The San Fermín festivities will come to a close this weekend, at midnight on the 14th of July. That is the moment when a great crowd gathers in front of el ayuntamiento (Town Hall) of Pamplona to sing the traditional song “Pobre de mí”. The lyrics express the sorrow that pamploneses (inhabitants of Pamplona) and visitors feel:
¡Pobre de mí, pobre de mí! que se han acabao* las fiestas de San Fermín.
Poor me, poor me! for the fiesta of San Fermín has come to a close.
*Pronunciation tip: Notice that instead of acabado, the standard way of writing the past participle of acabar, it’s acabao. You’ll hear this in informal spoken Spanish in various regions: -ado is pronounced -ao.
Unlike other events during los Sanfermines, the atmosphere is quite calm and the crowd more manageable, which is why adults can bring their children without concern. All of them will carry un cirio encendido (a lit candle) and for the last time will wear el pañuelo rojo (the red handkerchief) that, with the white shirt and pants, are the official “uniform” during the festivities. El pañuelo rojo was put on when the festivities began at midday on the 6th of July after the chupinazo (the rocket) went off and now is now taken off and held above the head while singing Pobre de mí.
In recent years, people have started to leave the handkerchiefs and the candles at the gates of the church of San Lorenzo, where the statue of San Fermín is kept but, as with so many other things in this fiesta, not to the liking of everybody.¡Viva San Fermín! (And you reply) ¡Viva!
You can see all of these traditions in this video of the closing of last year’s San Fermín.