Ai! Dios mio! On Sunday night I went to the Plaza de Toros de Sevilla to watch a bull fight. And, yes, I know it is a very controversial subject, but I felt that it was an important part of Spanish (especially Andalucian) culture, and since one of my main goals here is to immerse myself in the culture, I decided that it was something that I had to do. Also, after going, I decided that I wanted to know more about the history of why the hell there would be a sport for killing bulls. Pues, here is what I found out. First of all, it is called "corrida de toros", which translates to mean "race of bulls". Why bulls you ask? Well bulls were originally worshiped and sacrifices. There was a lot of symbolisim with man versus bull in the cave painting "El toro de hachos" found in Spain ("the bull of torches"). Bullfighting is done very differently in many different countries, but since I am in Spain, I will only talk about the Spanish bullfighting perspectives. First off, the crew. In the whole performance (is that what I would call it?), there are 6 bulls killed total. There are 3 matadores (which means "murderers") that each have a posse. There are 2 picadores "lancers" which are men on horseback, 3 banderilleros "flagmen", and one mozo de espada "sword page". The matadores y the banderilleros are collectively known as toreros "bullfighters", but the whole group is called a cuadrilla "entourage". Anyway, each bull fight is divided in to thirds, each announced with trumpets. In the last part of the fight they play a song that sounds like a funeral procession and it is very sad. All of the people in the entourage wear very flashy glittery outfits that are traditional Andalucian outfits. The head matador wears gold, whereas the banderilleros wear silver. Now for the explanation of what was going on. (I wish I knew this before I went, but it was kind of a last minute decision.) So at first the banderilleros just show off with their capes for a while do check out the behavior of the bull and show off their style. The ones that were good do this in almost a "sexy" way that was very stylistic and showy. Well, I was a bit horrified that there were horses out there with the bull, especially because the bull kept attacking the horses that were blindfolded, but they had padding on the sides, so they were not hurt and didn't freak out, which I found a little weird because bulls weigh a little over 1000 lbs. Anyway, apparently the horsemen are there to get the bull placed in the ring at a better angles, and to show the matador which side the bull favors. The horsemen also stab the bull in the back to wear the bull's neck muscles. Thankfully, there has been a rule instilled since 1930 that makes the horse wear gear because prior to that, there were more horses killed than bulls! What a slaughter!!! Anyway, for the next part, the flaggers try to put two banderillas (two sharp barbed sticks) in to the bulls back, which I heard was some sort of beginning of paralysis, but online it says that it is only to anger the bulls. This can be done with style, or just trying to get them in, and not all of the flaggers got them in every time. The final part is where the matador comes out with the red cape and the sword. Bulls are actually colorblind, but the different hues attract them to strike at the capes. The cape is red to mask some of the bull's blood and a form of tradition, not because the fact that it is red really makes any difference to the bull. After a series of passes by the matador, the matador strikes the bull with his sword in the top of his shoulders, hopefully going down to the heart, making it a quick death. Unfortunately, out of the ones I saw, only 1 bull died that way. Apparently this was more of an amateur match, although it is considered very lucky to be able to perform in this "arena?", so they had to be in a certain better class to perform there. The matador uses the cape also to hold close to his body many times in the passes to show dominance and his power over the animal. So enough about history… now what I thought about it. I found it a bit disturbing, but honestly, the worst part was seeing not 1, but 2 MATADORES be gored! It was so horrible!!! The first one that was gored was trampled and caught by his arm and flailed about for a while. It was sooo terrible! The second one, although it didn't LOOK as bad, was much worse because he was gored very quickly in his femoral artery. Blood was gushing everywhere. He is evidently in a coma somewhere now. :-( Here is the link to the first goring, although he was lucky that it was mostly his clothing that was gored! (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rDiHxoDO7Xs) Here is a link to the second goring, but mind you, it is disturbing, but if you wanna see what I saw, this is it (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=doXX9vt6Ni4). Anyway, it was definitely an experience I will not forget!
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