The stair

The festival of San Fermin begins the 6th of July and finishes the 14th, but during the year, generally the week or two weeks before, different events take place in Pamplona connected with the fiesta; the day of the peñas, for example, which dates from some years back.

The first months of the year, on some specific dates, the people from the peñas, have special kind of parties to celebrate that the sanfermines are coming soon. This fad began some years ago and it is called "The stair".

Following the lyrics of the very famous song of sanfermines ("uno de Enero, dos de Febrero, tres de Marzo, cuatro de Abril, cinco de Mayo, seis de Junio, siete de Julio San Fermin. A Pamplona hemos de ir, con una media, con una media, a Pamplona hemos de ir con una media y un calcetín" / "first of January, second of February, third of March, fourth of April, fifth of May, six of June, seven of July San Fermin. To Pamplona we will go, with tights, with tights. To Pamplona we will go, with a tight and a sock") the members of the peñas celebrate each month, on a different day the fact that less time remains for the festivals to begin. They meet in their headquarters and prepare a big dinner, followed by a spree that will finish in the early hours of the next morning.

This "tradition" starts the first day of the year and continues, as it is said in the song, in different days of the next months. It is not a very observed fad (it's difficult to remember the dates), but when you see a group of people dressed in white and red, singing the typical San Fermin's song, you see that the sanfermines are closer.

This new fad is just an excuse to have a dinner together and to realize that very soon the awaited festivals will begin again. As well as the members of the peñas, some pubs play music of sanfermines in order to have a good atmosphere. Even only for some hours, the people look forward to with the idea of the sanfermines and they start to think how are they going to celebrate them.