What is a Peña?

estafetakoa — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 10:38:15 +0000

If you only have references about San Fermin based on TV or Hemingway’s ‘The sun…’ you may not have noticed one of the main elements in our fiesta: Peñas.

What does that strange word mean? Peñas are a kind of clubs in Pamplona where you may go in, only if you are a member. But during Sanfermines, Peñas are open for anybody, no matter if you are native or foreigner, boy or girl, leftish or rightish, poor or rich. These Peñas have bars in the Old Part of Iruña*, where members of these clubs work as waiters. As they are not profesionals, drink prices are lower than in normal bars and the atmosphere is very funny and popular.

Apart from these bars, each Peña has its own music band you may find playing on streets, surrounded by a lot of people and going from bar to bar, singing and dancing, following a banner.

If you respect musicians and rest of people from Peña, you will be accepted and perhaps you may have the best hours in your life.

For further information (in Basque and Spanish languages), consult http://websanfermin.com/web/index.htm

*Iruña is the Basque name of Pamplona.

What can I do?

rajauta — Tue, 26 Feb 2008 18:00:15 +0000

It’s a very common question: what can I do at Sanfermin?.
It really looks like an easy question, but the answer could be very, very large.
At first, if you are considering coming to Sanfermin, you can ask yourself: why do I want to go there?.
There are a lot of reasons to come to Pamplona:
In some cases, it is just to get off with girls or boys …(be aware, this place is the real spiritual reserve of the western world!). Still, the chance of making out with girls or boys, if you are a foreigner, is much higher than if you are from Pamplona.
Sometimes, it is because a lot of people think this is a lawless city during the festival (like a farwest town) and you can do everything you please. Be careful!!! because you are wrong. There are far more police officers in the city than during the rest of the year. You know, there are a lot of visitors who come here on business (pickpockets and the like…), and not only that, if a policeman sees you pissing in the street, you will definitely be fined (but it is better not to speak about that, if you have ever been here you may remember the disgusting smell of the streets in a hot morning, even though cleaners work very hard every single day).
Some other times, it is because you want to know the atmosphere, and compare it with other Spanish festivals such as Fallas in Valencia, April fair in Seville or Pilar in Saragossa. I must tell people that want to compare it with Fallas, that there are not so many rockets and firecrackers here as in Fallas, even though we have fireworks every night and the best Valencian fireworker comes to display his show. To the people who want to compare it with the April fair, I will say that you will fit in our festival by yourself and that you needn’t be a member of any society. To those who want to compare it with the Pilar, just one thing… Go! Osasuna Go!. (The best soccer team all over the world).
You can also say that you are coming to Sanfermines to learn or improve your Spanish, but this is a very poor excuse… you can learn Spanish another time and in another place.

The Running of the Bulls blog » The streets environment

What is a Peña?

What can I do?