No. 355

Daredevils face bulls in Spanish fiesta - San Fermín

Daredevils from around the world are heading to Spain's Pamplona for an alcohol-soaked fiesta and the thrill of being chased or trampled by charging fighting bulls.

Spain's most famous bull-run fiesta launches at noon (1000 GMT) Friday with a shout from the City Hall balcony of "Viva San Fermin!" and the launching of a firecracker known as the "chupinazo".

Foreigners and locals alike, in traditional white garb with red kerchiefs around their necks, then spray anyone around them with wine as they sing and dance in the Plaza Consistorial.

The San Fermin festival, which dates back to medieval times, features religious processions, folk dancing, concerts and lots and lots of drinking; gallons of beer, wine and sangria.

But the highlight is a bracing, daily test of courage against a thundering pack of half-tonne, sharp-horned bulls -- a spectacle immortalised by Ernest Hemingway in his 1926 novel "The Sun Also Rises".

Each day at 8:00 am (0600 GMT) hundreds of people race along with six fighting bulls, charging along an 850-metre course from a holding pen to the northern Spanish city's bull ring.

The bravest or most foolhardy run as close as possible to the tips of the horns, preferably without being gored.

Read more |  Emirates 24/7, 06.07.12

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