San Fermín 1965: The Running of the Bulls
July 6 to 14, 1965. The fiesta that lost its final encierro. Because of a disagreement between the Ayuntamiento and La Meca, the eighth corrida on July 14 was held without an encierro beforehand.
Curated by Dennis Clancey
· Founder of Encierro, veteran bull runner
7
Encierros
0
Encierro Deaths
1965
Year
Looking Back at 1965
Dennis Clancey · Founder, Encierro
Looking back at 1965, what stands out most is how close the fiesta came to ending without its final act. The dispute between the Ayuntamiento de Pamplona and the Casa de Misericordia, the institution known as La Meca, which organised the bullfighting programme, brought the closing day of the fiesta to the edge of collapse. The corrida went ahead on July 14, but without an encierro beforehand. That the 1965 fiesta lost its eighth run is a fact often absent from general accounts of the year. It was a reminder that the institutional scaffolding behind the fiesta was always more fragile than the tradition appeared from the outside.
Looking back, there is also the curious footnote of October 1965: the Comparsa de Gigantes, the giant processional figures that parade through Pamplona during the fiesta, traveling to New York to participate in the closing of the 1965 World’s Fair. San Fermín was already known to American audiences in 1965 through the long reach of Hemingway’s fiction. The Giants in New York was the fiesta making that presence physical.
Dennis Clancey, Founder, Encierro
1965 in contextThe Day There Was No Encierro
The 1965 fiesta opened on July 6 with the chupinazo and ran seven encierros, July 7 to 13; there was no encierro on July 14. The runs took place at 7 a.m., the traditional start time that would remain in place until 1974, when it was moved to 8 a.m.
The defining event of the 1965 fiesta was institutional rather than athletic. A dispute between the Ayuntamiento de Pamplona and the Casa de Misericordia, the charitable institution known as La Meca, which held the concession to organise the bullfighting programme, led to the eighth corrida of the Feria, on July 14, being held without an encierro beforehand. The episode illustrated how the relationships between the city government, the traditional institutions, and the festive calendar could fracture under the pressures of a fiesta that had grown well beyond its original scale.
In 1965, the final day of San Fermín had its corrida but no encierro. The episode revealed the fragility behind the tradition's apparent permanence.Morning by morning
Every 1965 Encierro, Day by Day
Seven runs, July 7 to 13, 1965. There was no encierro on July 14. The route runs 848.6 metres from Santo Domingo to the bull ring. See the route map.
Wed July 7 · First run
Juan Pedro Domecq
July 7
See the compilation footage above for archival coverage of the 1965 encierros, from the channel Encierros San Fermín.
Thu July 8 · Second run
Conde de la Corte
July 8
Fri July 9 · Third run
Fermín Bohórquez
July 9
The six Bohórquez bulls left the Rochapea corrals before a crowd at the start of the run.
Sat July 10 · Fourth run
Antonio Pérez Angoso
July 10
Sun July 11 · Fifth run
Salvador Guardiola
July 11
Mon July 12 · Sixth run
Eduardo Miura
July 12
Tue July 13 · Seventh run
Atanasio Fernández
July 13
Wed July 14 · No encierro
No Encierro on July 14
July 14
No encierro
The final day of the 1965 fiesta had no encierro. Because of a disagreement between the Ayuntamiento de Pamplona and the Casa de Misericordia (La Meca), the eighth corrida of the Feria was held without an encierro beforehand.
The Stories the Numbers Leave Out
Institutional drama
The Dispute That Cost July 14 Its Encierro
The closing day of the 1965 fiesta lost one of its central acts. Because of a disagreement between the Ayuntamiento and the Casa de Misericordia (the institution known as La Meca, which organized the bullfighting program), the corrida on July 14 was held without an encierro beforehand. The episode illustrated the institutional tensions underlying a festival that had grown far larger than its original framework.
Pamplona in New York
The Giants at the 1965 World's Fair
In October 1965, the Comparsa de Gigantes, the troupe of giant processional figures that parade through Pamplona during the fiesta, traveled to New York to participate in the closing of the 1965 World's Fair. The Gigantes paraded down Fifth Avenue.
The 1965 Sanfermines Official Cartel
Cartel: Nicolás Ardanaz.
The 1965 San Fermín poster was the work of Nicolás Ardanaz, who also designed the 1966 cartel. The poster was produced for the Ayuntamiento de Pamplona ahead of the July fiesta.
The full archive of San Fermín official posters is maintained by the Ayuntamiento de Pamplona, cartel archive.
Beyond the runThe City in 1965
The chupinazo opened the fiesta at noon on Tuesday, July 6, in the Plaza del Ayuntamiento. The encierros followed each morning at 7 a.m. The fiesta ran its full nine days through July 14.
The final day of the fiesta, July 14, had no encierro. Because of a disagreement between the Ayuntamiento de Pamplona and the Casa de Misericordia (La Meca, the institution that organised the bullfighting programme), the eighth corrida was held without an encierro beforehand. The fiesta closed at midnight with the candlelit Pobre de Mí. In October 1965, the Comparsa de Gigantes traveled to New York to participate in the closing ceremony of the 1965 World's Fair.
The recordHow 1965 Came Together
The planning and key dates, kept on the record.
6 July 1965
The chupinazo opened the fiesta at noon in the Plaza del Ayuntamiento. Encierros were to run each morning at 7 a.m.
14 July 1965
Because of a disagreement between the Ayuntamiento and the Casa de Misericordia (La Meca), the eighth corrida of the Feria was held on July 14 without an encierro beforehand.
October 1965
The Comparsa de Gigantes traveled to New York to participate in the closing ceremony of the 1965 World's Fair, bringing a piece of San Fermín's visual identity to the United States.
San Fermín 1965, Answered
Was anyone killed in the 1965 San Fermín encierro?
No. There were no deaths in the 1965 encierro.
Was there an encierro on the final day of San Fermín 1965?
No. Because of a disagreement between the Ayuntamiento de Pamplona and the Casa de Misericordia (La Meca), which organized the bullfighting program, the eighth corrida on July 14 was held without an encierro beforehand. The 1965 fiesta had seven encierros.
Sources
Every fact on this page is checked against these sources. Where sources disagreed, the one closest to the day won.
- Dialnet (Salvador Martín Cruz), "El viaje a Nueva York de los Gigantes de Pamplona", 2018-09. dialnet.unirioja.es
- El Encierro (magazine) n56, via Dialnet, "Arquitecturas alrededor del encierro (Javier Torrens Alzu)", 2020-06. dialnet.unirioja.es
- Onda Vasca / Noticias de Navarra, "Encierros con historia", 2022-07-15. ondavasca.com
- 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
- ABC (Madrid), "page 49", 10 July 1965. hemerotecadigital.bne.es
What came before and after
For 1966, see what followed. Or return to 1964.