Spain is renowned for its many fiestas throughout the year. In every town there is some kind of festival or the other, and all aim to make people come out into the streets and have some fun. One of the biggest festivals in the region is the Pamplona bull running festival. This festival starts on the 6th July every single year. It begins with the event called “chupinazo” which happens on the Casa Consistorial that is in Pamplona. The people of the town gather together in the square and wait patiently for the mayor to officially declare that the festival has started. To celebrate, a rocket is launched into the air and partying begins amidst a lot of fanfare. Today, the festival is characterized by several things. These include a bullfight, music, fireworks, a procession, dancing and many other forms of merriment. The event takes place between July 7th and July 10th.

No official records exist that state when the festival first began. There is evidence that the festival has roots as early as the 13th century, and that during that time it was held at a different time of the year - in October. It can be guessed that the modern day version of the festival has developed from this early festival along with the other commercial and bullfighting fiestas that also date back hundreds of years.

Over the years, the Pamplona festival has moved to the month of July, because at this time the weather is fine and will not interfere with the festivities. The first time the festival was held in July was in 1591.

Starting in the 17th and the 18th centuries, people from afar, and even people of other nationalities, started taking part in the festival alongside the Spanish nationals. Over time, the religious scent of the festival was lessened to give way to simple merry making. There are reports from this era that the clergy was worried about the permissiveness of the youths who took part in the festival.

As the festival advanced to the 19th century, fair ground and carnival attractions were added to the festival. There were also circus animals and canon ball acts that were part of the festivities. It wasn’t until the 20th century that knowledge of the festival spread to countries all over the globe and tourists flocked to the Pamplona bull running festival to participate in the fun. Ernest Hemmingway wrote a novel that was published in 1926 that was entitled “The sun also rises”. This mentioned the Pamplona bull running festival and helped to publicize the event across the globe.

At 8am in the morning, the Bull Run begins. Until the 14th July, this takes place every day. The bulls are made to run a distance of 825 meters, which usually takes about three minutes to complete. The tickets for the festival are always sold out well in advance, which is rather impressive considering the arena where this takes place can hold as many as 12,500 people.