Current Events
by Amy Austin
Spain:
The Bullfighting Tradition
...for Class Afloat News, June 9, 1997
Bullfighting is a four thousand year old tradition in Spain. When the Moors invaded southern Spain in 711 AD they altered bullfighting from a brutish sport to a ritualistic occasion. The sport’s present style has been in existence since 1726, when Francisco Romero introduced the red cape (muleta) and the curved sword used to kill the bull. The best matadors (bull fighters) can become as famous as pop stars, receiving pay up to $25,000 per corrida (bullfight).
A bullfight is divided into three tercidos (stages). In the first tercido, picadors enter the ring riding padded horses. Their job is to pierce the neck of the bull with a long lance. This causes the bull to keep his head lowered, making it easier for the matador to deliver the fatal blow.
During the second tercido, banderilleros enter the bull ring. Their duty is to anger the bull by sticking banderillas, decorated wooden sticks with spiked ends, into the bull’s neck muscle. Now the bull is excited enough to meet with the main matador.
The matador engages the bull with a purple and yellow cape and then exchanges that cape for the red muleta and his curved sword. The color-blind bull does not react to the cape’s color. An angry bull charges any moving object. After several graceful maneuvers he fatally stabs the bull between the shoulder blades.
After the bull’s death, it is the audience’s job to rate the matador’s performance. They judge the performance on how close the matador comes to the bull’s horns, his calmness, and his graceful cape movements. The president of the bullring then decides the matador’s prize: one ear of the bull, both ears, or both ears and the tail. For exceptional fights the matador also may receive a ride around the bullring on the shoulders of some spectators.In recent decades, animal rights activists have protested bullfighting. They argue that it is wrong to kill 24,000 bulls a year simply for entertainment. Others say that bullfighting is a beautiful art that respects the life of the bull because it was saved from the butcher for an entire year.