The running of the bulls, what is it?

The Running of the bulls: What is it?

The Running of the bulls (In Spanish encierro) involves 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. The run ends in the Pamplona's bullring taking a mean time of around 3 minutes where the bulls would be held until the afternoons bullfight when they would be killed.

Fermin was ordained a priest in Toulouse and returned to Pamplona as its first bishop. There is no written record of veneration in Pamplona of the Saint until the 12th century.

Born c. 272 Pamplona, SpainDied c. 303 Amiens, FranceFeast 25 September; 7 july in

Pamplona, Spain

At Pamplona, Saint Fermin is now sometimes said to have met his end by being dragged through the streets with angry bulls running after him.

Where is it?

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 party is marked by setting off the pyrotechnic chupinazo, to midnight 14 July, with the singing of the Pobre de Mí.

While its most famous event is the encierro, or the running of the bulls, which happens at 8:00 am from 7 July to 14 July, the week-long celebration involves many other traditional and folkloric events.

¡VIVA SAN FERMIN! ¡GORA SAN FERMIN!

"Uno de enero, dos de febrero, tres de marzo, cuatro de abril,

cinco de mayo, seis de juniosiete de julio, ¡SAN FERMÍN!

A Pamplona hemos de ir, con una media, con una media,

a Pamplona hemos de ir con una media y un calcetín."

Its events were central to the plot of The Sun Also Rises, novel written by Ernest Hemingway in 1926 about a group of American and British expatriates who travel from Paris to the Festival of San Fermín in Pamplona to watch the running of the bulls and the bullfights, 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 participate in this festival.