Bull fighting, or corrida de toros, is an ancient sport believed to have originated as a form of worship and sacrifice. Later on, Romans added the spectacle part and turned it in to something fascinating. Tauromachy or ‘the fighting of the bull’ has over the years been seen as an iconic sport of Spain. The Fiesta, as Hemingway calls it, is something quite intriguing. The magical atmosphere that engulfs the whole town, the running in front of the bulls to the action that takes place in the ring, leaves one hypnotized & completely enthralled by the whole event. Once you are there, you can not but feel the adrenaline pumping through your blood. Even if you find yourself in the block that considers the whole idea & practice of bull fighting disgraceful & cruel, you would still feel the rush in your blood, only in the opposite direction.
The sport is a major part of Spanish tradition; a defence used against the severe criticism that it has come under. For, in all honesty, it is a blood sport in which the bull are subjected to extreme suffering. True, the graceful close-range manoeuvres of the matadors look extremely classy, but the price for that is a life, normally that of the animal but at times human also.
In a particular Fiesta Brava (Spanish Style), three matadors take part, each fights two bulls, with a team of 6 assistants; two lancers on horse backs, three flagmen & 1 sword servant. There is a lot of pomp & ceremony involved in a bull fight. First the participants enter the arena, next the bulls are led in and the matador and flagmen check his agility with their dress capes. This part looks really graceful in the way the matador moves. For people with a weak heart this is where the fun ends; from here onwards, it becomes a dangerous & bloody spectacle in which one side definitely suffers.
Before the matador faces the bull, the lancers & the flagmen injure the bull enough to weaken him, and in a way give the matador an unfair advantage. This does not make things too easy for the matador. In the final stage of the fight he enters the arena alone. He attracts the bull towards himself getting him to make extremely close passes, requiring skill & courage. To kill the bull, he has to get the bull in to a position from where he can plant his sword between the bull’s shoulder & pass it through the heart, killing the animal; a feat only expert matadors can perform. Sometimes, after an exceptional performance, a bull might earn back his life, be treated & sent out to pastures to spend the rest of his life.
Tradition or cruelty, corrida de toros attracts over 1.3 million people every year in Spain to these arenas. To decide, once & for all, which side of the argument you support, visiting one game might not be a bad idea. It would either be your first or the last
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This entry was posted on Wednesday, August 8th, 2007 at 2:33 am and is filed under Europe. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
