First Published Jul 14, 2022, 4:32 PM IST
MrEvery year, there are many festivals around the world associated with Gums. The Pamplona Festival in Spain is a celebration similar to Jallikattu in Tamil Nadu. On the seventh day of the San Fermin festival in Spain, the bulls run through the streets. Six people were injured during a bull run through a crowded street in Pamplona yesterday. An American and three Spaniards were hospitalized with serious injuries.
The Pamplona celebration, which was halted due to Covid, resumed this year. Excited people had already taken over the streets. San Fermín is a week-long celebration with historical roots held annually in the northern Spanish city of Pamplona. The celebration starts at noon on July 6 and continues till midnight on July 14.
The celebrations begin with fireworks and end with the singing of the popular song Pobre de Mi. The highlight of the festival is the bull run which starts at 8 am every day from 7th to 14th July.
Although many traditional folk dances are performed along with it, the most popular is the bullfight. Locally this celebration is known as Sanfermines. It is held in honor of Saint Ferm, co-patron of Navarre. It is the most internationally famous festival in Spain, with over a million people coming to participate.
Bullfighting was legalized in Spain in 1835. In the bull races held so far this year, the bull picked up a man by his clothes and dragged him for several meters. At the end of the race, a 29-year-old Spaniard seriously injured his knee. Two others were injured in the fall.
Eight people were killed in the last bull run in 2019 before the spread of the Covid pandemic. No deaths have been reported so far this time, but the number of injured is on the rise.
The bull run starts at 8 am. Hundreds of runners must have flocked to the streets early in the morning to run along. Most of them are men. This time there were six bulls for the race. Six other specially trained bulls will participate in the competition.
Running regarding 875 meters through the city of Pamplona, the bulls are finally led into a wide field. There the bullfighters kill them with a special weapon. Thousands of people come just for this sight. During the days of the festival, there will be 24-hour parties. The festival is also very popular for street performances and food in the city.
Unlike usual, this time there were rape complaints during the bull run. A woman complained to the police that she was raped and eight other women were sexually assaulted during the Kalayota festival. With this, hundreds of people came to protest.
The Pamplona local police said that the complaint is being investigated and no one has been arrested yet. In 2016, an 18-year-old woman was gang-raped during the bullfight. Five people were found guilty and sentenced in this case. The case was known as the ‘Wolf Pack’. It was the name of a WhatsApp group that was sharing pictures of the attack.
With this, agitations arose which led to the demolition of rape cases. Finally, on June 6 last year, the Spanish government approved a bill to define non-consensual sex as rape. Rape complaints were raised during the first bullfight celebration following the covid break, which has become very controversial in Spain.
