and bullfighting fiestas which can be traced back to the 14th century.
Over many years the originally religious festival of San Fermin was diluted by music, dancing, bullfights and markets such that the Pamplona Council proposed that the whole event be moved to July 7th when the weather is far more conducive to such a celebration. To this day San Fermin remains a fixed date every year with the first bullrun at 8am on July 7th and the last at the same time on July 14th.
The joining together of the religious, commercial and bullfighting festivals, and the move to July 7th, led to the first official celebration of San Fermines in 1591. This inaugural fiesta was a low key affair in comparison to the modern day running of the bulls as it only lasted two days although there was much merriment involving music, a procession and a bullfight. Dancing and fireworks became features of the festival over the next few years and the event was extended to July 10th.
The first evidence of foreigners turning up in Pamplona for San Fermin are recorded in chronicles from the 17th and 18th centuries when references are made to the local clergy being concerned about "the abuse of drink and the permisiveness of young men and women". By now there was plenty of music, dancing, drinking, street theatre and bull running as the religious focus of the occasion took a back seat.
By the 19th century all kinds of fairground attractions were making their way to Pamplona including human cannonballs and circus animals. The actual route of the bull run didn't have a double security wall, as is the case today, so the bulls were able to escape, creating chaos in the streets of Pamplona.
It was thanks to the writing of American writer Ernest Hemingway that San Fermin developed the notoriety of today. The publication of his novel "The Sun Also Rises" in 1926 told the world about the Pamplona bull running festival which attracted people from all over the world. Such is the popularity of the event that overcrowding is a serious problem, and if you're planning on staying there then you should book accommodation many months in advance.
The Pamplona bull run takes place at 8am every morning from 7th to 14th July. Runners must be in the running area by 7.30am. The actual run stretches from the corral at Santo Domingo where the bulls are kept, to the bullring where they will fight that same afternoon. The length of the run is 825 metres and the average time of the run from start to finish is about three minutes. The streets through the old town which make up the bull run are walled off so the bulls can't escape. Each day six fighting bulls run the route as well as two herds of bullocks.
The tension builds as the release of the bulls approaches, and at 8am on the dot a rocket is fired to confirm that the gate has been opened at the Santo Domingo corral. Runners dressed in white with a red hankerchief around their necks pray to San Fermin then a second rocket announces that the bulls have left. The bulls and the runners then proceed along the route.
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