Pamplona's Running of the Bulls Begins With a Hemingway Centennial in the Air

A Festival 400 Years in the Making

The 2026 Running of the Bulls at the Festival de San Fermín in Pamplona, Spain kicked off on July 6th , and as of today, Tuesday, July 7, the city's legendary streets are alive with the thunder of hooves. The first bull run happened this morning at 8:00 a.m., when the beasts were released on a closed course spanning less than half a mile to Pamplona's bullfighting stadium, the Plaza de Toros. This year's festival carries an extra layer of meaning — it coincides with the 100th anniversary of the novel that made Pamplona famous to the world.

Every day from July 7 to 14, this brief, intense race is repeated, taking just three minutes to run the 848-metre route. At precisely 8 AM, six fighting bulls — bred for strength, size, and nobility — are released onto the street, accompanied by six oxen that help herd the beasts and keep them on course. Every year during the second week of July, a sleepy little Spanish city of 200,000 suddenly swells to a population of over one million. The festival is, by any measure, one of the most extraordinary gatherings on earth.

Hemingway's Shadow Looms Over Every Cobblestone

One hundred years after the publication of Ernest Hemingway's landmark novel *The Sun Also Rises*, the legendary author's influence remains deeply woven into the annual San Fermín festival, as thousands of visitors from around the world gather for this year's celebration. Hemingway's 1926 novel captivated generations of readers with its Jazz Age tale of American and British bohemians, and its success established it as a cornerstone of the American literary canon, right up there with F. Scott Fitzgerald's *The Great Gatsby*. It also popularized the term "lost generation" to describe the tight-knit group of early 20th-century writers expatriated in Paris.

Hotels, restaurants, and bars proudly display photographs, statues, or plaques commemorating Hemingway's visits to the city. Outside the famous bullring stands a statue honoring the Nobel Prize-winning writer, while banners celebrating the novel's 100th anniversary decorate public spaces. When Hemingway made his last visits to Pamplona, he would frequent the Perla Hotel; his suite still has furniture from the 1950s when he stayed there, and the room — which overlooks the bull run route — also has two glass bookcases holding dozens of copies of *The Sun Also Rises*.

The Americans Who Keep Coming Back

Bill Hillmann has been gored three times while running with the bulls in Spain, but he wouldn't miss this year's San Fermín festival for anything — it marks the 100th anniversary of the publication of Hemingway's book that launched the future Nobel Laureate to literary fame and put Pamplona on the map for millions of people around the world. Hillmann's story is extreme, but it's not unique. While running with bulls is a cherished local custom for Spanish daredevils, Americans are still the leading group of foreigners who run at the San Fermín festival. In 2022, 16% of the bull runners were Americans — the largest percentage among foreigners and four times more than those from neighboring France, according to Pamplona's City Hall.

This year alone, one major tour organization is bringing approximately 1,400 visitors to Pamplona, with more than two-thirds traveling from the United States. The centennial anniversary of *The Sun Also Rises* has generated additional excitement among literature enthusiasts and longtime Hemingway admirers. The danger, meanwhile, is real and documented. At least 16 people are believed to have died in the festivities over the past century, and injuries are a regular occurrence.

Ancient Roots, Modern Controversy

The tradition of the Running of the Bulls dates back over 400 years. The town's butchers had to move bulls from the ranches outside Pamplona into the town, hiring bull minders called "pastores" to accompany them. The young butchers began running in front of the bulls to make them run faster, and it soon turned into a kind of competitive event, with many locals joining in. The festival honors Saint Fermín, Pamplona's first bishop, and festivities were moved from the saint's autumn feast day to July in the 16th century, presumably to coincide with the peak season for cattle markets.

Hemingway's local legacy, however, is mixed. Beside a feminist critique of his hyper-masculine public persona, Hemingway has drawn criticism from the animal rights movement for his praise of bullfighters. San Fermín ends on July 14 at midnight, when the people gather in the Plaza del Ayuntamiento with lit candles, singing "Pobre de mí" (poor me), saying goodbye to their fiesta until the following year. For a week that began with rockets and revelry, it's a surprisingly tender farewell — one