San Fermín 1926 had five bull runs (encierros), every morning at seven from Wednesday, July 7, to Sunday, July 11. On July 8 the heavy Pablo Romero bulls “corrieron como gamos”, ran like deer; on July 10 several runners fell at the ring gate in front of the Conde de la Corte bulls and escaped by a miracle.2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10
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The poster announced the Ferias y Fiestas “del 6 al 18 de Julio”.12 The programmes set the encierros at seven, from July 7 to Sunday, July 11, which the paper called the last day of the fiestas: “cinco días de encierros”, five days of encierros.2, 5, 6, 7, 9, 10
The mayor ordered that anyone who held down by force the young bulls with padded horns let into the ring after the encierros would be severely punished.1 On San Fermín’s day the paper printed a poem by Baldomero Barón in the voice of an old runner promising to run “por la vez postrera”, one last time, “el recorrido de esa gran carrera”.3
The paper joked afterwards that those whom five days of encierros, songs and feasts had not killed were found dead and buried by Sunday midnight.10
| Date | Run | Ranch (ganadería) | What the paper reported |
|---|---|---|---|
| July 7 | 1 | Clairac | Boys fell at the ring gate; over by 7:30 |
| July 8 | 2 | Pablo Romero | Ran like deer; a bull stayed in the ring |
| July 9 | 3 | Cándido Díaz | Straight to the corral |
| July 10 | 4 | Conde de la Corte | Runners fell at the ring gate |
| July 11 | 5, last | Villar | The last encierro, on a Sunday |
Run 1 of 5
The programme set the first encierro for seven sharp, at the bang of a rocket.2 At the ring gate a good number of boys fell right and left. By half past seven the morning show was over, and the thousands who come to the encierro, “el espectáculo más castizo”, the most traditional show of the fiesta, poured back into the streets.4 The bulls were those of Clairac, formerly Gamero Cívico.13
Run 2 of 5
“A las siete encierro de los toros”, the programme said.5 The Pablo Romero bulls, “a pesar de su peso corrieron como gamos”: despite their weight they ran like deer, driving a big crowd ahead. They entered the ring well wrapped by the steers, but at the very mouth of the corral gate a black bull veered right and planted itself in the middle of the ring, not knowing whom to go for among all the people waving their smocks at it, until it set off after two of them.6 An amateur photographer, Sr. Lesaga, caught the bulls stopped for a moment at the fence in calle Mercaderes, spreading panic among the spectators.6
Run 3 of 5
The ring was packed by half past six. At seven sharp, at the double rocket, the Cándido Díaz bulls left the Rochapea corral, preceded and even surrounded by people as if they were peaceful lambs, entered the ring and “marcharon rectos al corral, sin que se registrara el menor incidente”, went straight to the corral without the slightest incident.6, 7
Run 4 of 5
The programme set the encierro “A las siete en punto”.7 In the run of the Conde de la Corte bulls, “varios mozos de los que corrieron ayer delante del ganado, tuvieron la mala fortuna de caerse al entrar en la plaza”: several young men running ahead fell as they entered the ring and escaped a serious accident by a miracle, as a photograph in the next day’s paper showed.8
Run 5 of 5, the last
“A las siete en punto tendrá lugar el encierro”, the programme said.9 “El último encierro”: Sunday dawned noisier than any other day. “La circunstancia de ser domingo, unida a ser último día de las fiestas”, being Sunday and the last day of the fiestas, kept the night owls out in force until dawn, when the pipes, bands and cavalry trumpets came out with the dianas.10 Eight bulls of Villar were on the bill that day.13
A dark-haired woman in a white dress, with a tall red comb and a black lace mantilla, reclines with an open fan; behind her, against a night sky and church towers, a young man raises a torch and a young woman holds a lyre. The poster also announces a great regional exhibition and a scientific, literary and artistic competition.12
Ollaquindía says the 1926 programme played on contrast: on the front, solemn, hieratic figures with lyres and torches; on the back, a couple dancing the jota in the Plaza de la Constitución at the dance called “el Barato”. On its first page the Junta of the Casa de Misericordia now appeared beside the city council as organiser of the fiestas; the year before it had appeared on page 9.13
Another name
Calle Mercaderes, where the bulls turn towards Estafeta, was also being called by another name: a notice that July gave an address in “calle de Doña Blanca de Navarra (antes Mercaderes)”, though the paper itself still wrote Mercaderes.11, 6
Words of 1926
Heavy bulls that ran fast went “como gamos”, like deer. The encierro was “el espectáculo más castizo”, and the start came “al estampido de un chupinazo”, at the bang of a rocket.6, 4, 2
Photographs
The Diario de Navarra printed photographs of the 1926 encierros, among them the fall at the ring gate on July 10. The city’s photo archive, the Fototeca de Pamplona, holds historic photographs of the encierro, free to view online.8, 14
The running of the bulls of San Fermín 1926 was at seven in the morning: the Diario de Navarra programmes of 1926 set every encierro at seven sharp.2, 5, 9
San Fermín 1926 had a bull run every morning at seven from Wednesday, July 7, to Sunday, July 11, 1926: five runs, with bulls of Clairac, Pablo Romero, Cándido Díaz, the Conde de la Corte and Villar.2, 6, 7, 9, 10, 13, 8
The heavy Pablo Romero bulls “corrieron como gamos”, ran like deer, despite their weight on July 8, 1926, driving a big crowd ahead of them, the Diario de Navarra reported.6
Runners fell in the 1926 running of the bulls: on July 10 several runners fell as they entered the ring ahead of the Conde de la Corte bulls and escaped a serious accident by a miracle, as a photograph in the next day’s paper showed.8
León Astruc made the San Fermín 1926 poster, signed on the poster itself: a woman in a white dress, a tall red comb and a black lace mantilla, with a young man raising a torch and a young woman with a lyre behind her.12
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 1926: San Fermín in Pamplona.” Encierro.com, November 9, 2026. https://encierro.com/san-fermin-1926/