The San Fermín festivities, the most international holiday in Spain. Every year it receives hundreds of thousands of foreign people, who attracted by bulls, wine and people, are involved in a celebration that never leaves anyone indifferent. Therefore, numerous countries have decided to adopt the Pamplonese party and take it to their countries.
From France to the United States, through India and Latin America. Numerous are the countries and regions that have replicated this party, adding their own characteristics and removing the occasional thing. The main reason that there are these parties in these places is that Spanish – especially Basques – have expanding culture to the rest of the world.
It is important to mention that in certain places, bulls and bullfights are prohibited, considering them as animal abuse.
Sanfermines for Europe
Spain is the cradle of this holiday, even so, there are certain countries that seeing the success of the Big Week of Pamplona decide to take it to its land.
FRANCE
In the neighboring country we find several places where parties and festivals are held in what there are enclosures in the purest Sanfermines style. First, we find the Bayonne Festival. In the heart of the French Basque Country, Bayonne transforms every summer into a hotbed of music, color and tradition with his famous Fêtes de Bayonne. For five intense days, thousands of people dress in white and red to immerse themselves in a collective party that has a lot of emotion and also history. And although bullfights are part of the program, it is the enclosures that condense the most popular and participatory essence of the event.
Unlike what happens in Pamplona, where the enclosures culminate in the square with a fight, in Bayona the morning races with cows and bulls through the streets of the Petit Bayonne neighborhood have a more festive, playful and accessible character. Far from looking for extreme risk, these enclosures are conceived as a celebration in which direct contact with animals lives with respect, tradition and humor.
The practice is documented in Bayonne since at least 1289, when a municipal decree already prohibited bulls from the streets, evidence of a custom rooted for centuries. Today, that legacy continues with the Vaches coursesraces starring cows that travel a fenced circuit between shoves, jumps and controlled scares. Both young and old, some with experience, others only with enthusiasm, and the result is always the same: laughs, emotion and a community environment.
PORTUGAL
The other neighboring country, we also find a great bullfighting cultural. A very entrenched and beloved tradition that is celebrated mainly in the Azore Islands, especially on the island of São Jorge are the “bulls with rope” or “browds”.
The first documented reference dates from 1622, in Angra do Heroism, during the festivities for the canonization of San Francisco Javier and Ignacio de Loyola. However, it is believed that tradition existed long before. This holiday consists of a tour of about 500 that covers the main street of the town, in which four brave bulls are tied with a rope. This rope is held by a group of between 6 and 10 shepherds, dressed in the traditional way, controlling the journey of the cattle. The horns are protected to avoid injuries and the public encourages the bull and face it, while using an umbrella as a defense.
Each fight has a time between 15 and 30 minutes and the full event does not last more than 3 hours. When it ends, the bulls return to their stables and rest a minimum of eight days before returning to the streets of the town. The activity provides a significant economic impact: in 2015, it represented 2.47 % of regional GDP (€ 91 million), generating employment, tourism and local dynamization.
For the islanders, it is an identity symbol. The president of the Association of Bull Breeders, Són Ferreira, described it in 2023: “It is a milestone of our identity … if it depends on the people, it will not die.”
ENGLAND
Already to end the old continent we talk about a tradition that is prohibited, but which was held for more than 100 years, “Stamford Bull Run”. This holiday dates back to the time of King Juan. When he was in the battlements of his castle, he spotted two bulls fighting and several farmers approached to separate them, at that time one of them escaped through the streets of the town destroying houses and shops. The Count enjoyed the experience of running after the bull that he asked to be repeated the following year and it was.
The party began with the ringing of the bells and with the people closing their establishments. Subsequently, he took the bull and a multitude of people pursued them, until he was finally captured and sacrificed. The meat was distributed among the townspeople. These runs in 1833 was the subject of debate among those who defended him, stating that “traditional and manly English sport that inspired courage, agility and serenity in danger situations.” However, that year several people were condemned for disturbances, which encouraged people to celebrate it big the following year.
In 1837, the mayor of Stamford, along with more than 200 police units, tried to stop him, but a crowd next to the bull razed the barricade and the holiday could follow his channel. Stamford’s last confinement took place in 1839, before an even greater police and military force. The confinement was brief, and the bull was quickly captured by the peace forces without serious incident. Since the inhabitants were forced to assume the cost of the military presence for several consecutive years, they agreed, that year, to suspend the practice and fulfilled their word. Stamford’s confinement went down in history.
A party that passes the great puddle
The Sanfermines, not only have a presence in Europe, but also many places in Latin America, along with certain municipalities in the United States celebrate festivities similar to those of Pamplona.
USA
In this country there have been certain places where Sanfermines have been replicated. In Cayo Bone (Florida), there is a humorous recreation of San Fermín in honor of the American writer and journalist, Ernest Hemingway, who was a great fan of Spain and the city of Pamplona.
Instead of real bulls, people disguised by Ernest Hemingway participate, running through the streets and emulating the famous race. This holiday is part of the celebrations of the “Hemingway Days” in Cayo Bone, which honor the life and work of the writer, who lived and worked on the island for many years.
Apart, in Virginia “The Great Bull Run” is celebrated, a holiday that brings together thousands of people and that does resemble Spanish more. The first confinement in Virginia was held in August 2013, in an attempt to replicate the famous Pamplona career. The event, which was developed in a racing circuit, was attended by wild bulls and hairs, which guided the pack for the tour. The initiative attracted thousands of people, with inscriptions that exceeded 5,000 people, although it also generated criticism for the treatment of animals.
The race involves running through an urban tour, in this case, a racing circuit, while the bulls are released and run behind the participants. The distance of the route is 875 meters, similar to that of Pamplona, but it differs in that it does not develop in narrow and cobbled streets such as those of the Spanish city.
Latin America
Due to the past that unites Spain with Latin America, in many places enclosures are made and the bullfighting tradition is quite large. Yes, it is true that in many places, they have already been forbidden, but in others they continue to be part of the culture of those locations.
MEXICO
In the town of Huamantla belonging to the Mexican State of Tlaxcala, enclosures are held in the purest Pamplone style. This celebration, held since 1954, brings together a multitude of corridors that challenge the courage of the Bravo Toro in a carefully fenced urban tour: “The Huamantado is considered the largest capea in the world with about 20 streets of the historic center and up to 25 loose bulls”, narrate from the town.
The event, with a distance of between 600 and 850 meters, depending on the edition. It travels the main streets of the municipality, until you reach the emblematic bullring “La Taurina”. For approximately 90 minutes, participants run in front of 6 to 25 brave bulls, in an atmosphere of intense festive emotion.
Beyond adrenaline, Huamantado is a regional identity sample, a community celebration that attracts tourism and energizes the local economy. It is one of the central acts during the Fair of the Virgen de la Caridad, next to the emblematic “the night that nobody sleeps” and the carpets of sawdust.
PERU
In Peru we find “the pamplonada rémense”. These enclosures are held in the district of Rimac, in Lima. This Lima version takes place around the historic bullring of Acho, inaugurated in 1766. After the initial exit in the square, the bulls travel the adjacent streets while runners enter into an intense and vibrant circuit. The objective of the event was to recreate the adrenaline of Pamplona confinement in Lima: “The runners feel the adrenaline, they have the fierce bull nearby, it is very exciting,” said Lucho Cáceres, organizer.
The third edition, held last February, brought together hundreds of participants and highlighted the emotion of Lima confinement. According to local media, three people were with minor injuries when crossing with the asttaders, but there were no serious incidents.
