GinaG
Alpha Chi Omega
U of Kansas
Bull Fight
Spain is known all around the world for its bull fights. Or rather, should I say that Spain is stereotyped for its bull fights. As an American studying in Spain, I felt it was obligatory that I attend a bull fight. You know, as part of the cultural experience. Little did I know that I'd have to keep telling myself throughout the entire bull fight that I was there for the cultural experience.
The bull fight was a lot more brutal and horrendous than I anticipated. Even so, I feel that it was great I was able to attend the event so I could decide for myself what I thought. Maybe I was just naive going into it, but I think it's safe to say I didn't have a very good understanding of the events of a bull fight. Granted, I knew the bull was killed at the end, but that's about the extent of it. I was born and raised on a farm so I've seen animals die. I'm tougher than most girls when it comes to things like that so I figured I'd be alright at a bull fight where I had no connection whatsoever with the bulls. Boy, was I wrong.
This is how the events of the bull fight panned out through my eyes:
First, they let the bull into the ring and it runs around like crazy. There are quite a few matadors in the ring also who are ready to "fight" the bull. They have a protective wall along the sides of the ring that they can hide behind when the bull is first let in. The wall is just large enough for a person to squeeze behind. They let the bull run off some of its energy and then they come out to play.
The matadors do the typical bull fighting stuff that is expected. They get the bull to run towards their blanket things so they are able to dodge the bull. They do this for a long while and they tend to take turns since there are so many of them. They wear the bull down and then two men come into the ring on horses that have shields around them. The bull gets distracted and automatically goes for the horses. (I didn't realize it the first time, but this is what they want the bull to do) The bull runs full force into the sides of the horses. (Since the horses have the shields it doesn't actually hurt them.) When this happens, the man on the horse has a long spear that he jabs into the back of the bull. He does it multiple times and shoves it deep enough so the bull has a huge gash and begins to lose a lot of blood. After this, the matadors take over again. The horses leave the ring and some of the matadors are given these type of rod things that have very sharp edges. One of the matadors will have two of the rod things and will get the attention of the bull. When the bull charges for the matador, he takes the rods and shoves them into the back of the bull, just barely dodging the bull horns. The rods stick in the bull and then flop around on its back the rest of the time. They do this over and over again, each matadors shoving more rod things into the back of the bull.
The rods that are stuck in the bull end up matted in blood from the large gash that the guy on the horse put there. The rods are actually in different colors although I'm not sure of the significance. It might have something to do with the scoring of the matadors. Even so, sometimes the matadors mess up and the rods don't stick in the bull. I think they lose points for this or something. Anyway, I don't understand the scoring of the fight, but it doesn't really make a difference.
The matadors continue with the bull fight and wear the bull down. The bull loses a lot of blood and eventually loses energy also. Eventually, only one of the matadors continues to fight the bull in the center of the ring. If he ever needs assistance, the others are nearby to help. The main matador is given a large sword from someone in the outside of the ring. When the time is right, he runs at the bull and tries to wedge the entire sword into the back of the bull. Sometimes it takes more than one attempt. Eventually, he'll get it and people in the crowd cheer. When this happens, it is the cue for a few of the other matadors to come join the main guy. They surround the bull and they all get to fight it. They get the bull to run in circles until it gets very dizzy. The mixture of blood loss, rods, swords, and dizzy-ness eventually gets to the bull and it falls down. Then, one of the matadors is given a smaller sword. After I watched the first bull I couldn't watch this part again. It was the worst, in my opinion. The matadors takes the sword and stabs the bull in the head and neck as many times as it takes until the bull finally dies.
Everyone applauds and stands up. Then people start waving white handkerchiefs. I didn't understand this at first, but it's a sign for the judges. The judges base part of their scoring off how the crowd reacts to the bull fight. If they really liked that bull fight, they waved the handkerchiefs for a longer amount of time.
As all this happens, a group of men enter the ring with two horses. They go over to the bull and latch it to the horses. The bull is then dragged out of the ring to be skinned. (I didn't witness the skinning of the bulls, but some of the other Americans went to watch. They said they couldn't believe how clean it was--there wasn't as much blood as they expected. I decided I'd just rather take their word for it. ha)
Quite the process to a bull fight, eh? Keep in mind that I watched them do this to 6 different bulls. Wow. It's a lot more intense than I thought it would be. I can't say that I actually enjoyed the bull fight. In other words, I wouldn't buy a season pass to see more than one bull fight. Honestly, I was tempted to leave after the third bull was killed, but then decided against it. I understand that bull fighting is part of the Spanish tradition, but wow. Lucky for all of you reading this, you can now enjoy a bull fight in the comfort of your own home! You're super excited for this now, huh? ;) haha I took a video at the bull fight because I knew people would be curious. Just a note: I took the video at the very beginning of one of the fights BEFORE the bull was hurt in any way. I'll let you decide for yourself what you think of the bull fights. The experience taught me that the bull fights are probably not the thing for me.