Bullfights

[Conor Fortune]

Hi all, this is my first posting to the listserv,
as I am considering doing the Camino this
summer. But as regards bullfights, I, too
was debating going when I studied abroad
in Spain 2 years ago. I felt I needed to see it
because, like it or not, tauromaquine sports
are a major part of Iberian history and
culture. After attending a small corrida as
part of the San Isidro feria in a tiny town
called Arganda del Rey outside Madrid, I
think I got a fair approximation of the
experience, but I also went later on to see
one in Las Ventas in Madrid, which was
more about the big spectacle of the
stadium than the art form.

Bullfighting is more ritualistic art than sport,
but in a very visceral way. When I first
decided to go see a bullfight, some friends
and family members shunned it as
barbaric, but I tried to keep an open mind
about it. After seeing the excited throng
(many of whom were intoxicated) pour into
the town's plaza that had been converted
into a bullring with makeshift bleachers and
Spanish tricolor streamers, I was unsure
what to expect. The blaring September sun
and the blasting of trumpet pasodobles
heralded in the first bull and it was a long,
slow, agonizing thing to watch him die,
since I was not really prepared for it. Maybe
it's the de-sensitizing nature of TV and
movies, but I didn't expect it to be real at
first, as if at the last moment the man
inside the bull costume would step out,
shake hands with the matador and
everyone would go off for a drink and some
tapas after a public service announcement
said "no real bulls were harmed in this
fight."

But the first bull did die. And there was
blood. And it was a difficult thing to watch,m
what with people around you cheering and
spitting sunflower seeds at your feet. But as
the evening progressed, and the ritual of
the event became evident, my attitude
began to change. A dance emerged
between matador and toro and I began to
see that something spiritually and ritually
beautiful was taking place. It is something
that cannot be described to the uninitiated.
Six bulls met their death that night, but not
one went unvaliantly. And all are a specific
breed--toros bravos--that are specifically
raised for this end, and treated quite well
until the end. They go out a far better way
than many other livestock.

But my advice is, if you are curious about
bullfights, definitely go see one. Good ol'
Ernie Hemingway can only do so much to
describe what it's like.

CF

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