The Running of the Bulls is a practice that involves running in front of a small group of cattle, typically six, of the toro bravo breed 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 held during the eight-day festival of Sanfermines in honor of Saint Fermin in Pamplona, although they are also traditionally held in other places such as towns and villages across Spain, Portugal, in some cities in Mexico, and southern France during the summer.
The origin of this event comes from the need to transport the bulls from the fields outside the city, where they were bred, to the bullring, where they would be killed in the evening. During this 'run', youngsters would jump among them to show off their bravado. In Pamplona and other places, the six bulls in the event are still those that will feature in the afternoon bullfight of the same day. Spanish tradition says the true origin of the run began in northeastern Spain during the early 14th century. While transporting cattle in order to sell them at the market, men would try 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 in Spain and has been broadcast
live by RTVE, the public Spanish national television channel, for over
30 years. It is the highest profile event of the San Fermin festival,
which is held every year from 6–14 July. The first bull running is on 7
July, followed by one on each of the following mornings of the festival,
beginning every day at 8 am. Among the rules to take part in the event
are that 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 set of wooden fences are erected to direct the bulls along
the route and to block off side streets. A double wooden fence is used
in those houses where there is enough space for it, while in other parts
the buildings of the street act as barriers. The gaps in the barricades
are wide enough for a human to slip through, but narrow enough to block
a bull. The fence 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. Spectators can only stand behind the second fence, whereas the space
between the two fences is reserved for security and medical personnel
and also to participants who need cover during the event.
The encierro begins with runners singing a benediction. It is sung three times, each time being sung both in Spanish and Basque. The benediction is a prayer given at a statue of Saint Fermin, patron of the festival and the city, to ask the saint's protection and can be translated into English as "We ask Saint Fermin, as our Patron, to guide us through the encierro and give us his blessing". The singers finish by shouting "Viva San Fermín!, Gora San Fermin!" ("Long live Saint Fermin", in Spanish and Basque). Most runners dress in the traditional clothing of the festival which consists of a white shirt and trousers with a red waistband ("faja") and neckerchief ("pañuelo"). Also some of them hold the day's newspaper rolled to draw the bulls' attention from them if necessary.
The encierro begins with runners singing a benediction. It is sung three times, each time being sung both in Spanish and Basque. The benediction is a prayer given at a statue of Saint Fermin, patron of the festival and the city, to ask the saint's protection and can be translated into English as "We ask Saint Fermin, as our Patron, to guide us through the encierro and give us his blessing". The singers finish by shouting "Viva San Fermín!, Gora San Fermin!" ("Long live Saint Fermin", in Spanish and Basque). Most runners dress in the traditional clothing of the festival which consists of a white shirt and trousers with a red waistband ("faja") and neckerchief ("pañuelo"). Also some of them hold the day's newspaper rolled to draw the bulls' attention from them if necessary.
Pamplona, 2007. Bulls following some runners enter the bull ring from the callejón, where the event ends. The bulls can be seen in the foreground and background of the picture.
A first rocket is set off at 8 a.m. to alert the runners that the corral gate is open. A second rocket signals that all six bulls 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 two minutes, 30 seconds.
The encierro is usually composed of the six bulls to be fought in the afternoon, six steers that run in herd with the bulls, and three more steers that follow the herd to encourage any reluctant bulls to continue along the route. The function of the steers, who run the route daily, is to guide the bulls to the bullring. The average speed of the herd is 24 km/h (15 mph).
The length of the run is 875 meters (957 yards). It goes through four streets of the old part of the city (Santo Domingo, Ayuntamiento, Mercaderes and Estafeta) via the Town Hall Square and the short section "Telefónica" (named for the location of the old telephone office at end of Calle Estafeta) just before entering into the bullring through its callejón (tunnel). The fastest part of the route is up Santo Domingo and across the Town Hall Square, but the bulls often became separated at the entrance to Estafeta Street as they slowed down. One or more would slip going into the turn at Estafeta ("la curva"), resulting in the installation of anti-slip surfacing, and now most of the bulls negotiate the turn onto Estafeta and are often ahead of the steers. This has resulted in a quicker run. Runners are not permitted in the first 50 meters of the encierro, which is an uphill grade where the bulls are much faster.
Every year, between 50 and 100 people are injured during the run. Not all of the injuries require taking the patients to the hospital: in 2013, 50 people were taken by ambulance to Pamplona's hospital, with this number nearly doubling that of 2012. Goring is much less common but potentially life threatening. In 2013, for example, six participants were gored along the festival, in 2012, only four runners were injured by the horns of the bulls with exactly the same number of gored people in 2011, nine in 2010 and 10 in 2009; with one of the latter killed. As most of the runners are male, only 5 women have been gored since 1974. Previously to that date running was prohibited for women.
Another major risk is runners falling and piling up (a "montón") at the entrance of the bullring, which acts as a funnel as it is much narrower than the previous street. In such cases injuries come both from asphyxia and contusions to those in the pile and from goring if the bulls crush into the pile. This kind of blocking of the entrance has occurred at least ten times in the history of the run, the last occurring in 2013 and the first dating back to 1878. A runner died of suffocation in one such pile up in 1977.
Overall, since record-keeping began in 1910, 15 people have been killed in the bull running of Pamplona, most of them due to being gored. To minimize the impact of injuries every day 200 people collaborate in the medical attention. They are deployed in 16 sanitary posts (every 50 metres on average), each one with at least a physician and a nurse among their personnel. Most of these 200 people are volunteers, mainly from the Red Cross. In addition to the medical posts, there are around 20 ambulances. This organization makes it possible to have a gored person stabilized and taken to a hospital in less than 10 minutes.
Though there is no formal dress code, the very common and traditional attire is white pants, white shirt with a red scarf around the waist and a red handkerchief around the neck. The majority of runners are similarly dressed, many times with red wine stains from the previous night or earlier in the festival.
Another common dress practice, seen as a risk by some but as a daring depiction of courage by others is dressing in a conspicuous manner. Many runners that want to be perceived as daring wear colors other than white, a common alternate color choice is blue. Blue is thought by some to draw the bulls' attention.[citation needed] Others include large logos on their shirt to capture the attention of the bulls. In the age of social media explosion, this is also thought to be a way to highlight someone in a photo.
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