The Other Great Pilgrimage, Locus of Many Darwin Awards: The Running of the Bulls in Pamplona

Mom notes on Facebook today that Pamplona “is on our way of the Camino. Glad this will Pamplona Bacchanalbe over.”

She’s referring here to the Running of the Bulls in Pamplona. Hemingway was much in love with bullfighting and Pamplona itself, but today’s Running of the Bulls is the sort of bacchanal usually associated with drunken college students on southern American beaches. The Running of the Bulls is also a frequent subject of the Darwin Awards, won each year by people who, through breathtaking acts of stupidity, remove themselves from the gene pool.

PamplonaFrom ABC News today:

For those keeping track, the count stands at 113.

Injuries, that is, as the annual “Running of the Bulls” continued in Pamplona, Spain this weekend. Sixteen people have been hospitalized with serious injuries in four days.

The cobblestone streets of this northern Spanish town were slippery with dew, alcohol and trash from parties that rage during the eight-day San Fermín Festival.

Overcrowding has been a major problem, increasing the danger to the runners on the 900-yard course. About 1.6 million people are expected to visit during the festival.

If you were attending the Running of the Bulls, your to-do list might look like this:

1. Fly to Spain

2. Get blindingly drunk

2a.  Show breasts (if female)

2b. Crowd-surf (usually males)

3. Run into street with bulls

4. Get impaled, gored, OR (extra credit) trampled

So, just to review.

This:

Drinking

inevitably leads to this:

Goring

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