Vespers

Vespers are celebrated at eight o'clock on the evening of the sixth in the chapel of San Fermín in the parish of San Lorenzo. Accompanied by the Pablo Sarasate Orchestra, Pamplona Cathedral Choir -with the backing of the boy sopranos of the Escolanía Loyola- sings the Vespers composed for the occasion in the XIXth century by Mariano García and Joaquín Maya, both of whom were locally born composers. Until 1941 this religious service was the first act of the Sanfermines but in that year the tradition of the chupinazo began and today ¡t is the explosion of the rocket into the air together with the explosion of the champagne corks and happiness on the ground that mark the beginning of the festival.

The Mayor and Corporation attend vespers in full gala clress: top hat and tails for the men, and for the women, a tradicional dress inspired by that of the valleys of the eastern Pyrenees. At half past five they leave by the main door of the City Hall where a heaving crowd of young people of Pamplona awaits them preventing the cortège from making any progress, with the repeated sounds ad infinitum of the Astrain Waltz: it's the popular "Riau-Riau", a test of strenght between the authorities and the people which usually ends the patience of the former in their desire to arrive at Vespers on time. The Mayor and Council are accompanied by the city band, buglers, drummers, macebearers, foot-men and the local police, who form a strong cordon of sweating policemen, as the procession tries, often without success, to advance just a few steps. The human sea is preceded by the Procession of Giants and Big-headed carnival figures who delight the small children who wait at their parents' sides as the slow-moving cortège goes past.

In recent years the "Riau-Riau" has been called off due to incidents in which certain groups made any progress of the procession totally impossible, meaning a far too late arrival at vespers.