Yesterday, 7 July, saw the start of the San Fermin bull-running and bullfight festival in Pamplona, Navarra.
This annual festival, popularised by, among others, the American journalist and author Ernest Hemingway (1899 – 1961), has come in for criticism in recent years, as the corrida de toros has come increasingly under the microscope. Already banned in Catalonia, this cultural and iconic part of Spanish life provokes strong feelings nowadays.
7 July, 1971
My first experience of the bulls was at age 21 in Pamplona in July 1971, when I visited for the first time. I was hooked.
I saw a young torero, Paquirri, who went on to become the best of his generation. He sadly died from a serious goring at the age of 36. Paquirri was from the legendary Ordoñez family from Ronda. His father Antonio Ordoñez was a top torero, as were his sons Fran Rivera and Cayetano Rivera.
Antonio Ordoñez became great friends of Ernest Hemingway and US actor and film director Orson Welles, whose ashes are buried on the Ordoñez estate near Ronda. Both have streets named after them in the City of the Tajo, as Ronda is also known.
Ernest Hemingway [Photo: Acento] Orson Welles [Photo: Amazon] Antonio Ordoñez [Photo: El Mundo]
7 July, 2024
At 7.00 am a gun was fired in Pamplona and the gates of the stables, housing the six bulls for the afternoon bullfight, were opened and these ferocious beasts, accompanied by oxen to keep them moving, ran through the barricaded streets of the Basque town to the Plaza de Toros a mile away.
Running in front of the bulls were hundreds of aficionados dressed in the traditional white shirt and trousers with red beret and sash, who try to avoid getting injured or killed.
Sundry foreign, mainly American, machos, many of them drunk or hungover, also take part. Yesterday four injuries were reported.
Me and los toros
Plaza de Toros, Ronda [Photo: Wikipedia]
Having lived in Ronda, the acknowledged home of bullfighting, for nearly 16 years, I have been to a few corridas. But not for a good few years. I’ve gone off the whole thing. It’s become too expensive and commercialised, The last time I went was in 2012, a dozen years ago.
I fancied giving the Goyesca a try, but I can’t afford 200 euros for a ticket.
2024 cancelled
It was announced a couple of weeks ago that the bullfight segment of Ronda’s Feria de Pedro Romero in September has been cancelled. The Plaza de Toros has been deemed unsafe. The oldest plaza in Spain, many of the wooden support beams have been found to be rotten. It is hoped to fix the problem for next year.
The town estimates that it will lose some 250,000 euros as a result if the cancellation.
Further reading:
7 de julio – San Fermín (eyeonspain.com)
Ernest Hemingway - Wikipedia
Fisticuffs and whisky: The first meeting between Welles and Hemingway (secretserrania.com)
Goyesca 2024 in Ronda Cancelled (eyeonspain.com)
Remembering "PAQUIRRI", torero extraordinaire (eyeonspain.com)
“ ….. Siete de julio, San Fermin ….” (eyeonspain.com)
TELEDIARIO MATINAL (rtve.es)
Top 5 writers on Spain (secretserrania.com)
Photos:
Acento, Amazon, El Confidencial, El Mundo, Wikipedia
Tags:
Antonio Ordoñez, Cayetano Rivera, Ernest Hemingway, “Fisticuffs and Whisky”, Feria de Pedro Romero, Fran Rivera, Goyesca, Navarra, Orson Welles, Pamplona, Paquirri, Plaza de Toros, Ronda, San Fermin, Sanfermines, siete de julio