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The Encierro archive · 1916

Running of the Bulls 1916: San Fermín in Pamplona

San Fermín 1916 had a bull run (encierro) every morning from Friday, July 7, to Tuesday, July 11, set for six on the programmes. The paper reported no serious incidents; on July 9 the last runners entered the ring “rozando los pitones de dos toros”, brushing the horns of the two bulls in front. Only a thousand box seats were to be sold for each encierro.3, 5, 6, 8, 1

By Encierro · Last reviewed

5runs, July 7 to 11
6:00start, a.m.
9,000people watching on July 8

How the fiesta ran in 1916

The poster announced the Fiestas y Ferias “del 6 al 18 de Julio”.11 There was a run every morning from July 7 to 11, set for six on the programmes, with dianas before.3, 5, 6, 7, 8

“No se venderán sino mil entradas para cada encierro”: only a thousand box seats in the ring were to be sold for each encierro, from 6 to 8 the evening before at a kiosk in the Plaza del Castillo.1 Soldiers of the garrison could leave barracks from 5:15 to watch, but were strictly forbidden to run ahead of the bulls or to stay in the ring.2

After the fiesta the mayor told the council that before dawn on July 7 he had been warned that “había tanta gente en los corrales del Gas”, with whistles and drums, that the herdsmen feared the bulls would turn back and the first encierro could not go ahead. Councillors complained of drunkenness and dirt.9

Every known encierro of 1916, by day and ranch

The encierros of San Fermín 1916, from the Diario de Navarra programmes and reports.
DateRunRanch (ganadería)What the paper reported
July 71Félix UrcolaBulls left four of six steers far behind
July 82Hijos de AlaizaUnder cover of the steers; about 9,000 watching
July 93Vicente MartínezRunners entered brushing the horns
July 104Anastasio MartínBulls ahead of the steers, close behind the last runners
July 115, lastConcha y Sierra (programmed)Programme: encierro at six

The 1916 encierros, day by day

Run 1 of 5

· Félix Urcola

Start6:00 a.m.
Steers left behind4 of 6

“No hay festejo como el tradicional encierro de los toros para lanzar á la calle todo el mundo”, the paper wrote: no event like the encierro to bring everyone out into the street. The runners spread along both sides of Estafeta, leaving the way clear for the Urcola bulls, which ran so fast after leaving the Rochapea gate that they “dejaron atrás, muy distanciados, cuatro de los seis cabestros”, leaving four of the six steers far behind.3, 4

Run 2 of 5

· Hijos de Alaiza

WatchingAbout 9,000
IncidentsNone

No incident. Despite the clouds, the paper reckoned the crowd “no bajaría de nueve mil almas”, no fewer than nine thousand souls. “Los toros navarros de Alaiza hicieron la obligada carrera al abrigo de los cabestros”: the Navarre bulls of Alaiza ran under cover of the steers without breaking away, straight into the corrals.5

Run 3 of 5

· Vicente Martínez

IncidentsNone
CrowdAs on San Fermín day

The Vicente Martínez encierro passed without incident, with an immense crowd running ahead, matched only by San Fermín’s day. The last boys “entraron en la plaza rozando los pitones de dos toros que iban á la cabeza”; the bulls crossed the ring and went into the pens. Many visitors had come from San Sebastián, Bilbao and Aragón.6

Run 4 of 5

· Anastasio Martín

Start6:00 a.m.
IncidentsNone

The programme: dianas at five, “A las seis encierro de los toros de Anastasio Martín”.6 The encierro “se efectuó también sin novedad”: the bulls, separated from and ahead of the steers, came in chasing the last runners very closely; one turned back from the corral gate and three steers brought it in.7

Run 5 of 5, programmed

· Concha y Sierra

Start6:00 a.m.

“A las seis, encierro de los toros de Concha y Sierra”, the last of the year. The same issue printed a photograph of the encierro.8

San Fermín 1916 poster (cartel)

San Fermín 1916 poster (cartel) by J. García Lara: a dancer in a black lace mantilla and long flowered shawl raises her arms to a rose bush, watched by a woman in white leaning on a lyre with a laurel wreath
Cartel de San Fermín 1916. Poster of the Fiestas y Ferias de San Fermín 1916, signed J. García Lara. Tap the poster to see it full size. See every San Fermín poster.11, 10
San Fermín 1916 poster (cartel) by J. García Lara: a dancer in a black lace mantilla and long flowered shawl raises her arms to a rose bush, watched by a woman in white leaning on a lyre with a laurel wreath
Artist
J. García Lara (signature)
Fiesta on the poster
Del 6 al 18 de julio
Dated
Pamplona, June 10, 1916
Printed by
Imp. Lit. J. Ortega, Valencia

Ollaquindía calls the 1916 poster “un tabladillo flamenco”: a dancer in a black lace mantilla and a flounced dress raises her bare arms, shows the tip of her shoe under the ruffles, and wears a comb and flowers, many flowers. Another woman, leaning on a lyre with a laurel wreath in her hand, watches her, entranced.10

The poster names the ranches whose bulls came that year: Urcola, Vicente Martínez (now his sons or heirs), José A. Martín, Concha y Sierra and the sons of Alaiza, and announces concerts by the Municipal Band of Madrid.11

Pamplona in 1916

Words of 1916

The tradicional encierro

The paper called it “el tradicional encierro de los toros”, named the steers cabestros and the dawn music dianas, and the night crowds at the corrals came with chulibitos (whistles) and drums.3, 4, 9

Photographs

Where to see old photographs

The Diario de Navarra printed a photograph of the encierro, “Un detalle del encierro”, on July 11, 1916. The city’s photo archive, the Fototeca de Pamplona, holds historic photographs of the encierro, free to view online.8, 12

San Fermín 1916: questions and answers

When were the bull runs of San Fermín 1916?

San Fermín 1916 had a bull run every morning from Friday, July 7, to Tuesday, July 11, 1916, set for six: five runs, with bulls of Félix Urcola, the sons of Alaiza, Vicente Martínez, Anastasio Martín and Concha y Sierra. The fiesta ran from July 6 to 18.11, 3, 5, 6, 7, 8

How many people watched the running of the bulls in 1916?

The Diario de Navarra reckoned no fewer than nine thousand people at the encierro of July 8, 1916, and only a thousand box seats in the ring were to be sold for each encierro.5, 1

Was anyone hurt in the 1916 running of the bulls?

The Diario de Navarra reported no incidents in the runs of July 8, 9 and 10, 1916; on July 9 the last runners entered the ring brushing the horns of the two bulls in front.5, 6, 7

Why did the first encierro of 1916 almost not happen?

The mayor told the council after San Fermín 1916 that before dawn on July 7 so many people crowded the corrals of the gas works, with whistles and drums, that the herdsmen feared the bulls would turn back and the first encierro could not go ahead.9

Who made the San Fermín 1916 poster?

J. García Lara made the San Fermín 1916 poster, signed on the poster itself: a dancer in a black lace mantilla raising her arms while a woman leaning on a lyre watches, which Ollaquindía calls a flamenco stage.11, 10

Sources

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.

Full source list
  1. Diario de Navarra, July 6, 1916, page 1: “No se venderán sino mil entradas para cada encierro”. Diario de Navarra archive
  2. Diario de Navarra, July 6, 1916, page 1: garrison order, soldiers forbidden to run ahead of the bulls. Diario de Navarra archive
  3. Diario de Navarra, July 6, 1916, page 1: programme for July 7, “A las seis de la mañana se verificará el encierro de los toros de Urcola”. Diario de Navarra archive
  4. Diario de Navarra, July 8, 1916, page 2: the first encierro, “No hay festejo como el tradicional encierro de los toros para lanzar á la calle todo el mundo”. Diario de Navarra archive
  5. Diario de Navarra, July 9, 1916, page 1: “Los toros navarros de Alaiza hicieron la obligada carrera al abrigo de los cabestros”. Diario de Navarra archive
  6. Diario de Navarra, July 10, 1916, page 2: the Vicente Martínez encierro of July 9; programme for July 10, the Anastasio Martín bulls. Diario de Navarra archive
  7. Diario de Navarra, July 11, 1916, page 1: the Anastasio Martín encierro of July 10, “se efectuó también sin novedad”. Diario de Navarra archive
  8. Diario de Navarra, July 11, 1916, page 1: programme for July 11, “A las seis, encierro de los toros de Concha y Sierra”; photographs of the encierro. Diario de Navarra archive
  9. Diario de Navarra, July 15, 1916, page 1: the mayor at the council session: “había tanta gente en los corrales del Gas que no se podía efectuar el primer encierro”. Diario de Navarra archive
  10. Ricardo Ollaquindía, 100 años de carteles de las fiestas y ferias de San Fermín (1882 to 1981), Pamplona, 1981, chapter “1916”. Free copy in the Biblioteca Navarra Digital (BiNaDi). binadi.navarra.es
  11. The poster of the Fiestas y Ferias de San Fermín 1916 itself, “del 6 al 18 de Julio”, dated Pamplona, June 10, 1916; signed J. García Lara; printed by Imp. Lit. J. Ortega, Valencia.
  12. Fototeca de Pamplona, Archivo Municipal de Pamplona (photographs of the encierro, free to view online; publication needs the archive’s permission). archivo.pamplona.es
How to cite this page

Encierro. “Running of the Bulls 1916: San Fermín in Pamplona.” Encierro.com, November 9, 2026. https://encierro.com/san-fermin-1916/

Corrections and updates
  • : questions and answers rewritten around what people search, each answer with its sources; the poster labelled with its Spanish name, cartel; box seats “were to be sold”, not “were sold”, as the programme printed it.
  • : page published.

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