The new mayor of Pamplona threatens citizens to pay fines of up to EUR 30,000 in case of incidents in the procession of 7 July. In addition, the election campaign will begin that day and there will be a warm atmosphere. The authorities would like the procession to be a quiet walk, but do not remember (or do not want to remember) that the passion for protest is rooted in the history and nature of San Fermin.

On the afternoon of July 6, as usual, the members of the corporation went to the church of San Lorenzo to hear the Mass of the Eve. They used to leave town hall to church, accompanied by musicians. It seems that in the early 1910s, a carlist named Ignacio Baleztena came up with taking the opportunity to obstruct the liberal corporation; while Astrain played Balsa's melody, dancing at the rhythm of music, the road to the authorities was closed. That was the birth of Riau-Riau. According to the descendants of the creator of the tradition, being right-wing, Baleztenia did not do so with the intention of making political criticism, but, in any case, the authorities did not like the newborn habit very much; in 1916 they were insults, and in 1917 and 1918 orders were published that prohibited the corporation from getting upset. The tradition soon stabilized and in the following years the dinner cost more and more to make a tour of just 500 meters. Since the 1970s, the situation deteriorated and there was a growing number of insults and attempts to attack municipal authorities. Following the riots in 1991, Riau-Riaua was suspended in 1992. Since then, there have been two attempts at recovery in 1996 and 2012, but it has not been possible.

From then on, the tradition of criticizing the corporation moved to the procession of July 7. On some streets of the tour the mayor is applauded and Kuria Street is silenced. What is happening today in the procession is just what was happening in Riau-Riau.

The whole history of humanity so far has been a history of social conflict. Free and slave men, patriots and commoners, lords and servants, in short, rulers and subordinates. Faced with these conflicts, subordinates have always used mechanisms of resistance and forms of protest. Celebrations and associated rituals serve to represent power, to mark here who commands, but also to express their opposition to the authorities. Those who say ‘Fiestas yes, politics no’ want the Sanfermines without the altar of Txupinazo, without the caricature of the peñas, without political barracks and without processional silences. They want Sanfermines without wings, and I loved the bird.

If you approach Kuria Street this Friday, be careful.