Running of the bulls

The event has its origins in the old practice of transporting bulls from the fields outside the city, where they were bred, to the bullring, where they would be fought and killed in the evening. During this "run", local youths would jump among them in a display of bravado. In Pamplona and other places, the six bulls that run are also in that afternoon's bullfight. Spanish tradition holds that bull-running began in northeastern Spain in the early 14th century. Cattle herders who wanted to transport their animals from barges or from the countryside into city centers for sale or bullfights needed an easy way to move their precious animals. While transporting cattle in order to sell them at the market, men would try to speed the process by hurrying their cattle using tactics of fear and excitement. After years of this practice, the transportation and hurrying began to turn into a competition, as young adults would attempt to race in front of the bulls and make it safely to their pens without being overtaken. ==Pamplona bull run==

The Pamplona It is the highest-profile event of the San Fermín festival, which is held every year from 6–14 July. The running of the bulls was cancelled in 2020 and 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Spain, but resumed 7–14 July 2022. Fence In Pamplona, a set of wooden fences is erected to direct the bulls along the route and to block off side streets. A double wooden fence is used in those areas where there is enough space, while in other parts the buildings of the street act as barriers. The gaps in the barricades are wide enough for a human to slip through but narrow enough to block a bull. The fence is composed of approximately three thousand separate pieces of wood. Some parts of the fence remain in place for the duration of the fiesta, while others are placed and removed each morning. Spectators can only stand behind the second fence, whereas the space between the two fences is reserved for security and medical personnel and also for participants who need cover during the event. Preliminaries The encierro begins with runners singing a benediction. It is sung three times, each time being sung both in Spanish and Basque. The benediction is a prayer given at a statue of Saint Fermin, patron of the festival and the city, to ask the saint's protection and can be translated into English as "We ask Saint Fermin, as our Patron, to guide us through the encierro and give us his blessing". The singers finish by shouting " and ('Long live Saint Fermin', in Spanish and Basque, respectively). As most of the runners are male, only 5 women have been gored since 1974. Before that date, running was prohibited for women. Another major risk is runners falling and piling up (a "montón", meaning "heap", or "large amount") at the entrance of the bullring, which acts as a funnel, as it is much narrower than the previous street, resulting in a crowd crush. In such cases, injuries come both from asphyxia and contusions to those in the pile and from goring if the bulls crush into the pile. This kind of blocking of the entrance has occurred at least ten times in the history of the run, the last occurring in 2013 and the first dating back to 1878. A runner died of suffocation in one such pile-up in 1977. Overall, since record-keeping began in 1910, 15 people have been killed in the bull running of Pamplona, most of them due to being gored. Dress code Though there is no formal dress code, the very common and traditional attire is white trousers, a white shirt with a red cummerbund around the waist, and a red neckerchief around the neck. Some have large logos on their shirts; in the internet age, this is thought to be a way to highlight someone in a photo. This dress is to honor San Fermin, the center of the celebration, because of his martyr's death; the white outfits represent the purity and holiness of a saint, and the red kerchiefs (pañuelos), represent his death by decapitation. A common alternate color to red is blue. Media The encierro of Pamplona has been depicted many times in literature, television or advertising, but became known worldwide partly because of the descriptions of Ernest Hemingway in books The Sun Also Rises and Death in the Afternoon. The cinema pioneer Louis Lumière filmed the run in 1899. The event is the basis for a chapter in James Michener's 1971 novel The Drifters. The run is depicted in the 1991 Billy Crystal film City Slickers, where the character "Mitch" (Crystal) is gored (non-fatally) from behind by a bull during a vacation with the other main characters. Filmmakers traveled to Spain to shoot the actual running of the bulls with second unit director, Heston Fraser. City Slickers director Ron Underwood recreated the Pamplona location on the Universal Studios backlot to stage the running of the bulls with the actors. The run appears in the 2011 Bollywood movie Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara, directed by Zoya Akhtar, as the final dare in the bucket list of the three bachelors who have to overcome their ultimate fear; death. At first, the trio run part of the route. They stop at the square, but then recover their nerve, and continue to the end. The completion of the run depicts their freedom as they learn that surviving a mortal danger can bring joy. Running with Bulls, a 2012 documentary of the festival filmed by Construct Creatives and presented by Jason Farrel, depicts the pros and cons of the controversial tradition. From 2014 until 2016, the Esquire Network broadcast the running of the bulls live in the United States, with both live commentary and then a recorded 'round up' later in the day by NBCSN commentators the Men in Blazers, including interviews with noted participants such as Madrid-born runner David Ubeda, former US Army soldier turned filmmaker Dennis Clancey, and former British bullfighter and author Alexander Fiske-Harrison. In 2014, a guidebook authored by Alexander Fiske-Harrison, Ernest Hemingway's grandson John, Orson Welles' daughter Beatrice, and with a foreword by the Mayor of Pamplona, caused headlines around the world when one of the contributors, Bill Hillmann, was gored by a bull soon after its publication. It was republished in 2017 under the title The Bulls Of Pamplona with a replacement chapter by Dennis Clancey. The award-winning 2015 feature documentary Chasing Red directed by Dennis Clancey, follows four runners during the 2012 fiesta in Pamplona, including Bill Hillmann and David Ubeda. ==Other examples==

) Although the most famous running of the bulls is that of San Fermín, or Bous al carrer, correbou or correbous (meaning in Catalan, 'bulls in the street', 'street-bulls' or 'bull-running') is a typical festivity in many villages in the Valencian region, Terres de l'Ebre, Catalonia, and Fornalutx, Mallorca. Another similar tradition is soltes de vaques, where cows are used instead of bulls. Even though they can take place all along the year, they are most usual during local festivals (normally in August). Compared to encierros, animals are not directed to any bullring. These festivities are normally organized by the youngsters of the village, as a way for showing their courage and ability with the bull. Some sources consider this tradition a masculine initiation rite to adulthood. Occitan area of France Numerous bull-running events happen in France in the region around Sommières, in accordance with the Camargues tradition, in which no bulls are intentionally injured or killed. For instance, in Calvisson, the annual event takes place around 20 July over a period of five days. There are four events: the , in which at least ten bulls are run together through the street guided by a group of twelve mounted on white Camargue horses; the , in which one bull is released outside the foyer and finds his own way back to the pen; the , in which one bull is run, accompanied through the streets; and the , which is the same thing but after dark. Boys and men run with the bulls and try and separate them from the horses, stop them, and physically turn them away from the horses. Stamford bull run The English town of Stamford, Lincolnshire was host to the Stamford bull run for almost 700 years until it was abandoned in 1837. According to local tradition, the custom dated from the time of King John when William de Warenne, 5th Earl of Surrey, saw two bulls fighting in the meadow beneath. Some butchers came to part the combatants and one of the bulls ran into the town, causing a great uproar. The earl mounted his horse and rode after the animal, and enjoyed the sport so much that he gave the meadow in which the fight began to the butchers of Stamford, on condition that they should provide a bull to be run in the town every 13 November, for ever after. As of 2013 the bull run had been revived as a ceremonial, festival-style community event. Mock bull runs A variation is the nightly "fire bull" where balls of flammable material are placed on the horns. In modern times, the bull is often replaced by a runner carrying a frame on which fireworks are placed, and dodgers, usually children, run to avoid the sparks. The ("running of the town bus") started in Pamplona on 15 July 1984 when, after the end of the festival, youths would run before the earliest urban bus entering the traditional course. Starting in 1990, the Pamplona City Transport detoured the early bus to reduce the risk. Currently, the youths run before a cyclist in a yellow jersey as an homage to the Navarrese cycling champion Miguel Induráin. In 2008, Red Bull Racing driver David Coulthard and Scuderia Toro Rosso driver Sébastien Bourdais performed a version of a 'bull running' event in Pamplona, Spain, with the Formula One cars chasing 500 runners through the actual Pamplona route. of New Orleans The Big Easy Rollergirls roller derby team has performed an annual mock bull run in New Orleans, Louisiana since 2007. The team, dressed as bulls, skates after runners through the French Quarter. In 2012, there were 14,000 runners and over 400 "bulls" from all over the country, with huge before- and after-parties. In Ballyjamesduff, Ireland, an annual event called the Pig Run is held, functioning as a mini- but with small pigs in place of bulls. In Dewey Beach, Delaware, a bar named The Starboard sponsors an annual Running of the Bull , in which hundreds of red- and white-clad beachgoers are chased down the shore by a single "bull" (two people in a pantomime horse-style costume). In Rangiora, New Zealand, an annual Running of the Sheep is held, in which 1000–2000 sheep are released down the main street of the small farming town. The Running of the Bulls UK is a pub crawl event that takes place on London's Hampstead Heath and uses fast human runners in place of bulls. In 2014, Pamplona inaugurated a series of running events in June, the San Fermín Marathon, of a full marathon (42.195 km), half-marathon (21.097 km), or 10 km road race that concludes with the final 900m of each race using the route, runners crossing the finish line inside the bullring. Since 2008 in Anchorage, Alaska during the Fur Rendezvous Festival, the Running of the Reindeer has participants run down a four-block downtown street with a group of reindeer released behind them. ==Opposition==

Many opponents state that bulls are mentally stressed by the harassment and voicing of both participants and spectators, and some of animals may also die because of the stress, especially if they are roped or bring flares in their horns (bou embolat version). Despite all this, the festivities seem to have wide popular support in their villages. The city of San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, cancelled its Sanmiguelada running of the bulls after 2006, citing public disorder associated with the event. After the event was cancelled in San Miguel, the city of Salvatierra, also in the state of Guanajuato, picked up the event. It is now called La Marquesada and the three-day event is held during the last weekend of the month of September or first weekend of October. As of 2002, a Running of the Nudes occurs two days before the running of the bulls. The event is supported by animal welfare groups, including PETA, who object to the running of the bulls, claiming that it is cruel and glorifies bullfighting, which the groups oppose. ==Further reading==