If you’re like me, you were probably sitting comfortably in your own home this morning (perhaps on a bean bag chair) and watching Yard Crashers on TV, free from the fear of being gored by a giant, homicidal bull. But over in Pamplona, Spain, several thousand people chose to risk their lives and health instead, as the San Fermin Festival got underway with the annual Running of the Bulls.
Made famous by Ernest Hemingway’s “The Sun Also Rises”, the San Fermin Festival is a nine-day celebration of Saint Fermin of Amiens, who was Pamplona’s first bishop before his eventual beheading in France, which I do not believe was soccer-related. But the fiesta is most commonly known for the Running, in which people looking to “feel alive” allow six pissed off bulls and six equally irate steers to chase them through the streets and into the city’s bullring.
And, of course, the most pressing question on the first day of the running is… how many people were gored?
Despite a large crowd of participants because the run coincided with a weekend, only four people were treated for injuries and no one was gored, officials said.
The regional government of Navarra, which is responsible for organizing the festival, said in a statement that none of the four are seriously injured.
A 24-year-old Australian, whom it identified only by the initials J. C., was being treated for bruising, as was a 44-year-old British national. An American citizen identified only as C.S. was also receiving treatment for a minor injury, as was a 36-year-old native of Pamplona, the statement said. (Via Fox News)
I don’t mean to sound insensitive, but I have to think that the four people who were actually hurt by the bulls should probably feel pretty embarrassed. I mean, several thousand people were running with them, and they didn’t even think to trip the person next to them in order to save themselves? Remind me to seek them out when the zombie apocalypse arrives.
In the meantime, I’ve included a gallery of the first day’s action in Pamplona. If you want to really feel like you’re there, have someone poke you with a pencil.