First let me give you a bit of history. Bullfight season in Madrid officially starts on May 15th, the holiday of San Isidro, although there are bullfights prior to the day. Madrid’s Las Ventas is one of the biggest bullrings in the Spain and it is highly regarded. All the best matadors want to come here. The fight takes place every day until the fall, and three matadors and six bulls are involved in every fight (you figure out how many bulls get killed in one bullfighting season). So basically, there are six single fights for every bullfight (two bulls for each matador).
A single fight consists of three parts: the picadores, the adornment, and the dance/kill. First a man comes out holding a big sign that includes bull info: age, weight, etc. The bull then comes out and runs around the ring with the “assistant” toreros trying to get its attention. The toreros at this point have to be very careful (and probably very afraid) because the bull is very quick and strong. After a few minutes of running around, the picadores come out. The picadores are two men on a horse. They will attract the bulls attention and when the bull attacks the horse, the man on the horse will stab the bull with a little spear, causing it to slowly bleed. This part makes the bull a little weak, but still pretty strong.
The second part is when the toreros charge the bull and stab them with beautiful looking medium size spears. These spears have two purposes: one is to make the bull bleed some more so it becomes weaker; and two, to adorn the bulls. The spears are wrapped in some colorful crepe paper and it hangs on the bull for the remainder of the fight.
The third part is when the matador does his dance with the bull. With the help of a colorful cloth, the matador leads the bull in a beautiful, artistic dance. Depending on how cooperative the bull is, this dance can be very beautiful. Many people think that the bull is attracted to the color (especially red, which is used in bull runs, etc.). But the bull is actually attracted to the movement. So the matador is able to tease the bull around by moving his cloth. He does this for several minutes until he finally takes his long sword and stabs the bull. If he is lucky, he can stab it straight into the bull’s heart. At times he is not so lucky because he hits a bone and the sword ricochets off the bull. The matador then has to repeat the teasing/killing process.
Once the matador is able to stab the bull, the bull slowly dies. Sometimes it continues to weakly fight with the toreros. Other times, it just stands there confused and defeated. And the worst (at least for me), is when it just walks away from the toreros as if to say, Leave me alone, you ruthless assholes! Eventually, the bull collapses and dies. If it takes the bull too long to die, one of the toreros will stab it one more time with a small knife on the head to relieve it from its misery. And then the bull is harnessed by ropes attached to beautiful horses and are dragged out of the ring.
People say that the closer the matador is to the bull and the less afraid he is, the better he is at bullfighting. However, the best matador can still have a terrible fight if the bull is not cooperative. Thus the success of the fight really depends on the bull.
Many people consider bullfighting as an art. This is very obvious when you see the hardcore fans watching and yelling and waving their arms about. For some reason unknown to me, the aficionados always know when a bull is going to be bad just after a few minutes it comes out. They all look angry/disappointed and make that-bull-has-got-to-go gestures. The bull will usually stay for a bit until it really shows more obvious signs that it sucks! So a cowman and his herd of cows come out to lead the bull out of the ring. When the bull is good and he cooperates with the matador, you will hear a lot of oohs, ahhhs, oles and an applause for the matador.
I did not get any of this. I just don’t think I understand it enough to really appreciate it. It was interesting to watch the first two fights, but after a while it just got boring. It all looked the same to me. I could see a bit of difference between the matadors - who was better at it - but for the most part, they all looked the same to me. Plus, it was just kind of sad. This poor bull was getting teased and mocked and KILLED. I don’t even like animals but this was a bit much for me. I was nervous half the time for the bull’s life and the other half for the toreros’ lives.
Although I have to say I do like the second part of the fight. I think it’s amazing how these toreros run up to the bull and get so close to them. I mean the bulls are still pretty strong at this point. These guys have major balls!! You gotta give them credit for that. Also, some of these matadors are hot! And they have these awesome lean bodies. I always say they must really work out hard to get buns of steel because they all have nicely shaped asses. You have to if you have to wear those uber tight costumes that would not be flattering on anyone else. The costumes have pretty colors…only black can hide the gut.
So that will probably be my last bullfight…unless I decide to watch the ones where the matadors are on horseback…that might be more interesting…
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