Running of the Bulls

Running of the Bulls

Every year, the Running of the Bulls (San Fermin) in Pamplona, Spain is an event that gets news coverage every year, with details of how many people are hurt, sometimes killed as the bulls charge through the narrow streets along a predetermined route.  But what happens at the end of the run is rarely mentioned.

The people stream into a bull-fighting stadium, running around jumping, cheering, celebrating (and as often as not, rather inebriated from the 24 hour parting that happens over the week of the run (Calimocho often being the drink of choice – a surprisingly drinkable combination of 50/50 coke and cheap red wine (and if that sounds like a bad local custom, you can find it in that or a similar form all round the world – Chile, Czech Republic, Hungary, Germany, Mozambique, South Africa)).

The roar of the crowd gets louder and louder, the runners entering the stadium faster and faster, no longer orderly, but a panicked rush and the first of the bulls enter through the same gate, sometimes making a circuit of the arena, often going directly to the other side and out again.  The runners entering slow again, then build in time with crowd noise until the next set of bulls enter.  This happens 4, 5 6 times or more, until all the bulls have passed through, and the stadium centre is packed.

This seems like the end of the spectacle, but it is far from that.

Some (wise) runners quickly get out of the arena, but many, many remain, often dressed in the ‘uniform’ of the event – white shirt, white pants, red scarf.  A stack of people then sit in front of an entrance, and wait, and suddenly, a single bull is allowed to enter the arena.  It doesn’t wander in, it charges.

It sees an incredible target-rich environment in front of it and goes – hard.  People run, jump, duck, weave out of the way, or they are thrown out of the way, to the immense cheers of the crowd.  The bulls are the heroes in this event, and get listed in the paper each day with a tally of their successes – hits, injuries, kills.  If anyone in the arena seems to be causing impedance to the bull, they quickly get pulled away, and physically reminded of who’s important.  Even anarchy has rules and a pecking order.

After a time, as the bull gets tired of chasing so many of these annoying creatures, it slows, and as it does so you can see it getting confused as to who to attack next, and at that point the handlers come over and start ushering the bull away and out of the area to rest and be readied for the following day’s run.  A few more brave(?) souls then sit in front of the gate, and the whole event happens again.  Each time, more and more try sitting in front, as they see that it is actually a visual barrier for the bull, who normally veers one way or the other.  But not always – one trips, and half falls right in the middle of the group (of 30 or more), staggers up and then begins the charge.

The most aggressive bulls score many hits, people thrown high in the air, sometimes to be whirled on again and given a second treatment, either driven into the ground, or thrown.  The bulls that don’t calm down result in a second bull being put into the ring.  A large, old, very passive bull with a cow bell around its neck.  It is slowly guided through the crowd to wherever the active bull is, and its presence calms the enraged one enough for both to be led out.  This second bull results in some rather comic occurrences, with people being unaware that this bull is entered.  They are so concentrating on the first, that they have near-heart attacks when the second appears over their shoulder, or they are running away from the first, looking behind them and run straight into the second.

In old custom, to prove oneself in the arena, some young men attempt to slip a ring over the horn of the bull, and this deliberate bravado can be definitely seen here, not so much with the person in the foreground, but the man to his left, adopting a more traditional challenging pose.  The bull, as can be just seen with the blurred hoof is scraping the ground in preparation for a charge, surprisingly like what is depicted in many cartoons.

The other thing you can see, is the number of people sitting on the sides with their legs over the edge.  As some bulls charge, they run right around the perimeter, and it is like a Mexican Wave as the wall sitters fall out of the way as the bull charges past.

The Mexican Wave (in this case I guess it is the Spanish Wave) is also a popular pastime for the spectators while waiting for the first runners to enter.  It is claimed the Mexican wave is only a recent invention, from the mid 80s, but I can’t imagine that with packed arenas dating back to the Romans, that some form of it wasn’t invented much, much earlier.

Tags: Mexican Wave, Pamplona, Running of the Bulls, San Fermin, Spain

• February 3, 2010
• Colour
• 3 Comments