Events - Part 14

The Running of the Nudes, Pamplona

Ernest Hemingway's novel The Sun Also Rises, set in Pamplona, Spain, made the annual Running of the Bulls event famous.  Before the bullfight, the bulls are set loose to charge down the city streets with people daring to run in front of them.

In 2002, 25 naked streakers ran through Pamplona's streets to promote an alternative to the Running of the Bulls.  Since then, the Running of the Nudes has become an annual event.  Above, a Running of the Nudes streaker

The event has turned into a protest against bullfighting, held two days before the Running of the Bulls, with most protesters marching naked or nearly naked.  This was the protest in 2002.

Here are two nude participants wearing plastic horns and not much else.

These guys decided to wear their horns in a more unconventional place.

More protesters.

An occasional streaker still participates in the Running of the Bulls, like this guy in 2011.  Maybe he shouldn't have been waving a red cloth.

Meanwhile, the bullfights continue.  This is French bullfighter Sebastian Castella in the bullring in Pamplona in 2008 after a bull tore his clothes with its horn.  You can see a bit of something peeking out of the tear.

While we're on the subject, let's have a look at matadors and their costumes.  The remaining photos and video are not from Pamplona.  Matadors traditionally wear an elaborate costume called a "suit of lights".  The pants are always very tight, and the matador's bulge is always quite visible.

The pants are also tight in the rear, but this one is unusually form-fitting.

There have been a surprising number of incidents of a bull tearing a matadors pants enough to expose him but not enough to injure him.  It happened to 20-year-old Alvero de la Calle.  The Italian caption says that he was caught with his zizi in the air.

It also happened to Leonardo Benitez.

And it happened to this matador.  He seems to be checking that the most important part wasn't injured, and his friend seems equally interested.

But the most dramatic such incident was caught on this video, where a bull completely removed a man's pants and underpants.  The man, wearing blue jeans, was clearly not a matador.  Perhaps he was a spectator who had run into the bullring.  Luckily he managed to run away with apparently nothing damaged but his dignity.  ¡Olé!