Echoing the great book from the eternal Sanfermin fan Ernest Hemingway… that could be the title for this photo of the protagonist of the 2013 Txupinazo. The young man is dressed up as an old man with a flowing beard and he has used a fishing rod to cast a giant flag and put in check the whole security system for the Txuupinazo sanfermin event and he also managed to delay the opening by all of 19 minutes. What would Hemingway have thought of it all?
A giant-sized flag which blocked the setting off of the opening rocket, a delay of 19 minutes in eventually launching the rocket, a policeman who suffered injury from a thrown bottle, some police charges and finally a second rocket which exploded among the crowd after being set off from City Hall balcony, were among the most relevant incidents at today’s opening event of the Sanfermin fiestas.
Moments before the Txupinazo was to be set off some youths attempted to enter City Hall square from Chapitela Street with ikurriña flags. The police mounted a charge against them and this created a lot of tension among the jam-packed crowd. One policeman was injured by a thrown bottle.
From inside the square, several people in disguise managed to unfold a giant Basque flag and hang it from side to side across the square on a wire. They managed this by casting a fishing line from one rooftop to another across the square and then they attached a rope and hung the giant flag which blocked the whole front of City Hall.
The Txupinazo opening rocket had to be delayed as, according to City Hall sources, the security question had first to be dealt with. A municipal policeman finally managed to cut the rope and immediately afterwards the launching of the opening rocket took place. According to the local newspaper “Diario de Noticias” the magistrate on duty has opened a legal case for an offence against public order.
Meanwhile, one of the rockets, set off from the balcony of City Hall after the initial opening rocket, crashed to the ground and exploded, causing some moments of panic among the crowd. Four people were minor injured.
The unknown persons climbed onto the roof of one of the City Hall buildings, and placed the flag across the front of City hall on a towrope from up there. A local policeman was finally able to cut the rope and allow the opening Txupinazo event to take place.
The mayor of Pamplona, Enrique Maya has expressed his “anger” for what he considers to have been “an attempt to torpedo” the start of this year’s Sanfermin fiestas.
In an incident-filled opening txupinazo event, in addition to the provocation of the giant-sized flag placed in front of City Hall, the words used by Eduardo Vall, the socialist councilor, to open the fiestas 19 minutes after the scheduled time of midday, have also given rise to some comment: “Now, yes, Pamploneses, Pamplonesas, iruindarrak, to all foreign visitors, from institutional respect (we say), Viva Sanfermin, gora Sanfermin”.
Sanfermin 2013 opens with the Txupinazo rockets. We provide a live report on Sanfermin.com
SEE MORE PHOTOS OF TXUPINAZO 2013 (Flickr)
12:27 PM. And the party has taken off. Thanks for having followed this historical Txupinazo on Sanfermin.com.
12:19 PM. The opening rocket has finally been set off. A second rocket fell to the ground by accident. It may have caused some slight injury among the crowd below.
12:16 PM. The ikurriña national flag has been taken away by the municipal police amid growing tension.
12:12 PM. Nadie aparece por el balcón. Nadie recuerda un suceso semejante. La ikurriña gigante sigue colgada frente al ayuntamiento y nadie aparece en el balcón. Hay gente pasándolo mal en la plaza y algunos comienzan a marcharse.
12:03 PM. Shouts of UPN Kanpora and there is a delay in setting off the rocket. Something which has never before happened. For the moment, the reason for the delay is not clear but it would seem to be connected to the fact that a large ikurriña flag is blocking the view to the balconies of City Hall..
11:47 AMThe crowd grows impatient in the square. A man has climbed up onto the roof of a neighboring building next to City Hall. He is trying to show a large banner across the two sides of the square. A risky act. He has managed to hang a giant-sized flag in front of City Hall.
11:21 AM. It is a very hot day. The crowd shouts for water. The square is now jam-packed and there is still half an hour to go.
10:50AM. Kisses, kisses, kisses. Still another hour to go before the rocket is set off.
10:26 AM. The municipal police are confiscating all glass bottles. No glass is being allowed into the square for safety reasons.
10:13 AM. The square begins to sound like a party scene. Bum bum bum…
9:31 AM. The first revelers are arriving. The party is warming up.
9:20. A jam-packed crowd is expected for the Txupinazo. It is a Saturday and a very hot day, the necessary ingredients to jam-pack the streets. It is very advisable to drink a lot of liquid and take careso as not to have any problems.
8:48 AM.The people begin to gather and all still look spotlessly clean in their Sanfermin gear. A nice atmosphere in the air. The alcohol is not yet showing any affect. Still plenty of room in the square.
8:16 AM. The smell of urine is discernible in the hot streets. It has been a long hot night. The square is being prepared for the crowd by the early morning street cleaners.
The snapshot shows a typical warming-up scene as the crowd waits for the Chupinazo rocket to go off to open the Sanfermin fiestas. The photo was taken by the Pamplona photographer, José Torregrosa and it has been given the title “La Diosa de la Juerga” (‘The Goddess of the Rave-Up’). The Jury has selected it as the winning photo of this VI Sanfermin Erotic Photo Competition and it receives the first prize of 1.500 euro. The snapshot was taken about an hour and a half before the opening rocket was set off in front of Pamplona City Hall. It shows a girl baring her breasts in front of a packed crowd who admire her with interest. The president of the jury, Mikel Urmeneta, observes that “the figure of the women does not at all suggest a sexual object but rather she stands out like some kind of huge goddess of the party scene before an admiring largely masculine public who are transfixed by a mixture of amusement and stunned under her power. Without a doubt, she is in control of the scene”.
José Torregrosa is a 63 year-old man from Pamplona and he has been an enthusiastic amateur photographer for many years. His snapshot has come out on top from the 231 entries sent in by 66 different authors. The Jury praised the composition of the photo as well as the technique found in the image and the precise moment when the girl exhibits herself and how she seems to dazzle the throng of people packed together in the square shortly before the fiestas take off.
José María Sanchón, editor of Playboy magazine and a member of the jury points out that ” The classic image of the fiestas which I have always had of the Sanfermin fiestas is that of the bulls, in the line of the Hemingway novel, but it is clear that I have got it wrong. Now, with all the photos entered for the competition, I can see that there is a strong element of the American style Spring Break. The notes of the Mardi Gras from New Orleans, like the “flashing” in the winning photo – I mean showing off her breasts in public – there is a strong suggestion of those wild bawdy university movies with a whiff of kalimotxo booze in the air.”
Torregrosa and his camera have had a long relationship with the Sanfermin fiestas. Just recently Torregrosa finally got rid of the plaster around his forearm which he has had ever since the 12th of July this year. The accident happened during the running of the bulls on the 12th right in the middle of the fiestas when a runner, trying to get away from a bull, knocked José Torregrosa off the wooden fencing where he was seated and which resulted in a broken bone.
His winning photo was taken at 10.34 in the morning of the 6th of July and he used a Nikon D300S a shutter speed of 1/250, to 200 of Iso, f/8 of diaphragm and an 18-135 mm lens. That camera came to a sorry end at the time of the accident to his forearm when it was completely destroyed in his fall.
El sábado 25 se celebrará en México DF un Chupinazo singular que permitirá evocar la fiesta de Sanfermin. En la finca La Tapaíta desde la una de la tarde (horario mexicano) se unirán cuatro elementos esenciales que garantizan una fiesta como la de Sanfermin: gente con ganas de pasarlo bien, música con el grupo Liquits, Mister Testis y mucha juerga. Esta fiesta se suma al Chupinazo que otros años se había celebrado en México DF y servirá para pasarlo bien en el primero de los actos del acuerdo de colaboración entre Televisa y Kukuxumusu.
El Chupinazo contará con la participación de Mister Testis que ha aprovechado su letargo veraniego para reactivarse y viajar a México. La juerga está garantizada gracias a la colaboración del Bar la Borboleta, la finca Lienzo Charro-La Tapaíta, la actuación del grupo Liquits y Kukuxumusu. Próximamente os contaremos cómo fue este Chupinazo mexicano.
The image that readers of the popular local Diario de Noticias newspaper awoke to this morning, on the opening day of fiestas, was a txupinazo opening of fiestas suffering a tsunami or being washed away by the tidal wave of the crisis. Once again, this year, the headline image of the newspaper has a graphic design created by Mikel Urmeneta, founder-member and creative director of Kukuxumusu.
The creator of the design explains the thinking behind the design: “In the drawing, the clock on the City Hall has turned into a euro – and which is also on the point of sinking. The Figure which represents Fame is playing Sanfermin on the trumpet which is clearly going through a bad economic phase and the lions have turned into Piggy Banks. In addition, one of the Hercules figures holds a big pair of scissors for making cutbacks and the other one is holding his hands up, attacked and horrified by the passing txupinazo which passes close by him in the graphic form of a crisis”.
“People don’t know which is best, to protest…to enjoy themselves… to save themselves from the tidal wave…but I did not want to make everything seem horrible. There remains a chance to save ourselves from the tidal wave by using surf boards”, affirms Urmeneta. Meanwhile, “the politicians are displaying static green faces, rotten and paralyzed. They don’t know what the hell to do, while at least, the citizens have a good color and they can be seen in movement.”
To sum up, and as the creator of the design himself puts it: “It’s a capsizing txupinazo”.
More photos from the 6th of July
He was accompanied by his daughter, Ane, who tied on the classic red necktie around his neck. This necktie had a special inscription embroidered on the necktie for the occasion with the words “Zorionak aitatxo” along with the badge of Pamplona and today’s complete date. Cabasés stated that he felt deeply moved to be able to share with all the people in the jam-packed square the special moment by lighting the wick to set off the opening rocket. He also had time to think of all those who had not been able to come to Pamplona for the fiestas this year.
“I thought that, amid all the pandemonium, the crowd would not be able to hear me, but the fact is that everyone responded very well to my shouts and it made me feel very special ” he stated after setting light to the first Txupinazo rocket.
Cabasés wished to remember his family and friends on this special day and he went on to say, given the current economic climate, this is a special time for “combining the fun of the fiestas with a sense of solidarity and to remember those who are going through hard times these days”.
In addition to his daughter, the councilor from Nafarroa Bai was also accompanied by his political companions from the coalition party and, after setting off the rocket, he expressed his wish to enjoy the fiestas as much as posible and he invited all the local people as well as visitors to do the same.
The Red Cross issued a first report on the number of injured people given treatment at the txupinazo opening event of Sanfermin fiestas. A total of 17 people received treatment, thirteen of them in the immediate vicinity of City Hall and four others at the First Aid Center (two for injuries, two for alcohol poisoning). Just one person needed to be taken off to receive hospital treatment.
For the opening day of the fiestas, The Red Cross had set up two first aid posts close to City Hall square. One of these was located at the bottom of Santo Domingo Street (at the Department of Education building) and a second post was set up at the porch of San Saturnino church. Both posts were served by medical personnel, first-aid workers, and an ambulance service and back-up vehicles, according to a press release issued by The Red Cross.
Thousands of people have been arriving over the past few days to the Navarra capital from all parts of the world and a good many of them will be squeezed into the packed area of City Hall Square all ready and willing to enjoy the opening ceremony of the Txupinazo which will set the fiestas of Sanfermin 2012 in motion.
The councilor Iñaki Cabases belongs to the Nationalist political group, Nafarroa Bai, and he has been a councilor of Pamplona since 2007. He is an ardent fan of Sanfermin fiestas and, as speaker for this second largest political party in City Hall, he has had the luck to have selected to set light to the opening rocket that will announce the start of the fiestas.
The city is now all ready and waiting and this year, once again, City Hall will put special security measures into operation to ensure that all those who go to the square to welcome the opening of the fiestas will not be permitted to take any kind of glassware or glass-made bottles with them in an attempt to avoid cuts and accidents.
Not long to go!
