and now, about the bullfight

this past weekend was so much fun and incredibly relaxing! friday afternoon, i made the final class switches with the academic director here at the center and it is official: the only class i have on tuesdays and thursdays is dance class. yay! that means more time to relax, explore, and enjoy being in spain and NOT in the classroom. i´m pretty delighted with my decision.

before my meeting with the academic director, rachel, sophie, chelsea, and i went to this lovely little juice bar called bliss. it´s very close to school and has amazing crepes and all fresh-squeezed juices. i´m pretty sure we each fell in love a little bit! it was so nice to kick back and celebrate the end of the intensive period. i was so ready for it to be over, too! sitting in a classroom for 3 hours is just too hard. people need to move and breathe--especially when they are somewhere as alive and wonderful as spain! needless to say, the celebration was great, and i will definitely go back for bliss when i need a crepes pick-me-up! after snacking at bliss, chelsea and i walked down calle sierpes in search of a new pair of sandals. the one pair of flip-flops that i brought with me completely broke on friday--it was very upsetting! fortunately, i found some really cute ones on sale and spent a little while enjoying the shopping and the atmosphere down on calle sierpes. i definitely think that it is one of my favorite places in sevilla.

after returning home, chelsea and i ate lunch and then took a lovely spanish siesta. we woke up in time to get ready and grab our cameras for the bullfight! bullfights in sevilla are very important and historic traditions. the plaza de toros de la maestranza (bullfighting ring in sevilla) is widely regarded as one of the most beautiful and important bullfighting rings in the world. it seats upwards of 12,000 people, and tickets can cost as much as $400 or $500 for an important match. we, being the poor american students we are, did not pay that much. in fact, we only paid about $25 and went to a novillada instead of a full on corrida. a novillada is a bullfight for professional matadores who are still making a name for themselves. a corrida is a bullfight with famous, well-respected matadores. here in spain, matadores are like rockstars or famous actors--they make lots of money, are frequently stalked by the papparazzi, and have torrid love affairs with spain´s most beautiful and wealthy women. not a day goes by when a matador doesn´t pop up during the lunchtime gossip news (which we watch daily with our host mom). anyways, even though the novillada has younger, less experienced matadores, it is still worth going. because these matadores are less well-known, they are willing to take greater risks in order to impress the crowd and gain fame.

anyways, here´s an explanation of the bullfight and how it works (including photos from my experience to illustrate the sport):

the parade and entrance of the torreros in the plaza de toros de la maestranza.

the bullfight is unlike any sport i have ever encountered. it is a sport in which the players risk their lives in order to succeed. all of the torreros (all those invovled in the bullfight) confront the bull in some way. the bull is bred especially for the sport. spanish fighting bulls are raised in the fields and can grow as large as 1200 lbs. only the best and bravest bulls are used for the bullfights. the rest are used for meat, as the bull´s meat is very tender and tasty since the bulls are raised on a good diet out in the fields. at the beginning of the bullfight, the band (which oddly enough resembles a high school pep band) will play victorious entry music. at this time, all of the torreros will parade through the stadium, acknowledging the crowd. the matadores lead in their elaborate, glittered-covered costumes, followed by their banderillos and picadores. each bullfight (corrida or novillad) features three matadores, and each matador kills two bulls. the first matador to fight has the least seniority. this doesn´t always reflect on his talets (as the least senior bullfighter at our show was quite good), it just means that he´s been a professional matador for a shorter amount of time.

after parading through the ring, the band sounds the trumpet and the arena is cleared. in comes the first bull. spanish fighting bulls are beautiful animals. they are very strong and very large, and it was pretty awesome to see them running around. after the bull explores the ring for a few minutes, the matador and his banderillos enter the ring with a bright pink and orange cape. this cape is very heavy. they use the cape to test the bull and learn about his personality--is he adventurous, will he go for the cape? is he more hestitant, does he wander back towards the door? after feeling out his movements for a few moments, the trumpet sounds again, and the banderillos leave.

banderillos running the bull so that the matador has a good idea of how he will move.

a close-up of a banderilla and the bull. the bull has a few ribbons stapled into its back. this is done to weaken the bull´s large back muscle before he comes face-to-face with the torreros.

with the second trumpet sound, the second act of the bullfight begins. during this act, the picadores and the banderillos do their work. the picadores are men who ride in on horses. the men and their horses wear very heavy armor so as to avoid injury. the banderillos use their capes to lure the bull towards the picador. when the bull charges the horse (sometimes lifting it off the ground!), the picadores use their large stick to puncture the bull´s back muscle. the picador´s stick only has a point about 1 in long, so it does not penetrate very deeply into the bull. however, now is when the blood starts to flow, and when the more squeamish people begin to wonder if they´ve made a mistake. according to the rules of the bullfight, a minimum of one pico must be made, but the bull cannot be stabbed more than three times. during this time, the bull, whose natural insticts tell it to charge things, feels a great sense of release when finally making contact with the horse because, remember, until this point in time, it´s just been chasing capes.

a picadore stabbing a bull. note the heavy armor on the horses. it is industrial strength, and the horses also wear blinders and are tranquilized so that they don´t freak out.

after the picadores have finished their job, the banderillos get to work again. there are generally three banderillos per matador, and each is armed with two banderillas. the banderillas are sticks about 1 foot long. the tops are decorated in bright colors, and the bottoms have a spike shaped a bit like a fish hook. it is the banderillos job to approach the bull and place the banderillas into its back muscle. in order to do this, they have to run fast and side jump the bull. they get so close to the bull! it´s incredibly terrifying and exhilirating to watch! as i said, each banderillo has two banderillas, and they only get one chance to place them. if all banderillos fail, that means that the matador has to fight a bull who is not only very angry, but also still very strong, as the banderillas serve to weaken the bull further.

a brave banderillo mid-air as he places his two banderillas. note that the matador and banderillo costumes are very similar. it amazes me how a sport that is so macho is so many ways embraces incredibly flamboyant costumes, including pink socks, glittered jackets, and ridiculously TIGHT pants!

after the banderillos are through, the trumpet sounds again, announcing the third act of the bullfight. during this act, the matador alone stands in the ring, facing the bull. a good matador will plant his feet and use his cape in order to make the bull complete passes. he will only have to pivot his feet in order to keep the bull moving in a circle around him. during these passes, the bull is only inches away. it´s pretty incredible. on top of that, when the matador does need to readjust his positioning, he often turns his back to the bull and walks away. i was completely amazing that no one got gored (though one guy was awfully close). also, because these matadores are trying to make a name for themselves, they´ll do very dangerous things, like place themselves between the bull and the cape and then quickly move out of the way during a pass. it´s an incredibly dramatic and rivoting scene. the whole crowd is quiet except for the excited olés that people shout when the matador does a good job. here are some pictuers of the matadores at work--they explain far better than i can!

a matador completely a pass with the bull. note how close they are (and how shiny his suit is... and the pink socks!).

this is the matador that almost got gored. see how he dropped the cape and the bull´s head is actually butting against his body? pretty scary stuff. when something like this happens, the banderillos run out with their pink and yellow capes to distract the bull and allow the matador to escape safely.

here is a matador completing a pass. you can see how he arches his body to avoid contact with the bull. you can also see how close the two of them are and how bloody the bull is because of the various injuries inflicted by the picadores and the banderillos.

the matador is staring the bull down. pretty intense staring contest, if you ask me!

after the matador has done series of passes, the time comes when he finishes his job by killing the bull. by this time, the bull is tired and has lost a significant amount of blood from the various injuries inflicted by the picadores and the baderillos. the matador has a time limit for the amount of time he has to impress the crowd and then kill the bull. at 10 minutes, a warning trumpet sounds, letting the matador know that he only has 5 minutes left. after another 2 minutes, another trumpet sounds, and then, when the matador only has 1 minute left, the final trumpet sounds. it is an embarrassment for a matador not to kill the bull before he runs out of time. it is also considered poor form if he requires more than one attempt before killing the bull. to kill the bull, the matador uses a sword that is slightly curved down at the tip. he will entice the bull into lowering his head towards the cape. when the bull is appropriately positioned, the matador advances, thrusting the sword through the bull´s back muscle, between a small opening in its shoulder blades (only about three inches long and maybe an inch and a half wide). if done correctly, the sword will enter, puncturing the bull´s heart. in a matter of seconds, the bull will be down and dead, without extreme suffering or pain. unfortunately, not all matadors can bring the bull down in one shot. in fact, we had one who required three tries--it was pretty difficult to watch.

the matador inserting his sword between the bull´s shoulder blades and into his heart.

after the matador has killed the bull, several bullring janitors (i´m sure that´s not their professional name, but that´s what i call them) come out and attach the bull to a horse-drawn cart. the bull is then pulled in a circle around the ring and then exits. i appreciate this part of the ceremony, because i don´t have to sit and look at a dead bull for a significant amount of time. clean-up is swift and easy. the dead bulls are taken to a butcher shop located in the plaza de toros. the bull´s meat is considered very high-quality, and all parts of the bull are used. the skin for leather, the muscle for meat (the tail is an especially fine delicacy--or so i´ve been told)... even the bull´s penis is used to make a whip (i actually have a picture of me with one of these whips... i´ll have to post it online). it´s a bit of a relief to know that the animal hasn´t died purely for sport, but will be used as food and other material.

dragging the bull around the arena. you can see the bull attached behind the horses. directly behidn the bull, a man runs along sweeping up the bloody dirt so as not to leave a trail. it´s pretty interesting...

when a bullfighter does an excellent job, the crowd stands and waves white handkerchiefs. if enough people respond with excitement, the plaza judge will decide to award the matador a prize. a good matador will receive one of the bull´s ears. a GREAT matador will receive two ears. and a truly exceptional and wonderful matador will receive both ears and the bull´s tail. here in sevilla, the maximum award is two ears. i was fortunate enough to see a bullfight where the matador did a good enough job to win one ear. the judge cut the ear off with a knife and presented it to the matador, who then took a victory lap around the ring, blowing kisses and waving to the crowd. it was pretty interesting, as many women threw their fans at the matador. he would kiss the fan and through them back to the crowd (i imagine this to be somewhat like the groupie bra-throwing at rock concerst in the 70s and 80s, albeit a little bit classier). it was pretty great to see this, though, as i never have before. the matador did do an excellent job, and i read that, in the past 12 fights he has complete, he has won more than 34 ears--you do the math! he´s an exceptional matador!

the matador receiving his prize from the plaza judge.

all in all, the bullfight was an excellent experience, and i definitely could appreciate it, thanks to my lesson in history and culture from judy. well, this post is long enough, so i´ll finish writing about the rest of my weekend in another post! hope you enjoyed this lovely foray into bullfighting 101!

me watching the bullfight in a fairly crowded plaza de toros de la maestranza.

we´ve all become big fans of the bullfight! there´s candace, ashley, rachel, saxon, me, and chelsea.