Last week I went to my very first Corrida de Toros (Bullfight). It was quite the cultural experience! Here is a picture of me and my friend Katie before the show... The stadium (or plaza de toros) was beautiful!
When we got to la plaza de toros we did not really know what to expect. We knew that in the end, each bull would be killed by the torero, and this thought definitely freaked us out. We did not know how long we could stay and watch, because it is really a gruesome experience and many people cannot handle watching it. My friend Rebekah left after the first bull was killed, but Katie and I stayed for about an hour an a half (after 3 fights).
After having researched a little bit, I learned that at each bullfight, there are 3 different toreros who each fight 2 bulls over the course of the show. There are several other people on the field as well in case something goes wrong. The show starts with a sort of parade, where all of the people involved in the fights walk around the field.
The fight then begins with the torero testing the bull with various passes to get acquainted with his opponent. He uses a pink cape to do this, which starts to aggravate the bull and gets the audience excited.
After that, the lance-carrying picadores on horseback "punish" the bull by jabbing him in the shoulder and neck to break muscles. The picadores are followed by the banderilleros, whose job is to decorate the bull by puncturing him with pairs of brightly colored darts. Here is a picture of a picador, getting ready to approach the bull...
In the end, the action narrows down to just the torero and the bull. The torero then uses a red cloth to lure the bull over again. He then wraps the bull around himself in various passes and after a number of passes, the time comes for him to kill the bull with a sword.
In the end I actually more or less enjoyed going to the bullfight because it really made me feel like I was in Spain. The stadium was beautiful and the music really added to the experience. Although bullfighting is an extremely controversial form of entertainment, it is a highly-skilled art form in Spain and is extremely important to Spanish culture. Bullfighting is now outlawed in many places in Europe, including Barcelona. The show was DEFINITELY hard to watch at points (especially since I am such an animal lover), but overall it was a great cultural experience for me and I learned a lot from it.
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