This past saturday, the 10th of september, I went to my first bull fight. It only costs 10 euros for every seat in the arena, and we got front row seats in section 7. Most of the action happens in section 9, so we were able to see a lot. Most bull fights, including this one, last 2 or 3 hours and include 6 bulls. The largest bull we saw was over 550 kilos!
The bull fight began with a procession of the matadors, the horsemen, and the assistants that do a lot of behind the scenes work. Then, the matadors take some time to prepare themselves for the first bull. There are three main matadors, and each gets to dance with two bulls. There is a band that signals when each stage should finish and the next begin.
The first stage begins with the matadors tiring the bull by taunting him and causing him to run across the arena many times. They use their hot pink capes (a surprising aspect) and then run behind small walls along the edge of the arena. After this is done, two riders on armored horses enter the ring. The matadors continue to taunt the bulls, and then the riders will taunt the bulls and cause them to charge at the horses. This was my least favorite part. The horses are blindfolded with their ears covered and their mouth bound shut. While the bull is ramming into the side of the horse, the rider is stabbing the bull in the back with a long spear. The third stage, the horses leave and the matadors continue to taunt the bull. Some of the matadors use long rods, about 2 or 3 feet long, to stab the bull in the back. They have to get very close to the bull and let him charge at them to drive them in. They have hooks in the end to keep them in the bull's back. After this stage, the main matador is alone with the bull in the ring. Other matadors are waiting behind the small walls just in case something goes wrong. The main matador has a red cape and sword. After "dancing" with the bull, the matador prepares to strike with the sword. The best matadors drive the sword into the bull so far that only the handle can be seen. Then the other matadors return to the ring to tire the bull out and cause it to fall down and collapse. The bull is then killed with a dagger directly to the back of the neck/base of the skull.
I expected to be much more disgusted by the entire spectacle than I was. It is actually a beautiful art, and you can tell that it takes a lot of skill and courage to remain so focused and accurate close to such a large, powerful animal. I will admit that after 4 or 5 bulls, they all seem similar and the night drags on a bit. However, every matador is different and it is interesting to see them all and how they present themselves in the ring. The three main matadors that I saw were the young 20-year-old with quite a lot of confidence and talent, a Portuguese man, and a matador on the small side. By far my favorite was the 20-year-old, mostly because he displayed so much talent at such a young age, and he also was very good at pleasing the crowd. During his dance with his second bull, he made a couple mistakes, but he stayed focused on and attentive to the task at hand.
I wouldn't recommend going to a bull fight every weekend, but it definitely was something worth seeing. I doubt I will go again any time soon, but I would never have wanted to miss such an important part of the Spanish culture.
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