Running of the bulls

Do you like running? If yes, that’s fine and normal. But do you like running along with bulls? Sounds crazy? No, there is a festival in Spain named the running of the bulls, where you have to run along with bulls to win the competition. Yes, you heard it right. Now let’s see this festival in detail.

The running of the bulls is an event that takes place every year during the nine-day festival of Sanfermines in honour of Saint Fermin in Spain. A group of six or sometimes ten or more bulls are let loose to run on the streets of Pamplona and along with the bulls, the participants run down the streets and they should reach the spot. This is what they call it running of the bulls festival or event.

The bull-running is over 875 meters course and it takes around 2 to 3 minutes to complete the running. All you have to do is just run along with the bulls and finish the run. The race starts each morning during the fiestas of San Fermin between the 7th and 14th of July at 8 a.m.

History:

This festival is hundreds of years old and it is thought to have begun in 1385. The butchers are responsible for starting this kind of festival in old times. It seems the butchers used to bring the bulls from ranches and the young apprentices would accompany the bull minders and often they would run ahead of the bulls to guide them forward. And as days passed by, this became a tradition and it was conducted as an event that becomes popular.

Other facts about this festival are

There is no formal dress code for this festival. Mostly the participants would wear a traditional dress which is a white T-shirt with a red scarf around their waist and a red handkerchief around their neck. This dress code is worn to honour San Fermin, to represent his death by decapitation. The white outfit represents the purity and holiness of a saint and the red scarf and handkerchiefs represent his death.

Anyone who is 18 years old or above can take part in this event and the participation is completely free. But there is rules and guidelines present and you need to follow them to avoid fines and problems from the local authorities. The local police will take strict action if any kind of misbehaviour is noticed and strictly no drugs policy is also followed.

Rockets are set off to denote the start of the event. By using the rockets only the organizers communicate with the general public and the runners or the participants. The first rocket indicates the bulls are let loose and they start from the start point and the second rocket that goes off indicates that the bulls have left the pens are on the streets.

The third rocket is set off indicates that the bulls have entered the pens and finally the fourth rocket indicates that the fencing can be safely opened and the streets can get to their happy mood as the run is over.

There are some risk factors accompanied by this event. An average of 2000 people takes part in this festival in each of the runnings of the bulls. The risk that no one can ignore is that the bulls can knock you over or you may get stamping if you fall during the run. There are several cases where the participants got injured severely and if you are a foreigner expert treatment will be given to you.

Final words:

If you have planned not to run, if you love watching this bull running then you can get to the balconies of the house and enjoy watching the event. So this is all about the Running of the bulls festival. We hope you found this article interesting. Cheers!!!

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Running of the Bulls Picture