San Fermin : 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-meter (0.51 mile) 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 afternoon's bullfight when they would be killed. Bullruns are held between 7 and 14 July and a different "encaste" (sub-breed) of bull appears each day.

The event begins at 8 AM 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 Fermín which has been placed in a raised niche in a wall: “A San Fermín pedimos, por ser nuestro patrón, nos guíe en el encierro, dándonos su bendición”. (which means “To San Fermin we ask to be our patron saint and to guide us in the running of the bulls, giving to us his blessing”.) A second cracker signals that the last bull has left the corral. There are six fighting bulls accompanied by six oxen (often white and brown coloured) 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 citizens began 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.