What the Running of the Bulls Festival Says About Spain
It’s time once again for those shaky videos of men panicking
as they run through the narrow streets of Spain – pursued by bulls no less – to
flood the internet.
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Running the Bulls in Pamplona each year comes with so many dangers
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If you’d missed the news, the Running of the Bulls festival
of Pamplona is ready to go for another summer. Also returning with the festival
are the piles of articles condemning the practice, and the news reports keeping
track of the injuries and fatalities.
Things have been pretty good on that front for 2017; which
has seen only some injuries and gorngs. It’s nothing like 2016, in which
an astonishing 12 people were severely gored.
It’s understandable why the world would hold such a
fascination for this ancient festival. Something that’s more interesting though
is analysing what the festival – and indeed the attention it generates – shows
us about Spain.
Tradition Never Dies…
Whether it’s flamenco
dancing, bull running, bull fighting, the siesta, or the weird human pyramids
we see each year, the cultural traditions of Spain never die. If anything, they
seem to be getting even more popular thanks to the modern world of social media
that records and shares just about anything.
There will always be controversy over bull fighting, but
even the harshest critics of the practice admit that it is a powerful market of
Spanish cultural identity; perhaps the most distinctive cultural identity there
is in the world.
Foreigners Love It
Of course there will be some Americans, Brits, and other
Europeans that focus heavily on the number of people injured during the
Pamplona bull run, but this doesn’t deter Spaniards.
How much Spain insists on maintaining their traditions –
even when faced with “health and safety” concerns – really speaks to those who
are tired of living in their Nanny States. A tomato fight would never be
sanctioned in the UK, never mind a bull run. This creates a real sense of
“anything goes” in Spain that appeals to thousands of tourists.
The World Shows Respect
Most countries with unique and alien cultural traditions can
hope to be ignored or admonished only a little at best. But this isn’t the case
with Spain.
Semana Santa, La Tomatina, and the Pamplona bull run draw in
a wealth of press from around the world each year. The reason for this is that
they respect Spain and are fascinated by a country that has their own distinct
regional identities. It also speaks of the desire to protect and nurture these
traditions; something that is almost unique in the modern era.
