San Fermín

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The festival of San Fermín in the city of Pamplona (Navarre, Spain), is a deeply-rooted celebration held annually from 12:00, 6 July, when the opening of the fiesta is marked by setting off the pyrotechnic chupinazo,[1] to midnight 14 July, with the singing of the Pobre de Mí. While its most famous event is the encierro, the running of the bulls, the biggest day is 7 July, when thousands of people accompany a replica of the statue of Saint Fermin along the streets in the old part of Pamplona. San Fermin is accompanied by dancers and street entertainers, such as the Gigantes (giant-sized figures who represent the King and Queen of Europe, Asia, Africa, and America) and the Cabezudos (the Bigheads). The week-long celebration involves many other traditional and folkloric events. It is known locally as Sanfermines and is held in honor of Saint Fermin, the co-patron of Pamplona. Its events were central to the plot of The Sun Also Rises, by Ernest Hemingway, which brought it to the general attention of English-speaking people. It has become probably the most internationally renowned fiesta in Spain. Over 1.000.000 people come to watch this festival.

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[edit] Origins

The Sanfermines in the medieval period was a commercial fair and secular fiesta, using for that the dates of religious festivals and using dates of festivals much older such as those of the Basques and Romans. Beginning in the 14th century people concluded certain commercial affairs after the eve of the Feast of Saint John the Baptist, 23-24 June, coinciding with the beginning of summer. Because at these commercial festivals cattle merchants came into town with their animals, eventually bullfighting (corridas) came to be organized as a part of the tradition. Thus was born, sometime probably at the end of the sixteenth century, the genuine fair Sanfermines.

Archives document the bull runnings only as far back as the late thirteenth century, but even if one does not know that the bull is a sacred animal in the Mediterranean world, or is unaware of the bull-dancers in Minoan frescoes, an unprejudiced outsider still may detect the remnants of an ancient pre-Christian ritual. At Pamplona, Saint Fermin – who was actually martyred at Amiens – is now sometimes said to have met his end by being dragged through the streets of Pamplona by bulls, a fate also attributed to his mentor, Saint Saturnin of Toulouse. Up to the fifteenth century, the festival was held on Saint Fermin's feast day, 25 September. The Pamplona fiesta was transferred to July in 1592.

The fiesta of San Fermin has been celebrated uninterrupted since 1591 (with the exception of the period of the Spanish Civil War).

The ritual of running with the bulls first originated with the need to move the bulls from the city coral, where they were placed until the day of their fight, to the plaza de toros. The town's youth would run with and through the herd as the animals progressed through the town square.

The first official plaza de toros was constructed in 1844.

[edit] The Running of the Bulls

The encierro meaning:to be closed in, involves many hundreds of people running in front of six bulls and another six steers down an 825-metre (0.51 mile) stretch of narrow streets of a section of the old town of Pamplona.

[edit] Preparation

Although each morning's premiere event starts at 8 a.m., the runners have gathered at least an hour earlier in an area at the beginning of the route called Cuesta de Santo Domingo to ask for the protection of the Saint by singing a chant three times before a small statue of San Fermin which has been placed in a raised niche in a wall.

A San Fermin pedimos, por ser nuestro patrón, nos guíe en el encierro, dándonos su bendición.(2x) Viva San Fermín. Gora San Fermin. ("We ask San Fermín, because he is our Patron, to guide us through the bull run, giving us his blessing.(2x)"),

with a red handkerchief (the pañuelo) tied about their necks, and some wearing a red sash (the faja) tied around their waist. Anyone who survives a close encounter with a bull is said to have been protected by San Fermin's cloak.

[edit] The actual run

The encierro begins at 8:00 a.m. sharp when the first cohete firecracker is lit to announce the release of the bulls from their corral. A second firecracker signals that the last bull has left the corral.

The event is dangerous. Since 1924, 15[1] people have been killed (most recently, a 20-year-old American in 1995 and a Navarra man who died 2 September 2003, after falling into a coma after the run), and over 200 have been seriously injured. Most injuries nowadays, however, are caused by the increasing rush of participants seeking to run with the powerful bulls. The organizers release multi-lingual guides (with safety tips) to accompany the running event: it is strongly recommended that these be read beforehand.

Since the publication of Ernest Hemingway's 1926 novel The Sun Also Rises about the event, a large percentage of runners are foreigners. Most lack the experience and skill needed to run safely in the encierro. Local people, as well as Spaniards from other areas of Spain, have had more opportunity to practice, having grown up with other encierros, bull and cow festivals, which used to be held in a wider space than in the historic center of Pamplona.

Stray bulls might become extremely distracted. Therefore, the organizers send a "second wave" of "cabestros" (tame steers) to run through the streets after the "first wave," in order to collect any stragglers. The shops and residences along the course are boarded up to prevent damage by either bull or human during the race. One particular stretch of the course, called Mercaderes, is particularly notorious for injuries on its sharp turn. On rainy days the bulls cannot turn well on the streets, and often collide into the wall; tear marks from the sharpened horns against the pulp wood barriers give an indication as to the events of days before. While locals are always keen to avoid this corner, it is not uncommon to see tourists getting trampled and seriously injured there.

The course concludes at Pamplona's Plaza de Toros, and the bulls are herded inside the corralillos until the afternoon's corrida.

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. Some participants of the encierro remain in the arena, when vaquillas emboladas (young cows with wrapped horns) are released among them and toss the participants, to the general amusement of the crowd.

[edit] Connected activities

During the days, the town has a carnival with rides and Ferris wheels, as well as an abundance of sangria and kalimotxo sold by bars and restaurants. Many locals are known to pass these days away from Pamplona to avoid the massive affluence, noise and filth.

The Riau-Riau was a mass activity held on 6 July. The members of the city council would parade from the City Hall to a nearby chapel dedicated to Saint Fermín. Protesting youths would mass blocking the way, dancing to the Astrain Waltz played by the city band. The councilors would be stuck for hours sometimes being unable to exit the City Hall. The procession was finally removed from the festival calendar for political reasons as extremists used the "Riau-Riau" to promote unrest and clashes with authorities, police and other participants. The political climate now being more relaxed the celebration of the "Riau- Riau", one of the most popular San Fermín activities, has been restored.

At night, the town erupts into an enormous party. The streets are filled with drunken revelers, and exhausted tourists are found catching up on their sleep in parks. One school is used as a storage facility for backpackers' gear.

After nine days of partying, the people of Pamplona meet in the Plaza Consistorial at midnight on 14 July, singing the traditional mournful notes of the Pobre de Mí ('Poor Me'), in a candlelit ending.

[edit] San Fermin song

In the rest of the year, outside of the celebration period of San Fermin, the following song is sung as a kind of mnemonic reminder of the date to the beginning of the next celebration of San Fermin:

Uno de enero, dos de febrero,
tres de marzo, cuatro de abril,
cinco de mayo, seis de junio,
siete de julio, ¡SAN FERMÍN!
A Pamplona hemos de ir,
por la fiesta, por la fiesta
a pamplona hemos de ir
por la fiesta y un buen botín.
First of January, second of February,
third of march, fourth of April,
fifth of may, sixth of June,
seventh of July, ¡SAN FERMÍN!
To Pamplona we will go
for the party, for the party,
To Pamplona we will go
for the party and a sock.

[edit] In Culture

The festival of San Fermín was the subject of Agenda Collective's BIFA (British Independent Film Award) nominated documentary Red Sands

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ The ceremony, which dates to the beginning of the twentieth century, has been accompanied by ever greater ceremony and is now is televised all over the world. (Spanish Wikipedia:"Chupinazo").

[edit] External links

[edit] Listening

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Ferm%C3%ADn"
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