jueves, 5 de mayo de 2011

The beauty in bull fighting…



So, this blog entry is out of line chronologically; but I’ve been waiting to discuss some things in my culture class before writing about them. In this specific instance its bull fighting.  This blog post would be more appropriately placed chronologically right after Carnival or as better known in the US Mardi Gras; the big party right before Lent that is best known for its locations in New Orleans and Rio de Janeiro.  Well, they have it here in Spain too. Most of them are like the big parties in the aforementioned cities; but I went to a different type of Carnival. 

I still got dressed up, there was still a parade; I didn’t see any beads and I didn’t flash anyone, although I did get proposed to. So what makes this Carnival special? They mix Carnival with the San Fermines (the bull runs) of Pamplona. Oh, and after, they have a bull fight.  I still haven’t decided whether or not it was a good idea to dress up as a matador (or torero here in Spain; aka bull fighter). I definitely fit the theme of the party, but I also got a fair amount of unwanted attention; specifically from guys wanting to be my bull (yeah I don’t get it either, some of them even told me to kill them…I think there was a little too much alcohol involved on their part).  So after sitting in the plaza for a while, only to realize that there were people running in the streets with bulls once they ran into the plaza, my friends and I decided to leave and walk around for a bit before the main attraction: the bull fight.

Here’s what I learned in class:

Bull fights have been around since the beginning of time and represent the battle between man and nature, knowledge and brute strength. The Iberians hunted bulls, the Roman stadium gave birth to the bull ring, and by the Middle Ages bull fights were the entertainment of nobility. Nowadays in a typical bull fight there are 6 bulls and 3 bull fighters. The most experienced bull fighter gets bulls 1 and 4, the next most experienced gets bulls 2 and 5, and the least experienced, bulls 3 and 6. The whole event starts off with a sort of parade; then each bull fight has 3 parts and each bull fighter has his own group of helpers called his cuadrillo. In each cuadrillo there are 2 picadores, 2 banderilleros, and 1 mozo de espadas.

1st part: The bull fighter takes a few minutes to test out his bull, and then the picador comes to help out. The picador is on horseback and has a spear that he uses to stab the bull in the neck.  The point of this is to cause the bull to loose blood and strength and to lower his head a little. There are 2 bulls and 2 picadores therefore 1 for each bull.

2nd part: The banderilleros get to have some fun. These are men who have a short decorated lance in each hand and run up to the bull to stick these lances in each side of the bulls’ neck/back/shoulder area. They say that the bull’s skin is so thick that this only feels like an insect bite and is more annoying than anything else for the bull; it serves to get him angry and lower his head a little more. This happens 3 times with each bull and the 2 banderilleros alternate turns ( Bull 1- Banderilleros 1, Banderillero 2, Banderillero 1; Bull 2- Banderilerlo 2, Banderillero 1, Banderillero 2).

3rd part: This is the part where the bull fighter does his fighting. He uses the movement of his cape to get the bull to run around him, mainly trying to tire the bull out and make his dizzy.(In this part, the bull fighter switches to a smaller red cape instead of the large pink and yellow one used at the beginning). The mozo de espadas is always nearby to provide the bull fighter with the appropriate swords he might need. There is a blunt one used to help support the cape so the bull fighter only has to use one hand to hold it.  Later there is a sharper longer sword that is slightly curved used to insert into a hole between the bones of the spine of the bull to kill the bull. The other parts serve to get the bull to lower his head so that it is easier to access this hole. Sometimes it takes multiple attempts to get the sword in the hole; the sword is curved to cause more damage and kill the bull more efficiently.  Finally, if necessary, a smaller dagger is used to stab the bull at the base of the head to end its suffering.  The mozo de espadas assists the bull fighter with both bulls.

Here’s my opinion:

1st part- The hardest part to watch in this first part is the horse, blindfolded, being lead towards a bull with sharp horns trying to attack him. The horse wears a type of skirt reinforced with metal to prevent any harm from happening to it; but this doesn’t mean that in rare occasions the bull manages to gore the horse causing it to fall over with the rider still on its back leaving them both completely vulnerable to the bull’s rage. It’s bad enough that they are torturing bulls to death; do they really need to put a horse at risk too?

2nd part- The banderilleros are some crazy brave men. I think I have more respect for them than the bull fighter. 

3rd part- It’s not much of a fight if you just had your men stab the bull in various ways beforehand to make him weaker and angrier just so the bull fighter can mess around with him for a little bit then kill him. Sometimes the bulls don’t want to fight, and when this happens they are sent back to the country side to live their lives in peace; but normally what happens is the bull fighter and his crew find a way to instigate the bull into fighting more.


I don’t condone the torture of an animal just to kill it in the end, but at least they use every part of the bull for food; and I mean everything.  And as far as torture of an animal just to kill it, most people say the same about chicken farms; but I’m still going to buy chicken (and not the super expensive free range, steroid free chicken) because that chicken was put on the earth to feed me. That’s just how it is; and maybe I am more accepting of it than I am of killing bulls in bull fighting because I don’t see the chickens suffer.  

There is a special kind of bull used for bull fighting, and some say if it weren’t for bull fights these bulls would not exist.  

HOWEVER:

Bull fighting is beautiful. To see the raw force of a bull and the movement of the cape; there’s nothing like it.


I would love to see a bull fight where they didn’t stab the bull with the spear and there was no horse involved. I don’t know how much is true about the banderillas only feeling like an insect bite; but it pretty incredible to watch, so I’m on the fence as to whether or not that part should be included. And finally, I would just like to see a bull, a man, and a cape; and in the end I would like to the bull to go back to the country side to live his life happily until the next year.

Here are some pictures and videos of the bull fight I saw at Carnival. Some of them are graphic, so it’s your choice if you want to view them.  I do not have any pictures or videos showing the killing of the bull or the bull once it had died.

All of Spain is divided over bull fighting; half claiming it’s an art and the other half saying it’s horrifying and gruesome. I’m on the art side. What side are you on?

My costume ¡Olé torera!

The parade


The bull comes running into the stadium

Part 1:
Picador
 
       
Picador
















   



Part 2: Bandillero
 

 Toreando...







Part 3






2 comentarios:

  1. Great post Allonah! You covered a lot of interesting stuff I never knew about bull fighting!

    --Jesse

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