San Fermín 1915 had five bull runs (encierros), every morning from Wednesday, July 7, to Sunday, July 11. On July 10 fifteen to twenty young men fell right at the bulls’ heads at the ring gate, and one Villagodio bull then held out in the ring for an hour and twenty-five minutes. A cavalry trumpet band played the dianas for the first time.4, 6, 8, 9, 10
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The poster announced the Ferias y Fiestas “del 6 al 18 de Julio”.13 The first rocket was due at noon on July 6 to announce the fiesta, and the programme for July 7 set dianas at five and the encierro at six.2 There was a run every morning from July 7 to 11.4, 6, 8, 9, 10
The mayor’s bando set the rules for the encierros. Anyone arrested for breaking it faced a 12 peseta fine or jail, and two people were dealt with that way for faults in the encierro of July 7.1, 5
An essay on July 7 put the encierro’s appeal in one line: “los encierros son la fiesta en la calle, donde cabe todo el mundo”, the encierros are the fiesta in the street, where everyone fits.3 After the fiesta the paper held them up as the model for a free popular show: anyone who wanted to watch for free came early, and anyone who wanted a seat paid 55 céntimos for a box. “El procedimiento que se sigue en los encierros es el único que corresponde”.11
| Date | Run | Ranch (ganadería) | What the paper reported |
|---|---|---|---|
| July 7 | 1 | Hijos de Alaiza | A bull turned back at the corral gate |
| July 8 | 2 | Viuda de Concha y Sierra | Hundreds of boys ahead, no incident |
| July 9 | 3 | Conde de Santa Coloma | Three bulls far behind spread panic |
| July 10 | 4 | Marqués de Villagodio | 15 to 20 down at the ring gate; a bull in the ring 1 h 25 min |
| July 11 | 5, last | Duque de Veragua | All six turned back at the toril gate |
Run 1 of 5
For the first time, at the paper’s suggestion, a cavalry trumpet band joined the dianas. The bulls of the sons of Alaiza ran with hundreds of young men in front. “Uno de los toros se volvió de la puerta del corral”: one bull turned back from the gate of the pens, stirred up by a reckless man who nearly came to grief; another young man was run over by the bull and got up unhurt.2, 4
Run 2 of 5
Before dawn, as the Concha y Sierra bulls were moved from the gas works corrals to the small corral at the Rochapea gate, one bull chased a young man so closely that he threw himself head first over the parapet of the road bridge, falling six metres into the trees on the bank of the Arga.7 The encierro itself ran without the slightest incident: “Delante de los toros entraron cientos de muchachos”, and the bulls, well wrapped by the steers, went straight into the corrals.6
Run 3 of 5
“Tres de ellos, muy distanciados del resto de la manada, hicieron el recorrido sembrando el pánico”: three bulls, far behind the rest of the herd, ran the course spreading panic, and runners saved themselves on the fences or in open doorways. The run took longer than usual because the bulls had turned back shortly after leaving the small corral. At the ring a boy fell and all the bulls passed half a metre from him without noticing.8
Run 4 of 5
An eventful morning. At the ring gate fifteen to twenty boys “se cayeron al suelo en la misma cabeza de los toros”, fell right at the bulls’ heads, with only scrapes and hoof bruises from bulls and steers. Two bulls turned back at the toril gate; one went in, but the black one stayed in the ring for an hour and twenty-five minutes. The herdsmen of Cándido Díaz tried six steers and opened all four gates in the barrier before forcing it in with their sticks. At one point, when the steers went to gather it, it gored one of them twice. The morning in the ring did not end until eight.9
Run 5 of 5, the last
Nothing special, the paper said: an immense crowd of boys ran ahead, a big group entering the ring two fingers ahead of the herd. Then “Los seis toros se volvieron de la puerta de los toriles”: all six turned back at the gate of the pens, but the herdsmen got them into the corrals.10
Ollaquindía: over a frieze of bulls and horses, two women, one dressed with touches of Navarre costume and a great bunch of flowers on her arm, the other “con todo el aire del vestido a la española: mantilla de encajes y amplio mantón floreado”. The poster was printed, like those of earlier years, in Valencia.12
The poster names the ranches whose bulls came that year: Alaiza, Concha y Sierra, Santa Coloma, Villagodio and Veragua.13
Before dawn
The bulls’ night walk from the corrals of the gas works to the starting corral had its own danger: on July 8 a young man chased by a Concha y Sierra bull threw himself from the road bridge over the Arga, six metres down.7
Words of 1915
The paper wrote of el tradicional encierro, of runners as muchachos and of bulls that “se volvieron”, turned back. One essay called the encierros “la fiesta en la calle”.4, 8, 10, 3
Photographs
The city’s photo archive, the Fototeca de Pamplona, holds historic photographs of the encierro, free to view online.14
San Fermín 1915 had five bull runs, every morning from Wednesday, July 7, to Sunday, July 11, 1915, with bulls of the sons of Alaiza, the Viuda de Concha y Sierra, the Conde de Santa Coloma, the Marqués de Villagodio and the Duque de Veragua. The fiesta ran from July 6 to 18.13, 4, 6, 8, 9, 10
Fifteen to twenty young men fell right in front of the Villagodio bulls at the gate of Pamplona’s bullring on July 10, 1915, and escaped with scrapes and hoof bruises. One bull then held out in the ring for an hour and twenty-five minutes before the herdsmen forced it into the pens.9
A young man chased by a Concha y Sierra bull threw himself head first over the parapet of the road bridge over the Arga before dawn on July 8, 1915, falling six metres into the trees on the bank, as the bulls were moved from the gas works to the starting corral.7
A cavalry trumpet band joined the dawn dianas of San Fermín for the first time on July 7, 1915, at the suggestion of the Diario de Navarra.4
The running of the bulls was free to watch in 1915 for anyone who came early; a box seat in the ring cost 55 céntimos. The Diario de Navarra held the encierro up as the model for a free popular show, and an essay of July 7 called the encierros “la fiesta en la calle, donde cabe todo el mundo”.11, 3
Numbers on the page refer to this list. Diario de Navarra pages are cited from its archive (hemeroteca); quotations in Spanish are given as printed, in the spelling of the day.
Encierro. “Running of the Bulls 1915: San Fermín in Pamplona.” Encierro.com, November 9, 2026. https://encierro.com/san-fermin-1915/