Spain’s ‘Running of the Bulls’ Festival Opens in Pamplona
Pamplona: The famous San Fermín festival kicked off in the northern Spanish city of Pamplona with the traditional “Chupinazo,” as thousands of revelers gathered in the Plaza Consistorial, drenched each other in red wine, and waved their red scarves in celebration. The nine-day festival, made internationally famous by Ernest Hemingway’s 1926 novel The Sun Also…
Pamplona: The famous San Fermín festival kicked off in the northern Spanish city of Pamplona with the traditional “Chupinazo,” as thousands of revelers gathered in the Plaza Consistorial, drenched each other in red wine, and waved their red scarves in celebration.
The nine-day festival, made internationally famous by Ernest Hemingway’s 1926 novel The Sun Also Rises, is best known for its daily “encierro” — the running of the bulls — in which participants sprint ahead of six fighting bulls released through the narrow, cobblestoned streets to the city’s bullring. The run typically lasts only two to three minutes but has resulted in numerous injuries and, over the decades, several deaths.
Alongside the bull runs, the festival features bullfights, fireworks, parades, concerts, and round-the-clock street celebrations, drawing visitors from around the world each July.
