It was American
writer Ernest Hemingway who helped spread the word of the tradition
in such books as The Sun Also Rises and Death in the Afternoon.
Today, increasing
numbers of tourists join the crowds in Pamplona, Spain at the height
of the travel season in July at the famous Running of the
Bulls at the annual Fiesta San Fermin.
It begins in 2012, as usual, on July 6 and continues for 8 days (and nights filled with partying and celebration) until July 14.
Media coverage
has taken the annual running of the bulls worldwide to the delight
of armchair runners everywhere - with news, updates, daily bull
running blogs, pictures, and video appearing almost hourly
during the nine-day festival.
Of particular interest are photos & video clips depicting
victory ... for the bull!
Running
of the Bulls 2012
Where
: Pamplona, Spain
When
: Opening ceremony, fireworks display on July
6.
Running of the bulls every morning 8AM from
July 7-14.
Traditional
route :
Santo
Domingo
Town
Hall Plaza
Calle
Meraderes
Calle
Estafeta
Calle
Duque de Ahumada
Plaza
de Toro
Dramatic gorings,
tramplings, and related eyewitness accounts have become the stuff
of Internet legend, as images of victims flipped head-over-heels
by the horns of an oncoming bull are the stark equivalent of an
urban car wreck. Viewers just can't look away.
While the
festival at Pamplona remains the most famous, it is only one of
the many such running of the bulls events held throughout Spain
during the summer.
Usually, they
begin as a prelude to a major bullfight, a custom originating
in the19th century when townspeople would line the streets to
view the bulls being 'run' or transported from their corrals to
the arena.
The most macho
teens and young men would then show off their bravado by jumping
into the herd as it passed.
In the modern
running, barricades are often erected along the route to help
protect spectators. However, that doesn't stop hundreds of young
men from jumping in or ahead of a bull herd, running for their
lives in a classic test of man against beast.