The traditional "chupinazo", a rocket fired from the balcony of the town hall above a crowded square, marked at noon sharp (10:00 GMT) the start of nine days of festivities in this city in the north of the country.
Thousands of people from all over the world, and dressed in white with a red scarf as tradition dictates, then shouted "Viva San Fermin!"
splashing himself with wine and sangria, under a light drizzle.
"It doesn't matter if it rains. To see the square filled again is great," enthused Saioa Guembe Pena, a 54-year-old civil servant whose white T-shirt was already turning pink because of the wine.
Thousands of people gathered in Pamplona, Spain, on July 7, 2022 to celebrate the resumption of the traditional holiday MIGUEL RIOPA AFP
The party, immortalized in 1926 by Ernest Hemingway in his novel "The Sun Also Rises", had not been held since July 2019. It had been canceled in quick succession in 2020 and 2021 due to the Covid-19 pandemic , an unprecedented event since the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939).
Early Wednesday morning, the participants were already starting to drink in the courtyards of the buildings or in the alleys of the city whose cobblestones were already strewn with bottles of sangria.
The party started at noon sharp, in Pamplona on July 7, 2022 MIGUEL RIOPA AFP
San Fermin, held every year from July 6 to 14, is world famous for its bull runs or "encierros".
Every morning at 8 a.m., hundreds of people try to get as close as possible to six fighting bulls during an 850-meter race through the cobbled streets of the city that ends in the bullring, which celebrates this year their centenary.
These bulls are then put to death in the afternoon by the big names in bullfighting during bullfights.
The first release, which is often the one that brings together the most participants, will take place on Thursday morning.
The "encierros" cause dozens of injuries and sometimes deaths every year.
The last death dates back to 2009 when a bull gored a 27-year-old Spaniard.
© 2022 AFP