sanfermines

sanfermines

► nombre masculino plural

1 festival of San Fermín (held in Pamplona)

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SMPL festivities in celebration of San Fermín (Pamplona)

SANFERMINES The Sanfermines is a week-long festival starting on 7 July in Pamplona (Navarre) to honour San Fermín, the town's patron saint. One of its main events involves bulls and bullfighting. The bulls are led from their enclosure to the bullring early in the morning through the city's main streets; young men, dressed in traditional Navarrese red berets, white shirts and trousers with red sashes around their waists, run through the streets leading the fast-moving bulls. This activity, known as the encierro, in which people risk serious injury and even death, was popularized by writers such as Ernest Hemingway and now attracts visitors from all over the world. The festivities start with the txupinazo, a large rocket fired from Pamplona's main square, and for a full week Pamplona becomes one large street party punctuated by the daily encierro.

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masculino plural: festivity in Pamplona in which bulls are run through the streets

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masculino plural: festivity in Pamplona in which bulls are run through the streets

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CULTURAL NOTE

Sanfermines

The fiestas de San Fermín, Pamplona's patron saint, are the festival for which the Navarrese capital has become world-famous. It begins on July 6 with the txupinazo, the firing of a rocket in the main square. The bull-running, or encierro, starts at 8 a.m. the following day and takes place every day until July 14. The bulls that will fight that evening are released, and those who wish to, usually young men, run in front of them. Accidents are frequent.

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sanfermines sustantivo masculino plural: festival in Pamplona in which bulls are run through the streets

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sanfermines nmpl

= festival held in Pamplona in July during which bulls are run through the streets of the town

SANFERMINES

The sanfermines of Pamplona, celebrations in honour of the local martyr Saint Fermín, are one of the most widely known of Spanish festivals, in no small part due to their being immortalized by Hemingway in “The Sun Also Rises” (1926). For a week on or around the feast of Saint Fermín (7 July) the people of Pamplona and visitors throw themselves wholeheartedly into non-stop celebration. The most eagerly awaited event, apart from the afternoon bullfights themselves, is the “encierro”, the legendary “running of the bulls” at daybreak, where bulls are let loose to run through the city streets on the way to the bullring, pursuing crowds of local and visiting men who try to outrun them. During the three minutes or so of the run there is constant danger that runners (especially inexperienced ones) might be injured, even fatally, and over the years there have been more than a dozen fatalities, and hundreds of runners have been gored. Yet the running of the bulls goes on year after year, offering a unique opportunity for those so inclined to test their nerve and swiftness of foot.