Madrid

The bullfight spectators are incredible fans and the arena honors those great matadors over time with large paintings on the walls, statues, exhibits, and bios. There was even an exhibit of old posters (see a few interesting ones from American culture). We saw the bullfight at Plaza de Toros de Las Ventas (in existence from 1929) and was the largest bullfighting ring in Spain seating 24,000 and now the last arena left (at one point there were 1,700 rings).

Bullfighting goes back to prehistoric times of worship and sacrifice and is traced to 711 CE. It became popular in Spain in 1726 with King Philip V in order to reduce social tension and then it quickly spread to be a popular activity and performance art. Bullfighting is a unique part of the Spanish culture and history. It is deeply tied to the Hispanic culture and identity and not considered as a sport or competition but rather a highly ritualized event.

By 1826 the bullfight was standardized with each event having 3 matadors and 6 bulls, which is what we observed during our 2.5 hour adventure. Although it has been outlawed in many countries since the 1980’s due to animal welfare concerns, and the thought that it is an indication of a country not being “forward-looking” in social and economic policies. People argue that the bull is killed in the fight, but bulls are raised to be killed and it is the method of killing that may be in question and that the death of animals in slaughterhouses is often much worse than the death in the ring.

Watching a bullfight is witnessing a dialogue between man and bull, attempting the bring out the animal’s best qualities while the matador performs the killing in an artistic manner. The bullfight is very organized with hundreds of rules and traditions.

The art of the cape is one of the most visual acts of bullfighting, with the matador making impressive passes both technical and artistic in nature. Well-received passes are celebrated by the audience with shouts of “OLE!”.
Ironically, bulls are color blind, and the red color is just tradition (and masks the blood). They attack moving objects. Three matadors each fight against two bulls, killing a total of 6 bulls.

Each bull is at least four years old and weighing up to about 1,300 pounds. Each matador has 6 assistants (picadores) on horseback, 3 flagmen (banderillos) and a swordman (and his assistants) along with at least two “peons” to help with the “messy work”.

It starts out with pomp and circumstance with the parade before the "fight" begins. Then there are three stages: 1. The bull enters the ring and is observed as to how and where he moves. Two horse-mounted “picadors” stab the bull’s neck when it charges to weaken him. 2. Three “banderilleros” stick a pair of barbed dart-like sticks into the shoulders of the bull, making him fiercer but it also makes it weaker. 3. The matador enters the ring, carrying a sword and a red cape. He performs a series of passes attempting to kill the bull with his sword. The passes are considered a form of an art and emotional connection to the audience through the bull. He tries to get the bull into a position to stab it between the shoulder blades and through the aorta or heart for a “quick and clean death". If not successful, the matador must then cut the bull's spinal cord with a second sword, to kill it instantly and spare the animal pain. This takes about 10 minutes until the matador kills the bull (never more than 15 minutes are allowed to remain humane). Many matadors have been gored are hurt or killed in these 10 minutes.

Bulls are specifically bred for their aggressiveness and always charge at a target. The matadors are professionally trained how to kill the bull. The matadors gain celebrity status, trained in bullfighting schools in Spain, learn the history, traditions, rules, values (respect and patience) and techniques of bullfighting. They wear elaborate costumes, “suit of lights”, from the 17th Century, embroidered specifically for them. The number of bull fights have declined from over 4,000 a year in 2007 to less than 1,000 a year in 2022.

Warning: the next 3 posts may be disturbing to some people but we went in order to experience a bullfight, not to enjoy the fight but rather to understand an important part of Spanish culture and history that has now all but been eliminated in most of the World (including Mexico most of Spain).Read more