There are seventeen official Peñas, social clubs, in Pamplona, numbering from a few hundred members to more then a thousand,. Much like the Sociedades Gastronómicas, the members-only gastronomic societies in the Basque country, their main purpose is to get together in their clubhouses during the year to celebrate their culture and cuisine, but Pamplona’s Peñas also play an important role in the city’s world famous fiestas, the Fiesta de San Fermín and Feria del Toro de San Fermín, the running of the bulls.
The oldest Peña, “La Unica”, was founded at the turn of the 20th-century, in 1903, with the other Peñas forming during the ensuing years. Originally men-only clubs, like those in the Basque country, Pamplona’s Peñas now include the entire family, meaning the fiesta is no longer “the last bastion of the macho” as Hemingway once wrote.
The Peñas, an important part of the fiesta, have their own sections in the Plaza de Toros; part of tendido 5, all of tendidos 6 and 7, grada 5 and 7, and all of andanada 11, 12 and 13, which they fill every afternoon for the bullfights. Each has their own band, which tend to drown out the more traditional music played by the official city band located on the other side of the Plaza de Toros, in the shade. If you’ve never experienced a bullfight sitting near the Peñas, then you’ve never really experienced Sanfermines.
Pamplona’s Peñas have their favorite matadors, and for several years, until his recent retirement, it was Juan José Padilla (the pirate), one of Spain’s great matadors.
Most of the Peñas can be found in the old quarter along Calle Jarauta, where if you happen to venture at night, you’ll find they never sleep during fiesta.
Federación de Peñas de Pamplona
The Peñas publish a magazine and you can check the Facebook page to find out their plans are for Sanfermines as well as the rest of the year.
- Peña Alegría de Iruña
- Peña Mutilzarra
- Peña Los de Bronce
- Peña El Bullicio Pamplonés
- Peña Donibane
- Peña Aldapa
- Peña Anaitasuna
- Peña Armonía Txantreana
- Peña Irrintzi
- Peña La Única
- Peña Oberena
- Peña Muthiko Alaiak
- Peña Rochapea
- Peña Sanduzelai
- Peña San Fermín
- Peña La Jarana
100 years ago the world and the fiesta looked much different than it does today. The “war to end all wars” had finally come to an end on November 11, 1918 and the world was ready to move on. It would still be a few years before Papa Hemingway made his way south from Paris to Navarra’s capital of Pamplona, essentially to do some fly fishing in the Pyrenees, but the fiesta had caught his attention.
Cebada Gago bulls keep up the heat. With a history of 56 gorings in their 29 appearances in Pamplona for the fiesta, there were no gorings this time, but there were 4 serious injuries for the 3rd running of the bulls, Sanfermins 2018.
Throughout its long history, the Sanfermines has been interrupted on only a few occasions, and always for political reasons. In 1937 and 1938 it was because of the Civil War, La Guerra Civil (17 July 1936-1 April 1939) and as recently as 1997, when there was a partial suspension of the fiesta following the kidnapping of a young city council member from the village of Emua in Vizcaya, Miguel Ángel Blancol, who was subsequently murdered by members of ETA, the Basque separatist group, two days later. The word of his death reached us on a Saturday afternoon and brought about an immediate halt to the bullfights. Thousands of Pamplonicas, dressed in the traditional festival costume of white and red, began to fill the Plaza del Ayuntamiento, the town hall square, demanding a suspension of the fiesta. The angry protest continued throughout the night with thousands more filling the Plaza del Castillo demanding an end to ETA. The fiesta finally resumed later Sunday morning, but the anger remained, with several clashes in the streets on the 14th between ETA supports and those who rejected the terrorist group. 1997 was also the year that President Clinton was rumored to come, but that is another story.
