BarcelonaMan
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I've been to bullfights before, both in Spain and in Mexico. You can read all about them at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bullfighting .
The first time I went, with the first bull and the first kill, I did feel quite nauseous, really sick to my stomach - and I come from a hunting/fishing/outdoors family. There's A LOT of blood, not only from the wounds caused by the "picadores" and "banderilleros" but also, oftentimes, from the mouth after the bull's lungs fill with blood, caused by the torero's sword at the end of the bullfight. This kind of ending, in particular, can be really disgusting.
But much like constantly watching slasher, murder movies on television you tend to become desensitized pretty quickly and it doesn't bother you anymore.
Bullfights are not for everyone, that's for sure, certainly not for small children or people sensitive to blood. But the spectacle is very popular in Spain, mostly among the working class, older folks, and the elite but you don't usually see many 20 or 30-somethings there unless they're tourists. Tourists probably only make up about 15% (or less) of the total spectators although you read sometimes that bullfights are only for tourists.
Each bull "lasts" for about 20 minutes each and there are always 6 bulls total. With some fanfare before and after the bullfight and a couple minutes between bulls, an entire bullfight can lasts over 2 hours.
Recent "cruelty to animals" legislation in Spain did not include a word about bullfighting - so that says a lot. Bullfighting is not only a favorite pastime of Spain but it also generates A LOT (and I mean A LOT) of money in the local and nationwide economy.
The bullfight "experience" can be quite different if seen in one of the big-city bullrings or in one of the tiny bullrings in small villages but the process is always the same no matter where you go. See below...
A quote from one of the first websites in English about Spain, Red200 at http://www.red2000.com/spain/toros/ , quotes:
What a Corrida is about:
If you are not familiar to Corridas, you will find here listed chronologically everything that happens. So you may decide by yourself if you want to see one when you are visiting Spain.
A Corrida starts with the paseillo, with everybody involved in the bullfight entering the ring and presenting himself to the public. Two Alguacilillos, on horse's back, direct themselves to the presidency and symbolically ask for the keys to the "puerta de los toriles". Behind that door there are the bulls.
With the door being opened and the first bull entering the ring the spectacle starts. It consists of three parts, called tercios, being separated by horn-signals. There are three toreros in each Corrida, by the way, and each will have to torear two bulls.
In the first tercio the bullfighter uses the capote, a quite large rag of purple and yellow color. Now enter two picadores, on horse's back and armed with a sort of lance.
The second part is la suerte de banderillas. Three banderilleros have to stick a pair of banderillas into the attacking bull's back.
In the final "suerte suprema" the bullfighter uses the muleta, a small red rag. He has to show his faena, his masterity to dominate the bull, and to establish an artistical symbiosis between man and beast.
The Corrida ends with the torero killing the bull by his sword.
(end quote)
Saludos, MadridMan(.com) |
Alejandro B
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I particularly don't like bullfighting, and find it immoral, and I think it will disappear at once during the next decades, but most foreign people who have once attended to one, said it was not so horrible at all.
And the first and second person who answered, I think they have never been at anyone ( they kill bulls, not four ).
mmm... I also think you should go yourself, see, and make your own judgment. |
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