Seville - Bullfight

Ola mi Amigos. This post pertains entirely to that most famous of Spanish past times the Bullfight, or corrida de toros (running of the bulls) as it is also known. Upon arriving in Seville on a Sunday the first thing we did after parking was to buy tickets for what ended up being the Grand Final of the Bullfighting season.

In all we watched 3 teams (cuadrillas) battle 2 bulls each. Unfortunately for the bulls involved the end was always certain. While many consider it a savage waste of life, in Seville it seemed to be very popular; the 14,000 seat arena was packed predominantly by silver haired old men smoking cigars and middle aged women dressed up like they were about to hit Toorak Village street for Sunday brunch.

A single bullfight was broken down into 3 rounds. The first round seemed to be about ascertaining the bull’s strength and movement as well as wearing it down by making it charge. It also included the first drawing of blood by the horse mounted picadores (lancers) who would encourage the bull to charge into their mounts, while they lanced the bull in the back of the neck.

The second round has three team members each trying to jab 2 colorful barbed spears into the neck of the bull, thus drawing more blood and preparing the bull for the final round - tercio de muerte.

The final round consists only of the Matador and the bull. This stage is all about the matador’s control over the bull and how close he can have the bull rush past him without being injured. Finally the Matador will attempt to plunge (known as estocada) a long blade into a specific area of the bull’s neck. If he is good he will only attempt once, the bull will die quickly, and the crowd will roar in approval. To the chagrin of the crowd and no doubt the bull several attempts will sometimes have to be made before the bull falls.

While we didn’t completely understand the mechanics of the fight, and the death of the bull and injury of the horses was somewhat disturbing, a man dressed in tights reliving a tradition several centuries old involving a frenzied 500kg bull is not something to be missed.

For more info on the Spanish form of this tradition here is a link http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish-style_bullfighting. Below I’ve posted some pics in order of the three rounds described above.