I have quite a few contacts in Spain, and I visit the country nearly every summer. Along with the great weather, food, and cheap living the country also offers something unique to Europe. Bullfighting does also occur in France but there they don't kill the bull, they simply try to get as close to the bull as possible and so show their bravery. That is more of a difference than what happens to the bull. You need to understand the bullfight to tell the real difference. It is not only that the bull dies. The Spanish bullfight is about bravery and more important than that, it is about the domination and mastery of the bull, the taming of something so raw and powerful as the Toro Bravo - the brave bull in Spanish.
I will write firstly about the bull -the Toro Bravo. Firstly for all those people who think that bullfighting is terrible for the bulls: the Toro Bravo would not exist if it was not for the bullfight, they have no other use and the land that they use will be turned into agricultural land. The majority of the bulls are bred in the south in Andalucia and near Santander and also in some places in Portugal.
They breed the bulls so that they can get a breed of pure fighting bulls. Bulls which will fearlessly and remorselessly charge until they kill their threat. Bulls which will charge straight and true. It is important that the bulls charge straight so that the bullfighters can predict how they will charge with their horns and so can get close to the bull without fear of the bull hooking with one horn and goring the bullfighter.
A bull is a fierce animal, in Spain 50 years ago they used to have animal fights with bulls. Once a bull killed two tigers, and another time, when pitted against an elephant it charged until the elephant was dead. Earlier on in the last century, in the bullfights, the bulls used to kill nearly 5 horses each fight, now no horses die in the ring. But men still do, on average 3 a year.
A bullfight consists of six parts,there are 6 bulls. There are 3 matadors, each kill 2 bulls. Each bull is killed in more or less the same manner.
The start of a bullfight, usually 5 in the afternoon consists of all the matadors parading out into the ring to meet the president, usually the mayor of the town, who officially starts the Corrida (bullfight in Spanish). All the bullfighters stand around the wooden boards around the edge of the ring, their eyes fixed on the door where the 1st bull will come from. They have been preparing for this fight since about 1 in the afternoon. They are now in their costumes -traje de luces - suit of lights, which is what bullfighters have worn since the 1800's. The suits are very heavy and in the baking Spanish sun it makes the bullfighters job even more difficult. There is so much tradition in the bullfight.
When the bull first comes out- signalled by the mayor, the bullfighters study carefully the movement of the bull to see if it has any tendency to hook to the left or right. When the bull enters the ring it is supposed to be blinded by facing the sun, this is to promote the anger of the bull and bring out its ferocity. When the bull is in the ring it will be the first time that it will have seen man on foot. Before that it will have only seen horses. The bulls are reared in the largest ranches in Europe for 5 years, so they live longer than normal cattle who go to slaughter much earlier.
The matador with a pink and yellow cape will usually perform several passes with it. Then the mayor will signal the next stage - he does so by placing a white flag over the Spanish flag which hangs over in front of his seat. The next stage is called the suerte - stage of picadores. The picadors are men on horseback with 15 feet wooden poles with a barbed point which they use on the muscle on the hump of the bull in order to make the bull drop it's head so that it will be ready for killing. It is at this stage that the horses used to die because they used to not wear any protection, and the bulls would just gore the under side of their bellies. Now they wear it, but the bulls still often lift the horse and mounted picador over and onto the ground.
After the picadors it is time for the banderilleros - men with barbed sticks which unlike general opinion are NOT used to solely cause great discomfort to the bull. Instead they are really used to correct any tendency of the bull to hook, and so make the bull easier to kill. In 1999 a banderillero died infrnt of a packed crowd in the opening bullfight of the season, he was gored through the heart and died before they got him to the infirmary inside the plaza de toros. However the bullfights continued for the rest of the season. The bullfight has that much importance to the Spanish.
Then the matador comes out once the horses and picadors have left the ring and the banderilleros have corrected any hooking. He now uses a muleta, which is a red cloth on a stick, he also has a sword, which initially is fake and only used to help make the cloth bigger, but is changed when the bull is ready to be killed.
The killing of the bull is the most dangerous time for the bullfighter as the proper way to kill the bull is to go in over the top of the horns and plant the sword just on the hump of the bull, the matador has a small area to aim for otherwise he will hit bone. If he gets it right the bull will die within a matter of seconds. If he kills badly and doesn't control the bull well he may get gored on the thigh or the neck.
I have been to five bullfights and seen many more on television. And there are rarely injuries to humans, and it is often hard to see much blood.
If you decide to take the opportunity to go to a bullfight (which I highly recommend) then you will need to decide where you would like to sit. Seats in the sun - sombra, are the most expensive, and also the prices are increasingly higher as you get nearer to the front. The Barrera seats are the closest and so if you are squeamish it may be advisable to not sit there, because you do see everything up close and you may not like it anyway and so would be a waste of money. You generally get a better idea of the spectacle and a better atmosphere if you are higher up where you can see the bands, the people, the mayor and the television crews and see the fight with out the in your face hustling at the Barrera seats.
Tickets are quite expensive but they are worth it, you get a three hour spectacle and a lot of culture. You can go to three types of bullfight: 1 : Novillero : which consists of slightly younger bulls, and semi-pro bullfighters. These corridas are cheaper and so probably better to watch first. 2: Rejoneo : this is a bullfight which is done entirely on horseback and very impressive. 3: Corrida : this is a professional bullfight with well known matadors such as : El Juli, El Cordobes, Enrique Ponce and Finito de Cordoba. This has the best, bravest bulls and is the most expensive. I went to a corrida in Alicante, and I bought a seat in the shade in the higher seats for 2,200 pts, which is about £8. It was still a good seat with a good view. The Barrera seats were about 12,000 pts which is about £40.
Bullfights are all about atmosphere and mastery, it is like ballet in that to some extent it is choreographed, the bull will die. The bullfighters all have different styles and good and bad points, which are so complex that it would need a lot of explaining. The bullfight has real depth, it is not as the animal activists portray, it is not a massacre, it is not simply a blood bath.
Recently some animal activists petioned in the E.U. for a banning of bullfighting. The E.U. rejected the movement.
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