Pamplona explodes with festivals

USPA NEWS - The Navarrese capital, Pamplona, ??opened nine days of festivities this Saturday in honor of its patron saint, San Fermín. These are the most internationally known Spanish festivals, characterized by their Encierros (running of the bulls). The first of them, this Sunday, when the image of San Fermín will walk through the streets of the center of Pamplona escorted by a passionate crowd that waits all year for the arrival of July 6, the day on which the festivities begin.

The festivities began with the traditional “chupinazo”, the firing of the inaugural rocket from the balcony of the City Hall, before a square full of people dressed in white and red - the traditional Sanfermines uniform - shouting in unison: “Viva San Fermín! Gora San Fermín!.” There were three representatives of the Duguna dance group, which this year celebrates 75 years of existence and was the most voted candidate among all those who aspired to fire the rocket.

There was fear that the weather would not be suitable for the event, since the previous days it had rained in Pamplona. But the clouds respected the “chupinazo” and the inaugural rocket of the festivities could be fired in all its splendor.

After the “chupinazo”, music took to the streets of Pamplona with the Biribilketa de Gaínza, which once again came out to the Town Hall square and whose replacement will be taken over by different bands from different parts of the city. As a novelty, the official broadcast of the chupinazo could be followed live on the digital screens that the City Council has distributed throughout all the neighborhoods of the city: in total, 37 devices that offered images of the Plaza Consistorial and the balcony from which it was launched the "chupinazo”.

The mayor of Pamplona, ??Joseba Asiron, assured in statements to the press that "these have to be the Sanfermines of coexistence. That is the objective and that is what this city really needs to have, yes, the best festivals in the world, a party where everyone, all people, feel safe, that from the first to the last day we feel free and feel without fear regardless of the time of day or night," he said after the launch of the “chupinazo.”

The Pamplona City Council has scheduled 514 activities, among which the traditional Encierros stands out, which start this Sunday, July 7, the big day of San Fermín, with bulls from La Palmosilla.