Located in the middle of Navarre in a rounded valley, known as the Basin of Pamplona, that links the mountainous North with the Ebro valley, Pamplona or Iruña is the historical capital city of Navarre, and of the former Kingdom of Navarre. The city is famous worldwide for the running of the bulls (el encierro) during the San Fermín festival, which is held annually from July 6 to 14. This festival was brought to literary renown with the 1926 publication of Ernest Hemingway's novel The Sun Also Rises.
The festival of San Fermín (the co-patron of Navarre) involves many traditional events, but the most famous is the running of the bulls, which happens at 8:00 am from July 7 to 14. It involves hundreds of people running in front of six bulls and another six steers down an 825m stretch of narrow streets of a section of the Old Town. The run ends in the Pamplona's bullring (taking a mean time of around 3 minutes) where the bulls would be held until the afternoon's bullfight
The six fighting bulls are accompanied by oxen that guide them, six forward and three back. There are also shepherds guiding the bulls, wearing green T-shirts and holding long poles. Most runners wear the traditional clothing of the festival, a white shirt and trousers with a red waistband (faja) and neckerchief (pañuelo). Some of them wear other colors, blue for example, to draw the bulls' attention. Since 1925, 15 people have been killed during the event, and every year between 200 and 300 people are injured.
About the stamps
The first stamp is part of the series devoted to the Autonomous Communities (regional governments) of Spain, issued on January 3, 2011, and depicting the facade of the Constitutional Court and the outline of the map of seven Autonomous Communities with their flags.
• Spain's Constitutional Court
• Ciudad Autónoma de Ceuta
• Extremadura
• Ciudad Autónoma de Melilla
• Balearic Islands
• Comunidad de Madrid
• Comunidad de Castilla y León
• Comunidad Foral de Navarra - It's on the postcard
The second stamp is part of the series of two, named Ephemerides, issued on February 29, 2012:
• the 8th Centenary of the Battle of Navas de Tolosa (0,85 EUR)
• the 5th Centenary of the Conquest of Navarre (0,85 EUR) - It's on the postcard
References
Pamplona Bull Run - Wikipedia
Sender: Montserrat Aragones Pelegri (direct swap)
Sent from Lleida (Navarre / Spain), on 15.07.2014
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