National Culture
Running Riot with British Identity
Britain was last week gripped by riots which spread across its major cities. The aftermath has left the country both shocked and uncertain
Saving Words and Memories
About 6000 languages face the danger of perishing forever, depriving humanity of a valuable historical and cultural source
Which cultural values define Europe?
Main Content
Pamplona during San Fermín
It’s hard to come up with a good reason why a city population of 200.000 increases to 2 million. Yet, many locals and visitors dress up in white trousers and shirts, scarlet kerchiefs and hash during San Fermín in Pamplona, Spain.
San Fermín as a celebration began around the twelfth century, as a way of getting together to commemorate a mixture of religious and commercial festivities. It grew slowly, becoming widely known within Spain. However, it was its inclusion in Ernest Hemingway’s 1926 novel Fiesta: The Sun Also Rises that contributed most to its world-wide fame.
The two events that make this festival emblematic are the running of the bulls and the 24-hour parties. And it’s true: for eight days Pamplona bursts into a cosmopolitan exuberance that has nothing to do with the lifestyle during the rest of the year.
María Roda, a young woman from Pamplona, describes it as a time when the city transforms itself completely. She says: “The joy I feel is a mixture of excitement and nervousness, like the feeling you have as a child on Christmas Eve. The euphoria that San Fermín brings, lasting eight days and nine nights, is awaited eagerly by the people of Pamplona all year long.” Foreigners seem to love San Fermín too, although for them it is more of a dangerous love, literally.
Data collected between 1980 to 2005 by the Universidad Pública de Navarra suggests that almost 30% of the injured during the dash of the bulls are foreigners. Most accidents take place during the core of the festivities: the corrida of the bulls, where adrenaline-filled runners hope to guide the animals to the bull ring. The entire itinerary is only about 800 metres long, usually taking between two and three minutes to complete. The early start of the corrida at 8 in the morning, ensures a mass attendance of badly hung-over– or worse- still drunk participants. Both can turn what should be a swift run into a messy and hasty accumulation of people in the narrow streets of Pamplona’s old quarter. Things can then get complicated, especially if runners are unprepared (for example, carrying backpacks or inappropriate clothing) or lack basic knowledge about the race’s idiosyncrasy. The golden rule, the knowledge that can even save a life states that if one falls on the ground, one should stay there.
Misfortunes do happen. The 22-year-old American, Matthew Tasso, who died in 1995 after being gored in the race, is the latest foreign fatality. The same circumstances led to the death of the 27-year-old Daniel Jimeno Romero in 2009, the most recent Spanish casualty. Ms. Roda admits the existence of an image of the bull run as something savage, an uncivilised way to put one’s life in a very palpable danger. But she defends it, saying it’s a tradition, and that those who run do it because they are in search of something ephemeral: a thrill concomitant with the risk itself.
Fortunately, the most likely consequence of visiting Pamplona during San Fermín is that of trying to patch together blurry memories when explaining about one’s experience back home. Thousands of people find themselves jammed in the medieval cobbled streets each year, most of them clearly having had too much calimocho (a mixture of bad wine and coke popular among Spanish youngsters; known as the unofficial drink during the San Fermín). Still, the crowd is in good spirits and despite the alcohol even petty squabbles are rare. Amaya Vicente, another local, points out that her only complaint about the non-stop party has to do with those who assume Pamplona becomes a lawless city and behave in a way they wouldn’t if they were at home.
Thinking about what attracts so many, Ms. Roda admits that “there must be something really good, that brings lot of enjoyment, for people to keep coming year after year, even crossing the world to stay only a few days and end up sleeping under the stars”. In her opinion, San Fermín is not only eight consecutive Saturday nights of non-stop party. The festival is rather the ubiquitous elation of an entire city, only found in Pamplona for one week a year.
The festivities of San Fermín take place this year between 6 July to 14 July.