page_title: Festival of San Fermín
section_title: Modern times
hierarchical_section_title: Festival of San Fermín / History / Modern times
caption_attribution_description: English: Monument to Ernest Hemingway outside the bullfight ring in Pamplona, Spain
context_page_description: The festival of San Fermín is a week long, historically rooted celebration held annually in the city of Pamplona, Navarra, in northern Spain.
  The celebrations start at noon on July 6 and continue until midnight on July 14. A firework starts off the celebrations and the popular song Pobre de mí is sung at the end. The most famous event is the running of the bulls, which begins at 8 in the morning from July 6 to 14, but the festival involves many other traditional and folkloric events. It is known locally as Sanfermines and is held in honour of Saint Fermin, the co-patron of Navarre.
  Its events were central to the plot of The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway, which brought it to the general attention of the English-speaking world. It has become probably the most internationally renowned festival in Spain with over a million people coming to participate.
context_section_description: The worldwide fame of the modern festival, and the great number of foreign visitors it receives every year, are closely related to the description in Ernest Hemingway's book The Sun Also Rises and the reports he made as a journalist. He was fascinated when he first visited in 1923, and returned many times until 1959. Hemingway was also deeply fond of bullrunnings and bullfights, but he did not participate in the running. Different city locations  such as La Perla Hotel or the Iruña Café are famous in part due to the fact that the writer used to visit them. Another famous American author, James Michener, wrote extensively about the festival and bullfighting in his non-fiction book Iberia. His writing explained the art and business of bullfighting with tremendous 'gracia' by explaining the importance of 'pundonor'.
  The COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 forced officials to cancel the festival and defer to 2021.
caption: Monument to Hemingway outside the bullring in Pamplona.
exif: {"Image Make": "Apple", "Image Model": "iPhone 4", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "72", "Image YResolution": "72", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "Microsoft Windows Photo Gallery 6.0.6001.18000", "Image DateTime": "2012:05:15 13:46:40", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Centered", "Image ExifOffset": "2318", "Image XPKeywords": "[67, 0, 97, 0, 109, 0, 105, 0, 110, 0, 111, 0, 0, 0]", "Image Padding": "[]", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "4890", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "6027", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/556", "EXIF FNumber": "14/5", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Program Normal", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "80", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0221", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2012:04:27 17:56:17", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2012:04:27 17:56:17", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF ShutterSpeedValue": "19120/2097", "EXIF ApertureValue": "4281/1441", "EXIF BrightnessValue": "4778/601", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire, auto mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "77/20", "EXIF SubjectArea": "[1295, 967, 699, 696]", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "1936", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "2592", "EXIF SensingMethod": "One-chip color area", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard", "EXIF Sharpness": "Hard", "EXIF Padding": "[]"}