The Procession

The devotion to San Femín is a rich inheritance left by the parents of Pamplona to their children. lt may not be a devotion of every day of the year but there is no doubt that San Fermín is raised every year, in the second week of July, with a religious protagonism that puts other members of the celestial court into second place. lt is not in vain that the saint is called upon before every bull run, as his protecting cape is faithfully hoped for in the dangerous trips and falls of the run and he is continuously prayed to in his baroque chapel in the church of San Lorenzo, who has to give up his place of honour for a few days.

But when San Fermín really becomes the protagonist of the street -which, lest we forget, is where the festivities really take place- when he is carried in procession through the streets of the old town on the morning of the seventh, accompanied by the authorities, the various guilds and companies of the city, giants and big-headed carnival figures, the city band and the ordinary people immaculate in their best festival dress -white shirt, white skirt or trousers, a red sash around the waist, red neck-scarf and canvas sandals, also with red ribbons. All this pomp and show to accompany him on his way through the streets of the old medieval districts. And, on several occasions the solemnity of the procession is interrupted -with calculated spontaneity- by the sharp echo of a jota, the moving local folk song, which breaks the clean morning air and puts the emotional hearts of the listeners to the test. Tradition has ¡t that Honesto was sent by San Saturnino to evangelize Roman Pamplona, successfully converting the senator Firmo and all his family to the Christian faith. His son Fermín was named bishop at a very young age and in turn evangelized Gaul until he was imprisoned in Amiens and beheaded on the twentyfifth of September. lt is not known how long San Fermín has been the main Patron Saint of the Kingdom of Navarra and of the diocese of Pamplona. The celebrations in his honour used to take place on the tenth of October when his arrival in Amiens was commemorated, but as early as 1591 the celebration was transferred to the seventh of July, a much more suitable time for the festival than unpredictable Autumn. The image carried through the streets of the three old districts which made up medieval Pamplona, Navarrería, the borough of San Cernin and the village of San Nicolás, is a silver-plated wooden sculpture from the end of the XVth century with a locket, also in silver, open in the chest.