San Fermín 1963: The Running of the Bulls
July 6 to 14, 1963. The pre-run prayer takes hold for its second year. The city is building and changing around the course.
Curated by Dennis Clancey
· Founder of Encierro, veteran bull runner
0
Encierro Deaths
1963
Year
7 a.m.
Run Time
Looking Back at 1963
Dennis Clancey · Founder, Encierro
Looking back at 1963, it was the second year of the prayer, which means it was the year the prayer stopped being a one-off and became a tradition. The difference between something happening once and something happening twice is enormous. When runners sang it again on the Cuesta de Santo Domingo, the question of whether it would become a fixture was answered. It would.
The encierro route itself was being surrounded by a different city each year, even if the course stayed the same.
No one died in the 1963 encierros. These were years before the dramatic goring toll of the 1970s. Looking back, the relative calm of the early 1960s encierros feels like a particular historical moment, the fiesta was big enough to attract the world, but still small enough that the world had not yet overwhelmed it.
Dennis Clancey, Founder, Encierro
1963 in contextThe Fiesta Grows, the City Changes
The 1963 fiesta opened on July 6 and ran through July 14, with the encierros at 7 a.m.
Diario de Navarra reported that Princess Irene of the Netherlands, on holiday in Bilbao, was ready to run the encierro.
The encierros run at seven in the morning. The prayer is sung for the second year. A city in the middle of an economic boom is learning that its oldest tradition is also its greatest asset.Morning by morning
Every 1963 Encierro, Day by Day
The route runs 848.6 metres from Santo Domingo to the bullring. See the route map.
Sun July 7 · First run
Conde de la Corte
Mon July 8 · Second run
Álvaro Domecq
Tue July 9 · Third run
Fermín Bohórquez
Wed July 10 · Fourth run
Montalvo
Diario de Navarra described the fourth encierro as normal and without emotion.
Thu July 11 · Fifth run
Marqués de Domecq
The six Marqués de Domecq bulls covered the route very fast.
Fri July 12 · Sixth run
Atanasio Fernández
Ganadería: Atanasio Fernández
In this encierro the Atanasio Fernández bull Bilbainoso gored Rufino Apesteguía near the Central de Teléfonos; he was operated on by Dr. Carlos Juaristi and survived.
Sat July 13 · Seventh run
Ricardo Arellano Gamero-Cívico
Sun July 14 · Eighth run
Eduardo Miura
Official Sanfermines Poster, 1963
The official San Fermín 1963 cartel was by Carlos Baleztena.
On the recordSources
Every fact on this page is checked against these sources. Where sources disagreed, the one closest to the day won.
- El Encierro (magazine) n56, via Dialnet, "Arquitecturas alrededor del encierro (Javier Torrens Alzu)", 2020-06. dialnet.unirioja.es
- Ayuntamiento de Pamplona, "Pamplona recordará a los 16 fallecidos en la historia del encierro con adoquines", 2023-12-27. pamplona.es
- Ayuntamiento de Pamplona, "The Encierro (Bullrun)". pamplona.es
- Ayuntamiento de Pamplona, "Carteles de San Fermín (cartel archive)". pamplona.es
- Dialnet (Ricardo Ollaquindia), "Toros célebres en Navarra". dialnet.unirioja.es
- Diario de Navarra, "page 1", 11 July 1963. hemerotecadigital.bne.es
- Diario de Navarra, "page 1", 12 July 1963. hemerotecadigital.bne.es