Video by RussiaToday.
Thrill-seekers, adrenaline-junkies, and others looking to prove something all make the journey to Spain during the month of July to test their nerve. Within the medieval city of Pamplona they strap on their running shoes and dash through town with a cluster of snorting, bucking, rage-filled fighting bulls at their heels.
The San Fermín Festival runs annually every July 6th through July 14th in honor of Saint Fermín, the co-patron of Pamplona, and has roots dating back to the 12th century. Initially the festival was solely religious in nature, and although religion still plays a major role, today the bullfights and the Running of the Bulls that were introduced in the 14th century quickly became the main attractions of the festival.
The year’s first Encierro (Bull Run) happened Sunday, July 7th amid thousands of runners and spectators, and similar runs will be made each morning at 8:00 AM until the end of the festival. Sunday’s run was a huge success with only four reported injuries, none of which were goring by a bull. Injuries among the runners is a common occurrence, especially among foreigners, and death in not unknown. Since an official tally began in 1924, 15 people have been gored or trampled to death while running with the bulls.
While injury or even death is certainly a possibility for those who choose to run, death is inevitable for the bulls that are forced to make the run to the bullring. After the run in the morning, the bulls are all placed in the ring with a skilled bullfighter; he slowly kills them while defying death himself as thousands of spectators watch. Bullfighting is a Spanish tradition that goes back hundreds of years, and many even consider it to be an art, but every year more and more animal activists show up to protest what they consider to be inhumane.
PETA has been a constant participant in the protests. This year dozens of nearly naked protestors laid in make-shift coffins on Pamplona’s main square to represent the 48 bulls that would be killed during the festival. PETA described the protest saying, “The protesters offered a stark reminder that the same bulls who slip and slide down Pamplona's cobbled streets will meet an agonizing end in the town's bullring. There, they will each be speared, stabbed, and weakened until, finally, a matador attempts to sever the exhausted animal's spine with a dagger—if the bull doesn't drown in his own blood first.”
With a growing number of Spanish citizens who oppose bullfights, the future of one of Spain’s oldest traditions remains unclear. Barcelona, Spain’s second largest city, recently declared itself a “bull-fighting free city”, but the tradition has since become stronger in other regions of the country. It is unlikely that Pamplona will ever stop or change its longest running tradition, and neither will many other Spanish cities. The line has been drawn with tradition and entertainment on one side, and animal cruelty on the other. Which side would you choose?
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Video Wednesday: Pamplona’s Oldest Festival and the Running of the Bulls
July 10, 2013
Video by RussiaToday.
Thrill-seekers, adrenaline-junkies, and others looking to prove something all make the journey to Spain during the month of July to test their nerve. Within the medieval city of Pamplona they strap on their running shoes and dash through town with a cluster of snorting, bucking, rage-filled fighting bulls at their heels.
The San Fermín Festival runs annually every July 6th through July 14th in honor of Saint Fermín, the co-patron of Pamplona, and has roots dating back to the 12th century. Initially the festival was solely religious in nature, and although religion still plays a major role, today the bullfights and the Running of the Bulls that were introduced in the 14th century quickly became the main attractions of the festival.
The year’s first Encierro (Bull Run) happened Sunday, July 7th amid thousands of runners and spectators, and similar runs will be made each morning at 8:00 AM until the end of the festival. Sunday’s run was a huge success with only four reported injuries, none of which were goring by a bull. Injuries among the runners is a common occurrence, especially among foreigners, and death in not unknown. Since an official tally began in 1924, 15 people have been gored or trampled to death while running with the bulls.
While injury or even death is certainly a possibility for those who choose to run, death is inevitable for the bulls that are forced to make the run to the bullring. After the run in the morning, the bulls are all placed in the ring with a skilled bullfighter; he slowly kills them while defying death himself as thousands of spectators watch. Bullfighting is a Spanish tradition that goes back hundreds of years, and many even consider it to be an art, but every year more and more animal activists show up to protest what they consider to be inhumane.
PETA has been a constant participant in the protests. This year dozens of nearly naked protestors laid in make-shift coffins on Pamplona’s main square to represent the 48 bulls that would be killed during the festival. PETA described the protest saying, “The protesters offered a stark reminder that the same bulls who slip and slide down Pamplona's cobbled streets will meet an agonizing end in the town's bullring. There, they will each be speared, stabbed, and weakened until, finally, a matador attempts to sever the exhausted animal's spine with a dagger—if the bull doesn't drown in his own blood first.”
With a growing number of Spanish citizens who oppose bullfights, the future of one of Spain’s oldest traditions remains unclear. Barcelona, Spain’s second largest city, recently declared itself a “bull-fighting free city”, but the tradition has since become stronger in other regions of the country. It is unlikely that Pamplona will ever stop or change its longest running tradition, and neither will many other Spanish cities. The line has been drawn with tradition and entertainment on one side, and animal cruelty on the other. Which side would you choose?
