San Fermín San Fermín The festival of San Fermín is a week-long, historically rooted celebration held annually in the city of Pamplona, Navarra , Spain. The celebrations start at noon on the sixth of July, when the party starts with the setting off the pyrotechnic "chupinazo", and continue until midnight, on the fourteenth of July, with the singing of the "Pobre de Mí". While its most famous event is the encierro, or the running of the bulls, at 8:00 AM from July 7 to 14, the festival involves many other traditional and folkloric events. It is known locally as "Sanfermines" and is
Running of the bulls only stand behind the second fence, whereas the space between the two fences is reserved for security and medical personnel and also to participants who need cover during the event. 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