San Fermín 1923 ran from July 6 to 18, and it was the year Ernest Hemingway first came to Pamplona. The bull runs (encierros) were at six in the morning; the known run days were July 7, 8, 9, 10 and 13. Rain upset the fiesta programme, and the last run, on Friday, July 13, with the Villar bulls, was, the paper wrote, “el más interesante de las fiestas”, the most interesting of the fiesta.11, 12, 2, 3, 4, 6, 5, 9, 10
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“1923 es importante en la historia de los Sanfermines”, Ollaquindía writes: that year Ernest Hemingway came to Pamplona for the first time, saw the fiestas and wrote about them for the Toronto Star. His writing later brought waves of visitors to the city. His first Sanfermines were, Ollaquindía writes, an unexpected surprise for him: groups of mozos dancing day and night and music everywhere, in Hemingway’s own phrase “endemoniadamente divertidos”, devilishly good fun.12
The programme set the encierro at six, and the second, on July 8, “en la forma que es antigua costumbre”, in the way of ancient custom.2 The known run days were July 7, 8, 9, 10 and 13; the programme for July 13 called it the last encierro.3, 4, 6, 9, 10 On July 10 heavy, constant rain suspended the outdoor events of the fiesta programme.5
The paper also looked back. An essay recalled a document cited by Gaztelu: in the encierro of old, the Abanderado del Santo, the saint’s standard-bearer, rode on horseback “hasta el toril” among the bulls, so mixed in with them that no one could tell whether he rode a bull or a horse. The scenes this caused led the council, in November 1711, to agree that the standard-bearers should no longer go in with the bulls on the morning of the encierro.7
| Date | Run | Ranch (ganadería) | What the paper reported |
|---|---|---|---|
| July 7 | Known run 1 | Félix Moreno (programmed) | Like lambs among the oxen |
| July 8 | Known run 2 | Vicente Martínez | Barely three minutes |
| July 9 | Known run 3 | Villagodio | Like little lambs among the mozos |
| July 10 | Known run 4 | Pérez Tabernero | Eight bulls programmed; three steers left behind |
| July 13 | Known run 5, the last | Villar | A boy hooked in Mercaderes |
Known run 1
By 5:30 the ring had been taken by storm and the stands were packed. Nothing happened: “Pasaron los toros, como borregos”, the bulls went by like lambs, wrapped among the oxen, and went straight into the corrals.2, 3 The programme named the bulls of Félix Moreno, formerly Saltillo, for the run.1
Known run 2
“El encierro de anteayer fué con los toros de D. Vicente Martínez”: the Vicente Martínez bulls ran the course in barely three minutes, driving a big mob ahead. Two of them, a little ahead of the herd, came into the ring literally pushing the boys they had caught up with. Nothing happened. An enormous crowd also watched from the side streets, the small squares and the balconies of the course.2, 4
Known run 3
As on the days before, the ring was packed by half past five. At six on the dot, at the bang of a rocket, the Villagodio bulls left the Rochapea corral, preceded and even surrounded by young men, “como si aquellos fueran sencillos corderillos”, as if they were little lambs. Afterwards the café terraces, the churro stalls and the Taconera filled with people.4
Known run 4
An unusual run: “se encerrarán los ocho toros de Pérez Tabernero”, all eight bulls unloaded at the Gas corrals, including two being sent back for being too small.4 The bulls ran ahead the whole way, driving the last group of runners before them, and went into the corral without stopping. Some time later “aparecieron jadeantes tres respetables cabestros”: three respectable steers turned up, panting, left behind on the course.6
Known run 5, the last
The programme called it the last encierro.9 The ring was so full it seemed too small. Halfway along, in calle Mercaderes at the corner of Estafeta, a bull running ahead went for a boy as he was trying to reach the fence, hooked him and gave him a puntazo, a minor horn wound. The Villar bulls entered the ring among a big crowd. At the corral gate one bull, a berrendo, turned and stood in the middle of the ring, not knowing whom to charge; it looked at the runners with disdain, butted the barrier once and went into the corrals with no need of the steers.10
A young man in a pale shirt and dark blue trousers, with a red neckerchief and a red sash, plays the pipe and drum under a tree, while a young woman in a pale blouse and long brown skirt leans on his shoulder; behind them, yellow clouds against a dark blue sky. The poster also announces encierros, fireworks, pelota and football, and a “Fiesta del Clavel”, a carnation festival.11
Of the 1923 programme, Ollaquindía says the back cover mattered more than the front: it printed the photograph of José María García Mina falling in calle Mercaderes in front of the herd on July 10, 1922. The picture became famous and, as J. Joaquín Arazuri recalled, inspired a sonnet by the Navarre poet Alberto Pelairea.12
Words of 1923
A lost-property notice in the paper asked for the return of a pipe that had fallen “desde la galería a la manga” during the encierro, from the gallery onto the course, and been picked up by a fair-haired man, with a reward for handing it in at the Gran Hotel.8 The bulls ran “como borregos” when calm, and the steers left behind were rezagados.3, 6
Photographs
The city’s photo archive, the Fototeca de Pamplona, holds historic photographs of the encierro, free to view online.13
Ernest Hemingway first came to Pamplona for San Fermín 1923, saw the fiestas and wrote about them for the Toronto Star, as Ricardo Ollaquindía records. His writing later brought waves of visitors to the city.12
Ernest Hemingway found his first San Fermín, in 1923, an unexpected surprise, Ollaquindía writes: groups of mozos dancing day and night and music everywhere, in Hemingway’s own phrase “endemoniadamente divertidos”, devilishly good fun.12
The known run days of San Fermín 1923 were Saturday, July 7, to Tuesday, July 10, and Friday, July 13, 1923, the last, each at six in the morning. Heavy rain on July 10 suspended the outdoor events of the fiesta programme.2, 3, 4, 6, 9, 5
A Villar bull hooked a boy in calle Mercaderes, at the corner of Estafeta, as he tried to reach the fence on July 13, 1923, and gave him a puntazo, a minor horn wound.10
The back of the 1923 San Fermín programme printed the photograph of José María García Mina falling in calle Mercaderes in front of the herd on July 10, 1922. The picture became famous and inspired a sonnet by the Navarre poet Alberto Pelairea.12
A. Cerezo Vallejo made the San Fermín 1923 poster, signed on the poster itself: a young pipe-and-drum player with a red neckerchief and sash under a tree, and a young woman leaning on his shoulder.11
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 1923: San Fermín in Pamplona.” Encierro.com, November 9, 2026. https://encierro.com/san-fermin-1923/