BULL FIGHTING IN SPAIN

 

Bullfighting is the most traditional of Spanish Fiestas. The Spanish people consider them art forms which are intimately linked with their country’s history, art and culture.  Pressure groups attempt to lobby against bullfighting yet the King of Spain himself has allegedly stated that the day the EU bans bullfighting is the day Spain leaves the EU.

 Bullfighting can be traced back to ancient days. They were popular spectacles in ancient Rome, but it was in the Iberian Peninsula that these contests were fully developed by the Moors from North Africa who overran Andalucia in AD 711. Bullfighting developed into a ritualistic occasion observed in connection with feast days, on which the conquering Moors, mounted on highly trained horses, confronted and killed the bulls.

 Whilst bullfighting maintains strong support in its heartlands of Madrid, Andalucia and Extremadura it has been banned in Catalonia. 

•  Bullfighting  Arena

A Spanish bullfighting arena is called the Plaza de Toros. All major Spanish cities have impressive bullrings but probably the most outstanding are those in Madrid, Seville, and Ronda.

•  Madrid  Bullring

La Plaza de Toros de Las Ventas was built in 1929 and was first used in 1931. It is the most important bullring in the world with a capacity of 25,000. Every seat is taken every evening during the world renowned San Isidro Bullfighting festival in June.

• Seville Bullring

Building of the Maestranza Bullring in Seville began in 1758 making it Spain’s oldest Plaza de Toros. The origin of modern day bullfighting on foot (rather than horseback) can be traced back to here and Ronda. It is one of the most charming bullrings in the country and although its capacity is only 12,500, it attracts the top bullfighters.  You can see bullfights in Seville from April (during Seville’s Feria de Abril) through to October. Check the bullfight calendar as they don’t take place every weekend.

• Ronda  Bullring.

The Ronda bullring was built in 1785 and is one of the oldest and most beautiful  in Spain. Previously it had been Philip II’s centre for horsemanship training (Real Maestranza de Caballeria). Bulls were used in this training and when one day an aristocrat fell from his horse one Francisco Romero came to his help by using his hat to distract it.

• Bullfighting Tickets

 Bullfight tickets vary in price according to their position in the bullfighting arena. The ones in the shade (sombra) are more expensive than the ones in the sun (sol). Some seats are designated as sun and shade (sol y sombra) because they begin in the sun but move to shade as the afternoon progresses. Seats located closest to the bullfight are also more expensive than those near the back. So ones near the ringside barrier (barrera) which are also in the shade are the most expensive.

• SOME  FACTS  BULLFIGHTING.
•  Historic  Fight
  Bullfighting has existed in some form for thousands of years. A depiction of male and female acrobats fighting a bull can be seen in wall paintings in Knossos, Crete, dating back to 2000BC. In Spain, the Moors refined the rough bullfighting of the conquered Visigoths into a spectacle performed on feast days, when Moors on horseback would kill the bulls. Modern-day bullfighting, in which matadors fight a bull on foot, was pioneered in 1726 by Francisco Romero.

  
  

  
  

  
  

  • Not   All  the  bulls  killed

  Some bulls, if they have displayed particularly brave and exemplary behavior in the ring, can be indultado, or pardoned. The crowd uses white handkerchiefs to persuade the president of the bullring to let the bull live, and in rare circumstances the bull is allowed to return to the ranch where it was raised and live out the rest of its natural days in peace.

  
  

  
  

  • The biggest Spanish bullring is in Madrid

  
  

  e Las Ventas bullring in Madrid is the biggest in Spain, but not the world; that accolade goes to the Plaza de Toros Mexico, in Mexico City. Las Ventas holds bullfights and is also home to a bullfighting museum, where you can trace the history of the tradition. If you’d like to visit but don’t think you would like to watch a bullfight, look out for the regular food markets and concerts held in the bullring.

  
  

  
  

  
  

  • Bullfighting is banned in some areas of Spain

  Bullfighting is extremely controversial in Spain and is by no means loved by everyone. In 1991, the Canary Islands was the first Spanish region to ban bullfighting, followed by Catalonia in 2012. In 2016, the Spanish government overturned Catalonia’s ban, but several cities in the region, including Barcelona, have declared themselves “anti-bullfighting cities.”

  
  

  
  

  • Support for the tradition is at an all time low

  A 2016 poll showed that the majority of Spaniards have no interest in bullfighting and that support is decreasing rapidly, especially among younger generations. The poll, conducted by IPSOS Mori, found that 93 percent of 16–24-year-olds do not support bullfighting, which begs the question: how much longer will the tradition survive as older generations who supported it pass on?

  
  

  •   Spain  has bullfighting schools for children

  There are 15 bullfighting schools in Spain, which start teaching wannabe matadors at as young as

  
  

    14 years old. The trainee bullfighters begin practicing on fake bulls, and then graduate to bull calves before they are allowed anywhere near the adult males. In 2015, the Spanish conservative government—which is a strong supporter of bullfighting—announced that it plans to make courses in bullfighting available as optional subjects for state school pupils.

  
  

  
  

  • Female bullfighters.

   

  While bullfighting is strongly associated with masculinity and machismo, there are actually some female bullfighters, and have been since the early 20th century. Chilean-born Conchita Cintrón is one of the most famous female bullfighters, and ignored bans on women fighting in the ring to kill over 750 bulls during her illustrious career that spanned the 1940s, ’50s and ’60s. One of the most famous modern-day female bullfighters is Cristina Sánchez, who took part in her first Madrid bullfight in 1993 and became a symbol of a new breed of female bullfighters during the 1990s. The female bullfighter was immortalized in Pedro Almodóvar’s Oscar-winning 2002 film, Talk to Her.

  Conchita Cintrón, one of the first female bullfighters to become famous ©Mariano Carmelo Rodríguez Núñez/Wikimedia

  
  

  • Bullfighting bars

   Bullfighting fans congregate in bars dedicated to the practice to watch the latest bullfights, or even replays of old classics. The bars, such as La Torre del Oro on Madrid’s Plaza Mayor, are often decorated with bull heads, photos of famous bullfights and matador’s suits of lights. They are a good place to visit to get an insight into the practice and meet some true aficionados

   

  • Bullfighter deaths.

     Victor Barrio, aged 29, became the first matador to be killed in the bullring in Spain in over 30 years when he was gored to death in 2016. In June 2017, another Spanish bullfighter was killed in the ring after tripping on his cape. Iván Fandiño became the second bullfighter to die in less than 12 months during a bullfight in France. According to experts, over 500 bullfighters have been killed in the ring since 1700. But while in modern times bullfighter deaths have been relatively uncommon, injuries are not, with gorings a fairly regular occurrence.

    BULLFIGHTING.

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