San Fermines
(Sent by María José Gómez Cordonie, a student from Málaga, Spain)

The "San Fermines" is a festival in honour of Saint Fermin, which is held annually in Pamplona, in the northern of Spain.

The festival begins with the throw of a rocket from the balcony of the town hall at 12 noon on July 6 and ends at 24 hours of July 14 with the "Poor me", a song of farewell.

One of the famous traditions of "San Fermines" is the running of bulls, which is a race about 800 metres ahead of the bulls and culminating in the bullring.

The running of bulls is every day between 7 and 14 and begins at eight o'clock, with an average duration of two to three minutes.

The origin of the festival of "San Fermines" goes back to the Middle Ages and is related to three ceremonies in honour of Saint Fermin Religious.

Initially, the festival of Saint Fermin of Pamplona was held on October 10th, but in 1591 the people of Pamplona, fed up with the bad weather at that time of year, decided to move the festival to July so it would coincide with the Fair. This is how the "San Fermines" was born.

Originally it lasted two days and had an opening of proclamation, musicians, tournament, drama and bullfights.

Later, other events were added, such as firework and dances, and the festival lasted until July 10th.