I enjoy bullfights and I wanted to share my enjoyment with you. To begin we are going to have a description of the bullfight. I am going to quote you from Micheners Mexico. They are describing how in a weekend with 18 bulls, 6 will be bad, 6 will be fair and 6 will be acceptable. And someone asked with such lousy odds why do people go.. And the answer?
On some days you will see a bull of extraordinary bravery. And there will be a bull and there will be also be a man. And for twelve minutes out there on the sand you will see something that occurs nowhere else on this earth, the perfect dual between life and death. You will see sunlight sculptured by a flaming cape. You will see men on their toes daintily throwing their lives upon the horns, and at the end you will watch a man with a frail piece of cloth play a bull to death. People will scream with insanity from the tension. Horses far from the scene will neigh, and when it is all over you will sit limp as death itself. (This sounds eerily similar to a circus fans description of watching Clyde Beatty back in the day.)
The legal authority who will supervise the fight and ensure compliance with custom is always a local luminary who is seated in a gala box at the highest point in the stands and is called the president. He starts the festivities by waving a small white handkerchief. Whereupon drums will roll, a trumpet will be sounded, and the musicians will break into the traditional bullfight music.
The big red doors through which the matadors will soon enter in their resplendent parade are opened and out will ride an elderly man astride a fine white horse. The Alguacil, as he is called, the constable enforcing the decisions of the president, will be handsomely dressed in a frilled costume of the eighteenth century. He will ride across the ring and ask permission to open the small red door through which the bulls will explode into the ring. Petitioning the president, he receives a big brass key, which holds high in the air as he gallops back through the doors to hand the ceremonial key to the attendant who guards the small door from which the six bulls will emerge one by one.
No matter how many times you have seen the entrance of the bullfighters it is always a thrilling experience. They come out not in single file, for that would denigrate the fellow in the last position, but side by side, as if all were equal, which is the case as the fight begins.
The Banderillo's are the ballet stars of the ring. They graceful approach the bull and lean in over the horns and insert their barbs into the neck of the bull, it's purpose being to force the bull to lower his head away from pressure, as an elephant would with an ankus applied to his neck, or a horse would be moved in a opposite direction with a spur.
Posts
2 comments:
Hello Wade and all...
Seems as though the "fan's" description of a bullfight (at least unlike the one I witnessed in Madrid) left out the most inhumane action I have ever witnessed against an animal for entertaiment.. the picadores. It still gives me shudders to this day..
It gave me the most overpowering feeling that I was witnessing just a tiny morsel of what went on for centuries in the coliseums.
>>>>
During the Tercio de Varas or picks you will see two picadores or mounted lancers ride into the ring while staying close to the fence. Their horses are patted and blindfolded and the men have their right legs encased in steel armor for protection. Each picador is armed with a long lance which has on its end a small steel spike.
This stage is performed by inducing the bull to charge the horse. While this occurs the picador uses its lance to penetrate the hump of muscle on the bulls neck.
After the bull has received three picks, drums and trumpets sound and the picador ride out, while the bullfighter draws the bull's attention.
klsdad
klsdad,
There is not a fan of anything, that does not wear rose colored glasses, and "overlooks" some things. In this case he did not, I only posted his thoughts on the fight, and the banderillos as that was what we were discussing, as I left out many of the Peta statements, and only posted the relevant ones to the actual fight and the banderillos.
The horse's are protected with mat's to protect them form the onslaught of the bull, as are the feet of the picadors which are hanging in harms way. The horse is blindfolded so he stay's firm or solid, and does not move. The purpose is to test the bulls courage, and which horn he favors to attack. If he is a courageous animal he will push and shove into the lance(which by the way has a cross bar to keep it from penetrating to deep, or what is called an arandela which is a metal ring serving the same purpose of stopping penetration) and try to move the horse. Psychologically the animal is faced with many people in the ring at the start of the fight, and as they leave and he is left with the horse and mounted rider he assumes all have left because he dominated them. This gives him the additional "macho" or "chutzpa" to go after the horse. The horse leaves, and all that is left is one lone man, and the bull packed with power and bravo and feeling very good with himself, throws his all at this one remaining interloper who did not "scare and run" as the others did. It is important to the Matador for his prestige and fame that the bull come hard and come deadly. But he has studied the bull through all the "acts" he knows what the bulls courage is(contrary to popular belief, a pawing bull is a timid bull, and not much good), he knows how the bull will attack,straight on, feint, which horn does he favor for sweeping, etc. How well he studied the bull, and how well he understood what he was seeing, is matter of life or death. At the very least a savage cornada
Wade
Post a Comment