Huge crowds launch Spain’s Pamplona bull-run festival
Print Edition
A red-and-white sea of revellers soaked each other with wine in a packed Pamplona square yesterday to kick off the San Fermin bull-running festival in Spain.
A shout from the City Hall balcony of “Viva San Fermin!” and the lighting of a firecracker known as the “chupinazo” at noon local time set off the bedlam, which marks the official start of the nine-day street party.
Masses of fun-seekers from around the world squeezed into the square under an overcast sky cheered, danced and sprayed each other with sangria and cheap wine, turning white shirts to pink.
The crowds, dressed in traditional white outfits and red neck scarves, passed large yellow and white inflatable balls over their heads as scores looked down from crowded apartment balconies.
Sam Madden, a 26-year-old electrician, came from London with a friend to take part in a bull run.
“We don’t know what to expect, if we are going to die or what. It’s cool, it’s going to be crazy. We know it can be dangerous but we have to do it for a bit of adrenaline,” he said.
The festival in honor of Saint Fermin, the first bishop of Pamplona, dates back to medieval times and features religious processions, folk dancing, concerts and round-the-clock drinking.
But the highlight is a daily test of courage against a thundering pack of half-ton fighting bulls through the city’s cobbled streets.
Each day at 8:00am local time hundreds of people race with six huge bulls, charging along a winding, 848.6-meter course through narrow streets to the city’s bull ring, where the animals are killed in a bullfight.
The bravest, or most foolhardy, run as close as possible to the tips of the horns while trying to avoid being gored.
The first bull run, which traditionally draws the largest number of runners, is today. A run takes on average just under four minutes.
Last year 50 people were taken to hospital at the festival’s eight runs, including 23 revellers caught in a bloody human pile-up on the final day of the fiesta.
Several hundred more were treated for minor injuries at the scene.
Most injuries are not caused by bull horns but by runners falling, or being knocked over or trampled by the animals.
Fifteen people have been killed in the bull runs since records started in 1911. The most recent death took place four years ago when a bull gored a 27-year-old Spaniard in the neck, heart and lungs.
Pamplona city hall has this year unveiled fines of up to 60,000 euros (US$82,000) for those that violate rules intended to minimize the risk of the bull runs.
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 沪ICP证：沪ICP备05050403号-1
- |
- 互联网新闻信息服务许可证：31120180004
- |
- 网络视听许可证：0909346
- |
- 广播电视节目制作许可证：沪字第354号
- |
- 增值电信业务经营许可证：沪B2-20120012
Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
