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Event Information:
The
Running of the Bulls, the Spanish
encierro, is a practice that
involves running in front of a small
group (typically a dozen) of bulls
that have been let loose, on a
course of a sectioned-off subset of
a town's streets. The most famous
running of the bulls is that of the
seven-day festival of Sanfermines in
honour of San Fermín in Pamplona,
although they are held in towns and
villages across Spain, Portugal, and
in some cities in Mexico, Mesquite,
Nevada, and southern France, during
the summer. Unlike bullfights, which
are performed by professionals,
anyone may participate in an
encierro.
The
purpose of this event is the
transport of the bulls from the
off-site corrals where they had
spent the night, to the bullring
where they would be killed in the
evening. Youngsters would jump among
them to show off their bravado.
Spanish lore says the true origin
began in North-eastern Spain during
the early 14th century. While
transporting cattle in order to sell
at the market, men would attempt to
speed the process by hurrying their
cattle using tactics of fear and
excitement. After years of this
practice, the transportation and
hurrying began to turn into a
competition, as young adults would
attempt to race in front of the
bulls and make it safely to their
pens without being overtaken. When
the popularity of this practice
increased and was noticed more and
more by the expanding population of
Spanish cities, a tradition was
created and stands to this day.
The
Pamplona encierro is the most
popular running of the bulls in
Spain and is broadcast live by two
national television channels. It is
the highest profile event of the San
Fermin festival, which is held every
year from July 6–14. The first bull
running is on July 7, followed by
one on each of the following
mornings of the festival, beginning
every day at 8 am. Participants must
be at least 18 years old, run in the
same direction as the bulls, not
incite the bulls, and not be under
the influence of alcohol. In
Pamplona a double wooden fence is
used in those streets where there is
enough space for it, while in other
parts the buildings of the street
act as barriers. It is composed of
around three thousand separate
pieces and while some parts are left
for the duration of the fiesta
others are mounted and dismounted
every morning.
A
first rocket is set off at 8a.m. to
alert the runners that the corral
gate is open. A second rocket
signals that all six bulls and six
steers (oxen) have been released.
The third and fourth rockets are
signals that all of the herd has
entered the bullring and its corral
respectively, marking the end of the
event. The average duration between
the first rocket and the end of the
encierro is around four minutes
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