The most known worldwide “fiesta” the San Fermines of Pamplona.

The celebration is celebrated in honor to San Fermin, saint patron of Navarre, though for many years the religious component has stayed on the second plane. Nowadays they happen for being a multitudinous party visited by people of all the corners of the world and in that the partyng, the amusement and the happiness are his more out-standing ingredients.

This year due to the crisis has reduced the budget that the town hall dedicates to these celebration, in spite of this the program of this year has numerous attractions and relies on his main attraction that they are the bull-runings and the  bullfights.

The party begins ” The txupinazo “

This moment is marked by a rocket - the “Txupinazo” - which is set off to announce the start of the Fiesta. It can look like a great madness but in the square where is located the town Hall of Pamplona there re-join thousands of people from all the points of Pamplona, nearby localities and lots of foreign, young and fewer young men dressed in white and with the red “pañuelico”(scarf) to the neck. The square of the Town hall is, for them, the center of the world, there where it is going to exploit the party in the same moment in which the first rocket teared the silence of the sky.

This thousands of persons go hours waiting for the moment, the longed rocket that gives beginning to one of the longest parties of the year, more than 200 hours of amusement, party, merriment… And the moment will come on July 6 at 12 a.m. exactly from the midday with the uproar of the rocket that this year will be thrown by the councillor of the PSN in the Town hall of Pamplona Maite Esporrín and after this will hear the ritual shout: “Pamploneses , Viva San Fermín, Gora San Fermin! “. Then the peoples begin to dance and to sing and the party comes untied.

50 anniversary of Ernest Hemingway’s last visit

This year fulfills 50 anniversary of the last visit of the great Ernest Hemingway and as commemoration to the personage who was the major culprit of the universal reputation of the San Fermin’s celebrations will be celebrated the day of Hemingway on July 9 with several acts programmed in honor to the famous American writer and journalist. This day will realize an honoring in which Valerie Hemingway will take part and a contest will be realized of seemed of Hemingway in which the grandson of the author will be of juror.

The bull-runings and the bullfights
During 8 days that last these celebration every morning at 8 a.m. punctually after the canticle to the patron saint San Fermin of the young boys corridors and the initial rocket that indicates that the bulls are already in the street the bull-runing begins, principal act of these so peculiar fiesta and that is in the habit of lasting between 2 and 3 minutes. The second rocket immediately resounds indicating that all the bulls are already in the street. The bull-runing passes from the street Santo Domingo up to the Bullring.

Besides the bull-runing the bullfighting spectacle continues every evening for the lovers of the bullfighting. In the bullring the Fair of the Bull takes place with the best names of the bullfighting panorama.

The stockbreeding companies of the bull-runing and the Fair of the Bull 2009 of this year:

• On July 6: Fair of the bull, D. Fermín Bohórquez’s for the “rejoneadores” Joao Salgueiro, Paul Hermoso of Mendoza and Sergio Galán.
• On July 7: Peñajara’s and fair of the Bull with the same stockbreeding company for El Fundi, Luis Bolívar and Salvador Cortés.
• On July 8: D. Jose Cebada Gago’s stockbreeding company and fair with Antonio Barrera, Francisco Marco and Sergio Aguilar.
• On July 9: ” The Ventorrillo ” stockbreeding company and fair of the  El Cid, Sebastián Castella y José María Manzanares.
• On July 10: “Jandilla” and fair of the same stockbreeding company with El Fandi, Matías Tejela and Rubén Pinar.
• On July 11: Mrs. Dolores Aguirre Ybarra stockbreeding company and fair of the same with Serafín Marín, David Mora y Joselillo.
• On July 12: “Miura” and fair of the same stockbreeding company for Juan Jose Padilla, Rafaelillo and Millan.
• On July 13: “Fuente Ymbro” and fair of the same stockbreeding company with Antonio Ferrera, Ángel Perera and Daniel Luque.
• On July 14: “Nuñez del Cuvillo” and fair with the same stockbreeding company with Morante de la Puebla, el Juli y Miguel Ángel Perera.

The concerts and the music in San Fermin

Other one of the strong points of the celebration are the concerts that take place every day, here we can see the effect has had the cut of budget since in the cartel we do not see so many big figures of the music as we were used to in previous occasions.

The free concerts of this year at 12:30 p.m. in the Fueros Square and they will act:

• On July 6: Fangoria and Funk Falate.
• On July 7: El Columpio Asesino and Mea Culpa.
• On July 8: Krakovia and Ukabildu.
• On July 9: Siniestro Total and La Biscuit Box.
• On July 10: Lucas Masciano and Barua.
• On July 11: Sidecars and Sueños Rotos.
• On July 12: Toom Pak.
• On July 13: U2 for Please and Los Terraplenes.

On the other hand this year one of the most known worldwide Deejays , Dj Tiesto with his Dances of light Bullmusic  show that he produces honoring to The Light, with a gigantic and spectacular audio-visual studding accompanied of an oneiric scenery. The spectacle will be in the Amaya Stadium of Pamplona on Friday, the July 10th  at 20 p.m., to enjoy it it is necessary to pay 47 €.

More activities of one of the most worldwide known fiesta of the world

Activities of all kinds can enjoy us during this festive week, one of the most popular is the International Contest of Fireworks San Fermin’s celebrations in that they take part different national and international pyrotechnics. Every day at eleven o’clock in the night from the Citadel, the fireworks go off during half an hour.

The folklore also does act of presence this year, one hour and a half after the powerful kick, “the txupinazo”, there is a great folklore festival, fundamentally of Basque dances, in the Fueros square , with dantzaris from Pamplona and all this region. In addition in the same square several days to the midday there is a great exhibition of rural Basque sport: cutters of trunks (aizkolariak), lifters of stones (harrijasotzaileak), races ballasted with txingas (weigh), korrikalaris, sokatira etc. Rarely you will have opportunity to see assembled so many manifestations of the popular Basque sports.

In the Park of the Half moon there are in the habit of being several mornings different spectacles of Basque culture: one day a festival of bertsolaris (improvisers of poems sung in basque language), another day there is a traditional massive concert of txistus (kind of Basque flute). Approximately at the same hour, but in Sarasate’s Walk, there are in the habit of being recitals of jots (songs principally in Castilian typical of the south of Navarre). In the Copse every day at 20:30 there is in the habit of being groups of dance and music of the regional houses (Andalusian, Extremaduran, Galician … etc); it is a good sample of Spanish folklore.

Other one of the out-standing acts is the procession of July 7th, from 10 a.m.till 2 p.m., the procession of San Fermin is walked through the old area, act of tradition and long history, that goes back probably until the century XIIl. The town hall Corporation, in body of city, that is to say that they are dressed for the occasion and accompanied of clarineros, timpanists, mace-bearers, escort, txistularis, pipers, extra of giants and pigheaded and Municipal band, goes to the Cathedral to searching to the chapter (assembly of the ecclesiastic charges of the cathedral). All together, they retrace the way and come to the chapel of San Fermin (church of San Lorenzo) to gather the image of the saint. Once the procession is completed, in a fixed order as the protocol says, the procession begins its tour througth the old Pamplona area, which in approximately one hour and a half it returns the image to its chapel. Of there, the Town hall returns to accompany to the chapter up to the cathedral, where they separate and the act gives itself finished. The most interesting of the procession they are the diverse “momenticos”, pauses in the tour of that they take advantage to honour the saint, often by means of sung prayers. The excellent “momentico” is that of the porch of the cathedral.

As a popular act every day at ten o’clock at night we can come to see the bull of fire that goes out from the square of Santiago. An appliance in the shape of bull that is giving up fire, petards and hints for the whole street. Though it does not seem risk, does not have any more that small holes in the clothes for one of the sparks of the bull.

And finally the act that gives end to so much merriment the “Pobre de mí”(Poor me), with it ends (officially) Sanfermin, in the Square of the Town hall at twelve o’clock at night the 14th. The people join and are singing the ” poor person of me, poor person of my, that have ended the fiesta of San Fermin “, the song of farewell. The people are sad because everything is ended and turns the routine, “Pobre de mí” is the culmination of the whole day of farewells: the farewell of the giants, in the morning, the farewell of the groups of youngs in the square in the evening.

In the “Pobre de mí”  there is not as many agglomeration as in the txupinazo, though every time there are more people. It is possible to go with children. The only thing with what it is necessary to have care is with the spots of wax: it is a custom to represent with a flushed candle. The majority, with very good criterion, puts a glass of plastic around.

And those are the most interesting acts of the big fiesta of  “San Fermin”, but definitely this is more than a list of activities, this is a feeling that you must live at least for once in your life.