page_title: Running of the bulls
section_title: Preliminaries
hierarchical_section_title: Running of the bulls / Pamplona bull run / Preliminaries
caption_attribution_description: Español: Cordón de la policía municipal al inicio de un encierro en las fiestas de San Fermín en 2006.
context_page_description: A running of the bulls is an event that involves running in front of a small group of cattle, typically six but sometimes ten or more, that have been let loose on a course of a sectioned-off subset of a town's streets, usually as part of a summertime festival. Particular breeds of cattle may be favored, such as the toro bravo in Spain, also often used in post-run bullfighting, and Camargue cattle in Occitan France, which are not fought. Bulls are typically used in such events.
  The most famous bull-run is the encierro held in Pamplona during the nine-day festival of Sanfermines in honour of Saint Fermin. It has become a major global tourism event, today very different from the traditional, local festival. More traditional summer bull-runs are held in other places such as towns and villages across Spain and Portugal, in some cities in Mexico, and in the Occitan region of southern France. Bull-running was formerly also practiced in rural England, most famously at Stamford until 1837.
  The origin of this event comes from the need to transport the bulls from the fields outside the city, where they were bred, to the bullring, where they would be killed in the evening.
context_section_description: 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 "¡Viva San Fermín! and Gora San Fermin! ('Long live Saint Fermin', in Spanish and Basque, respectively). Most runners dress in the traditional clothing of the festival which consists of a white shirt and trousers with a red waistband (faja) and neckerchief (pañuelo). Also some of them hold the day's newspaper rolled to draw the bulls' attention from them if necessary.
caption: Police barrier at the beginning of the running stops people until the first rocket is fired.
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