July 2011
9 posts
San Fermínes: The Eighth and Final “Encierro”
A safe but spectacular race through Pamplona made the last running at this year’s San Fermín festival one of the most memorable. Daring participants were able to jump in front of the bulls at breakneck speed and keep their pace just steps ahead of the animals over long swaths of the route. This, Pamploneses would argue, was everything an encierro should be, a safe but dazzling display of man vs....
San Fermínes: The Seventh “Encierro”
Today the people of Pamplona held their breath for 2 minutes and 13 seconds while the bulls of El Pilar took to the streets. Although speedy, the seventh encierro had spectators turning away as participants were trampled, head-butted, and tossed in the air by the angry bulls. Although seven people were taken to local hospitals, none of them were gored. So exhale, Pamplona. There’s still one...
San Fermínes: The Sixth “Encierro”
Within seconds of the starting rocket, one of the bulls of the Victoriano del Río farm had already gored a 40 year-old Pamplona native in the lower back. And in the brief two minutes that followed in the sixth-fastest encierro on record the famously fast bulls of this renowned farm sent six others to local hospitals. A 42 year-old gentleman from Castilla La Mancha was gored in the right arm at...
San Fermínes: The Fifth “Encierro”
The Fuente Ymbro farm sent its best bulls out for a speedy trek through Pamplona this morning. It looked as though a dangerous run was in the works when one bull broke away from the pack early on, but when the results were tallied, it turned out to be the safest running since July 11, 2008. The only participant taken to the hospital was a young man from Catalunya with a broken finger.
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San Fermínes: The Fourth “Encierro”
The bulls of the Ganadería Miura farm in Sevilla have a reputation for being noble and obedient, therefore running quick encierros with few injuries. Two years ago, however, the bulls of Miura had the longest running of the fiestas in an encierro which left no less than five people gored. But today the bulls stayed true to form with a speedy run. Despite more trips, falls, and tumbles than...
San Fermínes: The Third “Encierro”
The bulls of the Dolores Aguirre farm in Sevilla had the reign of Pamplon’s cobble stone streets this morning in a crowded encierro that left 4 people injured, one of which, a 23 year-old French man was gored. Weekend encierros draw larger crowds, and extra participants left little room to move in the streets keeping the bulls close together and making for a fairly uneventful run…
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San Fermínes: The Second “Encierro”
The aggressive bulls of the Cebada Gago farm took to the streets of Pamplona this morning in an encierro that left 8 people injured, two of which were gored. Early on in the running the 1224 pound bull “Esquillo” slipped and found himself separated from the pack, and shortly after the remaining bulls split into two groups. The haphazard positioning of the bulls probably led to some of the...
¡Encierro!
It’s July 7th and the festivities of the San Fermín Festival are well underway. Today is the first Encierro, the famous running of the bulls.
The tradition is said to have begun in North-eastern Spain in the early 14th century when farmers would transport their cattle to the market. In an attempt to expedite the process the men would spur the cattle on by frightening them. This...
¡Chupinazo!
On the morning of July 6th, thousands of revelers crowd into the small plaza in front of Pamplona’s city hall. Dressed in white with a traditional red faja sash tied around the waist, the party-goers keep red bandanas tucked away in their pockets until the official start of the fiestas at noon. The San Fermín festival, famous for the running of the bulls, is also arguably the world’s greatest...
