Barcelona - Rumble in the Ring - Rated G for Gore!
Trip Start
Apr 15, 2007
1
18
33
Trip End
May 23, 2007
Barcelona,
Spain
Sunday, May 6, 2007
Ole'!
The bullfights in Barcelona are probably not considered some of the best in the country due to the fact that Barcelona does not necessarily consider itself as part of Spain - but rather Catalunya - so I would say that they do not have quite as many people attending such events but they do have their older - diehard - fans - we were welcomed by these people to view this cultural event.
There were six bullfights scheduled for the night and in the very beginning the participants are paraded around the ring - the "Torero" aka Matador, the "Picadores" aka Lancers on their horses (with their protective padding) and the "Banderilleros" aka assistants to the matador with their own capes and then the "Mozo de Espanda" aka Man with the Sword
Bull Fight 01
. This is the bullfighting team. The trumpets sounded and then the star of the show - the "Toro" comes into the ring - full of life and then they start to distract the bull with the capes which are magenta on one side and dark yellow/gold on the other. The bull runs around the ring chasing these Banderilleros - they duck behind openings in the ring and continue to torment the bull.
The trumpets sound again and out come the two Picadores on horseback with their long spears - the bull eventually will ram into the side of the horses - thank goodness for the protective pads - but then the Picadores ram the spears into the muscles of the neck and that is supposedly done to lower the blood pressure of the bull to keep it from having a heart attack and dying before his time has come. Then it keeps trying to attack the horse which requires a lot of effort on the bulls part and that tires him out.
More trumpets and out comes one of the Banderilleros with a set of sticks - decorated in different colors that have a sharp barb on the end. They encourage the bull to charge them and then they acrobatically stab these barbs into the neck of the bull
Bull Fight 02
. They mostly stay in the bull and this causes more blood loss. This is done three times - with 6 of these barbs - two at a time.Trumpets sound again and here comes the Matador - he has a sword and a red cape. This is where the dance begins. He gets very close to the bull and the bull makes a series of passes through the cape and very, very close to the matador. The Matador will touch the bull - sometimes - hold his horns - you never know. The better Matadors will stand perfectly still while the bull passes by - sometimes they are even down on one knee. Then the moment comes - yet another trumpet and the matador goes to the edge of the ring and gets "The Sword" and a couple more dances with the bull and with one final blow - the sword goes down through the neck of the bull and into the heart. After that - the Banderilleros come back out and for the few moments that the bull has left - they distract him to his death - He lays down and that is about it. Then the crowd decides whether the Matador is worthy of the next step. If the crowd stands and waves a white handkerchief (or a 'klee-nex') then they cut off the ear of the bull and present it to the Matador.
The draft horses come in next and they hook the bull up - drag him around the ring and out to the slaughter station
Bull Fight 03
. Tomorrow will be a good market day for anyone wanting to buy bull parts and make Bull-tail soup.Our event was pretty much just like that - but there was one bull that just was not co-operating - he was very aggressive (not that we could blame him) with the Picadore's horses and they called for the bull to be taken out of the ring and killed there. They felt that something was not right - and we didn't really understand it all. Well that constituted the 6 ½ fights for the evening. One of the Matadors had a poor kill and then the crowd went crazy and not one handkerchief was waved. His sword kind of entered at an angle - off center and perhaps when through a lung - that required a small knife to be produced and that was repeatedly thrust into his head - that was not a nice one to watch.
After the event was over the matadors were carried out of the stadium on the shoulders of their team - and the rush of people was like groupies swarming a rock star - only these people were much older than the typical groupie. I got caught up in the middle of it and kind of went with the sea of people - it was funny.
Hope those of you that want to view the photos enjoy them.
Ole'!
Comments
Part 2
Dad wants to know if your steak for dinner the next night was tough?
Ole!
Mom
Familiar
...makes me feel like I'm at work.
That is a lot of Bull !!!!!!!!!!!
I would like to see a bull fight some day. I don't mind the gore since I have seen a number of animals killed. I think they probably had a special on Swiss steak in the area restaurants. See you soon.