Festival of San Fermin 2010: Pamplona Bans Vuvuzelas

by Jordan Yerman | July 6, 2010 at 02:25 pm

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Running of the Bulls in Pamplona: Vuvuzelas Not Welcome in 2010

The parades and chupinazo firecrackers on July 6 signals the beginning of the Festival of San Fermin. A 8am local time on July 7, the running of the bulls begins. Tourists pour into the ancient streets from around the globe to test their mettle against the rampant bulls, and, predictably, there are injuries and deaths.

Ahead of San Fermin 2010, the mayor of Pamplona welcomed the traditional chupinazos, but was adamant in banning vuvuzelas, which he decried as a nuisance to locals.

El Encierro: At Your Own Risk

The bulls are run from their holding pens to the stadium each morning of the festival, which runs July 6-14. Around 300 people are injured each year during el encierro. Most injuries are relatively minor, though a man was killed by a bull in 2009.

The bull runs have claimed 15 lives since 1911 and each year dozens of runners are injured.

Last year, a bull gored a 27-year-old Spaniard to death, piercing his neck, heart and lungs with its horns in front of the hordes of tourists.

The British embassy this year posted a warning telling Britons to seriously consider the risks if they join in the run.

Running with the bulls isn't the only way to get injured during the festival:

The start of the fiesta was briefly marred when Basque separatists banned from displaying their flag on a huge stage raised one into the air from the crowd and unfurled a banner demanding terrorists convicted of bombings and killings be moved to prisons closer to their relatives.

The Festival of San Fermin was brought to general English-speaking attention by Earnest Hemingway in his emo-machismo classic The Sun Also Rises.

If you're going to run with the bulls, do it right.