Spain: beyond the bulls
Participants celebrate the start of the San Fermin Festival on July 6, 2011, in Pamplona, northern Spain. Tens of thousands of people flood Pamplona’s streets to kick-off Spain’s best-known fiesta: San Fermin bull-running festival.
In Spain, a season of festivals is in full swing as the northern city of Pamplona celebrates its sixth day of the festival of San Fermin, best known for the encierro, or the "running of the bulls." During the event, hundreds of bulls tear through the narrow streets of the historic heart of Pamplona. Participants, risking life and limb in search of a thrill, run among the animals as they charge toward the bull ring. Every year there are countless injured and since 1910, there have been 15 fatalities.
But the celebrations are not just limited to Pamplona. Numerous, and often colorful, festivals take place throughout the year. The events range from the festival of El Colacho, in which a man dressed as the devil jumps over babies — cleansing their original sin — to Tomatina, in which tens of thousands of people pelt each other with tons of tomatoes.
Here is a look at Spain's summer of celebration.
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