In 1942 the encierro began by the clock of San Cernin: “con la primera campanada del reloj de San Cernin, sonaron los dos chupinazos”, at the first stroke of seven the two rockets went off. The runs were at seven every morning from July 7 to 10 and on Sunday, July 12, the last, when Estafeta was “negra de gente”, black with people.1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 9, 10
By Encierro · Last reviewed
The mayor’s bando made the timing official: “la hora oficial es la marcada por el reloj de la Parroquia de San Saturnino”, the official time was the clock of the parish of San Saturnino, San Cernin. Residents and porters along the course had to shut every door by half past six, with no outsiders inside, and the Rochapea gate was closed to traffic on the nights of July 6, 7, 8, 9 and 11, the eves of the run days.1
The programme set dianas until July 10 and on July 12, and the encierro at seven sharp. The Casa de Misericordia brought in measures to protect children and women from the crushes in the stands at encierro time.2
By the ring entrance, spectators packed the balustrade on both sides of the deep trench through which runners and herd pour into the arena, by a cement cornice that people had started calling “el monumento al encierro”, the monument to the encierro.3
| Date | Run | Ranch (ganadería) | What the paper reported |
|---|---|---|---|
| July 7 | 1 | Carmen de Federico | Under three minutes, loose |
| July 8 | 2 | Concha y Sierra | No incidents, bulls bunched with the steers |
| July 9 | 3 | Moreno Ardanuy | One bull ran the whole course alone |
| July 10 | 4 | José Escobar | One bull apart, penned by Moncayola |
| July 12 | 5, last | Buendía | Estafeta black with people |
Run 1 of 5
People took their places in the half-light, and by seven the ring was full. “A las siete en punto, con la primera campanada del reloj de San Cernin, sonaron los dos chupinazos”, and the six bulls of doña Carmen de Federico, of Murube blood, were let out of the little corral at Rochapea; they ran the course in under three minutes, completely loose.5, 3
Run 2 of 5
The programme set the encierro at seven sharp.2 The Concha y Sierra bulls ran it, and the run “se efectuó sin incidentes”: the bulls kept together in a herd with the steers.5, 4
Run 3 of 5
With the ring full, “se verificó ayer el tercer encierro de las fiestas con los “saltillos” de Moreno Ardanuy”, of Saltillo blood. One stayed behind in the Rochapea corral and ran the whole course alone, far behind the herd. In the ring a popular herdsman of fighting cattle from the Ribera brought it in with his smock, while a fool held the bull back by the tail; the crowd cheered the mayoral and whistled the man on the tail.2, 6
Run 4 of 5
The programme: as on the days before, the encierro at seven sharp, with the bulls of José Escobar.6 Five bulls ran “agrupados con el cabestraje”, bunched with the steers; one came apart, and Moncayola drew it into the corral with his smock. “Encerrados, sin incidentes”: penned, without incident. The paper printed a photograph of the run in calle Mercaderes.7, 8
Run 5 of 5, the last
“tendrá lugar el último encierro de los toros”, the Sunday programme said.9 Without the thousands of tourist cars of normal times, the town was still impassable: at encierro time Estafeta was “negra de gente”, black with people, and the ring so packed it was frightening; half-suffocated boys had to be lifted out of the stands into the paid seats. The Buendía bulls, of Santa Coloma blood, ran mixed in with the runners.10
Two bulls, one pale and one black, charge across yellow sand after runners in white with red sashes and neckerchiefs, who leap away at the top of the picture; a red beret lies on the ground, and the crowned shield of Pamplona stands at the side. The poster promises “emocionantes encierros”.11
Ollaquindía’s chapter quotes José María Iribarren’s 1942 article on the eve of San Fermín, the best part of the fiesta, he said: the town smartening up, the bulls already at the Gas corrals, the steers from Arguedas with names like Campanero and Clavelino, and the morning of the 6th with every shop dummy wearing a scarlet neckerchief.12
The monument to the encierro
In 1942 the paper noted that people had nicknamed the cement cornice over the trench at the ring entrance “el monumento al encierro”.3
Words of 1942
San Cernin is the Pamplona name of the church of San Saturnino, whose clock gave the official time for the encierro in 1942. The two rockets were the chupinazos.1, 3
Photographs
The city’s photo archive, the Fototeca de Pamplona, holds historic photographs of the encierro, free to view online.13
San Fermín 1942 had bull runs at seven in the morning on July 7, 8, 9 and 10, 1942, and on Sunday, July 12, the last, with bulls of Carmen de Federico, Concha y Sierra, Moreno Ardanuy, José Escobar and Buendía.1, 2, 5, 3, 4, 6, 7, 9, 10
The clock of the parish of San Saturnino, San Cernin, started the running of the bulls in 1942: the mayor’s bando made it the official time, and on July 7 the two rockets went off at its first stroke of seven.1, 3
The monument to the encierro was the nickname people had given by 1942 to a cement cornice over the trench at the entrance to Pamplona’s bullring, where spectators packed the balustrade to watch runners and herd pour into the arena.3
Herdsmen with their smocks brought in the stray bulls of San Fermín 1942: on July 9 a popular herdsman from the Ribera brought in a lagging Moreno Ardanuy bull while a fool held it by the tail, and on July 10 Moncayola drew a loose José Escobar bull into the corral.6, 7
L. de Sotés made the San Fermín 1942 poster, signed on the poster itself: two bulls, one pale and one black, charging across yellow sand after runners in white with red sashes and neckerchiefs.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 1942: San Fermín in Pamplona.” Encierro.com, November 9, 2026. https://encierro.com/san-fermin-1942/