Fiesta de San Fermín
Fiesta de San Fermín is held annually in Pamplona, Northern Spain. Starting at noon on July 6th and ending at midnight on July 14th, this festival is all about honouring the city’s first bishop and patron saint, Saint Fermín.
The festival begins with fireworks, called chupinazo, and is followed by the singing of the traditional song “Pamploneses Viva San Fermín, Gora San Fermín”.
The best-known part of the festival is the running of the bulls or encierro. From July 7th to 14th the bulls to be used in the daily bullfights are run through the streets of the town to the bullring.
In addition to the well-known bull events, the festival is full of other events, including the Procession of Saint Fermín, the comparsa (a parade featuring large puppets) and numerous parties and spontaneous gatherings.
The festival comes to an end on July 14th with the singing of “Pobre de Mi”.
But what about the food? Well, during San Fermín the menu features local Navarrese specialities with Spanish favourites. Before the running of the bulls, the mozos (young men) drink warm broth to ready themselves and afterwards, they eat churros and hot chocolate to recuperate, assuming they’ve survived and aren’t in A&E.
The rest of the day is filled with eating and drinking, dishes include fried eggs with chistorra, bull stew, ajorarriero (a dish of salt cod, garlic and tomato), and pochas (a typical Navarrese dish pod fresh shelling beans. Everything is washed down with local wine or kalimotxo – a favourite Basque combination of red wine and cola. Sounds a bit grim, but don’t knock it till you’ve tried it.
Join us at Camino King’s Cross on July 7th where we will be celebrating Fiesta de San Fermín with live music.
You’ll have to imagine the bulls 😉