Running of the bulls

Pamplona, Spain

The annual running of the bulls in Pamplona this week has brought its usual share of gorings and other injuries. More than 1,000 men and a few women came from all over the world to run down a cobblestone street, pursued by six bulls on their way to be killed in the ring. As usual, several of the revelers fell and were gored. Immortalized in Hemingway’s The Sun Also Rises, the ritual began in the 16th century, when young men would show their bravery by racing to the bullfighting rings ahead of the animals. The modern version is a weeklong festival of drunken debauchery. Before the bull run, a few members of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals ran through the streets naked, to protest bullfighting. The protest was hardly noticed in the general mayhem of pre-run partying.

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