San Fermín 1931 was the first of the Second Republic. The bull runs (encierros) were at seven in the morning, and the known run days were July 7, 8, 9, 11 and Sunday, July 12, the last. On July 11 those who stayed in bed missed “la novedad de ver tres encierros en un día”, the novelty of three encierros in one day.1, 2, 5, 6, 8, 9
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The programme set the encierro “a las siete”, with free entry to the ring except the stands and boxes, whose tickets were sold “la víspera de cada encierro”, the day before each run, at the windows of the plaza de la República, and on the morning itself at the ring.1
On San Fermín’s day the paper set the scene at the start: nervous runners waiting by the corral, and “En la arriesgada cuesta que de Santo Domingo rauda baja al corralillo”, on the risky slope of Santo Domingo dropping to the little corral, the brave butchers taking their places in their aprons.3
| Date | Run | Ranch (ganadería) | What the paper reported |
|---|---|---|---|
| July 7 | Known run 1 | Concha y Sierra | One bull lagged at the mouth of the course |
| July 8 | Known run 2 | Encinas | Under three minutes |
| July 9 | Known run 3 | Manuel Blanco | Two bulls so far ahead it made two encierros |
| July 11 | Known run 4 | Villamarta (programme) | Three encierros in one day |
| July 12 | Known run 5, the last | Santa Coloma | An encierro full of emotion |
Known run 1
The programme: dianas at dawn, and “a las siete, se verificará el encierro de los toros”, then three padded-horn animals for the amateurs.1 The paper printed photographs of the run passing calle Mercaderes and of a Concha y Sierra bull that lagged behind at the mouth of the course.2
Known run 2
At seven sharp, at the bang of the rocket, the bulls of José Luis de Encinas “hicieron el recorrido en menos de tres minutos”, ran the course in under three minutes, surrounded by countless boys.5 The next day the paper printed a photograph of them in calle Santo Domingo.4
Known run 3
The Manuel Blanco bulls carried a thick pack of runners in their headlong run. Two got so far ahead from the start “que puede decirse que dieron lugar a dos encierros”, that you could say they made two encierros: the pair entered the ring loose, well ahead of the rest, preceded and surrounded by a crowd.6
Known run 4
“A las siete en punto se verificará el encierro de los toros, según antigua costumbre”.7 By half past six the ring was packed, though less than on other days, and “Los que dejaron de ir se perdieron la novedad de ver tres encierros en un día”. First three bulls came in with the steers; soon after, one alone, mixed among the runners; and a quarter of an hour later the last two, which had turned back to the Rochapea corral soon after leaving and had to be fetched with steers. Nothing happened in any of the three. A steer lagging in the third broke one of the fences and missed crushing people by a miracle.8 The programme named the Villamarta bulls for the day.11
Known run 5, the last
Many thousands would not go to bed that Saturday night, the paper said, waiting for the hour of the encierro, “el último de las fiestas”, the last of the fiesta.8 The paper summed up the last day: “Encierro de emoción”, an encierro full of emotion, and the Santa Coloma bulls came into the ring “como asustados”, as if frightened.9
A zaldiko, the hobby-horse rider who goes with the giants, charges across the 1931 poster: a man in a red jacket and white trousers raising a whip with a bladder, his grey horse skirted in green and red, beside the crowned shield of Pamplona. The poster also promises “emocionantes encierros”.10
Ollaquindía notes that the programme put the “záldiko” in the place of honour on its cover, and two singing, dancing young pamplonicas on the back. For the first time the programme offered prizes, of 400, 300, 200 and 100 pesetas, for the groups of young men who behaved best during the fiesta.11
The zaldiko
Florencio Idoate, quoted by Ollaquindía, traced the zaldiko to the centaur, the man-horse, and noted that hobby-horse figures appear in popular fiestas in England, Switzerland, Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany; in Navarre, Pamplona and Estella have them.11
Words of 1931
In 1931 the main square was called the “plaza de la República”. The butchers who ran wore their mandarras, aprons, and the start was the corralillo.1, 3
Photographs
The Diario de Navarra printed photographs of the 1931 encierros, among them the Encinas bulls in calle Santo Domingo on July 8. The city’s photo archive, the Fototeca de Pamplona, holds historic photographs of the encierro, free to view online.2, 4, 12
The known run days of San Fermín 1931 were Tuesday, July 7, Wednesday, July 8, Thursday, July 9, Saturday, July 11, and Sunday, July 12, 1931, the last, each at seven in the morning.1, 2, 5, 6, 8, 9
The herd of July 11, 1931 came in three parts: three bulls with the steers, then one alone among the runners, and a quarter of an hour later the last two, which had turned back to the Rochapea corral and had to be fetched with steers. Nothing happened in any of the three.8
San Fermín 1931 was the first fiesta of the Second Republic, and that July the tickets for the encierro were sold at the windows of the plaza de la República, the main square’s name in those years.1
The Encinas bulls ran the course in under three minutes on July 8, 1931, at the bang of the rocket at seven sharp, surrounded by countless boys, the Diario de Navarra reported.5
A. Cerezo Vallejo made the San Fermín 1931 poster, signed on the poster itself: a zaldiko, the hobby-horse rider who goes with the giants, in a red jacket and white trousers, raising a whip with a bladder.10, 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 1931: San Fermín in Pamplona.” Encierro.com, November 9, 2026. https://encierro.com/san-fermin-1931/