Description: Caravinagre – me da mucho miedo. Caravinagre is one of the kilikis. Caravinagre, translated to English, for me, means sour puss – he looks like grumpy.

The kilikis represent the councillors and their mission is to ‘frighten’ and entertain the youngsters. These six figures carry foam ‘sticks’ and playfully hit and chase after the little children.

Their names are: Coletas (ponytails), Patata (potato), Barbas (beardy), Verrugas (warts), Napoleón and Caravinagre (vinegar face).

– extract from the Navarran Tourism website.

Description: Día 10, the reception for the 150th anniversary of the creation of the Gigantes and Cabezudos.

The giants are the oldest figures of the fiesta of San Fermín. They date back to 1850 (correct?) 1860 (Gracias Keko!) and reach a height of 4.2 metres above the dancer that carries them, and weigh between 59 and 64 kilos.

They consist of four couples (King and Queen) that represent America, Africa, Europe and Asia, and they dance to the txistu (Basque flute) and the tabor.

The Gigantes and Cabezudos parade route is always filled.

Description: Txaranga “Bombumba Armonia Txantrea”. One of the many txarangas marching around the streets during fiesta.

Txarangas can be seen marching around the city at, literally all hours of the day. They can whip a sleepy crowd into a frenzy and get them going again, marching off the to next bar.

For me, txarangas are one of the best elements of fiestas.

The winning poster, number 2 of the six finalists, will serve as the official announcement poster for Sanfermin 2010. The poster was known to the public as the “Sanfermin colors” but its official title was The Sanfermin Cape.

The winning poster won by just 14 votes from the second placed number 4, popularly called “Sanfermin upside down”. These two posters , along with poster number 1, popularly known as the “snooker balls Sanfermin” shared an intense struggle to reach first position with positions continually changing as the voting continued over the past week.

A ritmo de carpintero from sanferminencierro on Vimeo.

La carpinteria de Puente la Reina, Hermanos Aldaz, es la encargada de instalar y desmontar todas las mañanas de San Fermín el vallado que delimita el trazado del encierro desde hace 18 años.

sanferminencierro.com: El cántico a San Fermín from sanferminencierro on Vimeo.

El cántico de los mozos al santo es un ritual de obligado cumplimiento que se repite desde 1962. En el primer tramo del recorrido (cuesta de Santo Domingo), frente a la hornacina del santo, que se encuentra en una pequeña brecha excavada en la piedra y adornada con un panel que porta los pañuelos de las peñas, los mozos se encomiendan a San Fermín pidiendo su protección durante la carrera.

This is the song that the runners (called “mozos”) sing to the Saint. In the first “tramo” (section) of the encierro, in the Cuesta de Santo Domingo, you find the little alcove in the wall which is adorned with the pañuelos of all the Peñas. Here the runners sing this song to the saint asking for his protection during their run.

The lyrics of the song are:

A San Fermín pedimos,
por ser nuestro patrón,
nos guíe en el encierro dándonos su bendición,
Viva San Fermín! Gora San Fermín!

We ask Saint Fermín,
as our Patron,
to guide us through the encierro and give us his blessing,
Viva San Fermín! Gora San Fermín!

Banda de Música de Estella / Lizarra
Es la jota de Tafalla y ya sólo por eso la bailamos con mucha emoción. Si además lo hacemos con otros dos grupos de la localidad, todavía hace más ilusión y al público le gusta más. Según Arregui, los danzaris no se les hace tan difícil seguir a la banda porque es una jota que bailan mucho y para la que están muy preparadas.
Sin embargo, también los miembros de la comparsa de gigantes y cabezudos reconocían que cada año se compaginan mejor: “Poco a poco nos vamos haciendo más los unos a los otros . La experiencia nos va ayudando a que este baile conjunto mejore”, apuntó Aitor Marco Veintemillas, uno de los tres responsables de la comparsa.

Location: Plaza de la Navarrería, Pamplona, Navarra
Description:

This photograph is looking into Plaza de la Navarrería (photographs here), where up until last year, La Fuente De Santa Cecilia was located.

The fountain was the location of a new tradition - fountain jumping. Since, at least 1984 mainly Australians, New Zealanders, and American tourists jumped from the fountain, every 6th of July afternoon.

But this year, the fountain was gone. I am still trying to find out the reason for its removal.

It was a nice way to spend a few hours on the 6th of July-eating some nice spicy mussels from the Bar Mejillones in Plaza De Navarreía, sipping on a cold beer, watching the guiris jumping off the fountain.

This year was not as good fun – instead of fountain jumping, the guiris went rubbish bin jumping..not as dangerous.