Bull Fights

August 1996

Madrid, Spain. It was Sunday and I was going to the bull fights! For 900 peseta, $7, I bought a seat in the sun three decks above the arena, one deck below the real cheap guys. The seats are more expensive in the shade! I saw five bulls get killed dead. It’s a pretty awesome spectacle and a little disturbing. Sure, I know, bummer about the death and all that.

It began with a few minutes of pompous horse riding in the dirt arena, followed by a moment of silence (don’t know why), two horses walk backwards a few paces (that was curious), and then everyone cleared out of the arena. Now the good stuff.

Three sub-matadors (not their technical job title - these are the set up guys for the main matador) entered the arena and stood immediately next to their hiding barricades along the arena’s perimeter wall. A bull came running into the arena, stopped, looked around the arena very confused with a dagger in it’s back (it was jabbed in prior to getting into the ring). It looked back at the entrance, now closed, then noticed the capes being waved by the sub-matadors; one side of the cape is pink, other side is yellow, no red like we see in all the pictures and cartoons. They toy with the bull for a few minutes, staying right near their barricades, the bull charges from one submatador to the other until it begins to tire.

Now the main matador enters, this guy’s got the red cape. He screws around for a while, away from safety of the barricades, not really getting the bull riled up or engaging it. He leaves the arena. A horse and rider come into the ring, the horse is blindfolded and heavily padded. The bull bum rushes the padded horse several times and makes good contact, but the horse never tumbled. The horse rider has a javelin-like deal which he drives repeatedly into the bull’s back behind it’s skull and digs it in each time the bull charges the horse. Horse and rider leave the arena. A couple of sub-matadors reenter the ring and confuse the bull further by yelling at it and getting it to chase capes, this continues wearing the bull down. As the bull charges them they jam their swords in its back. By now, there’s five or six swords stuck in the bull’s back (some have fallen out), huge visible area of blood flowing down its back and side. Finally, the main matador comes back with his cape and a sword, gets the bull to charge and miss while driving his sword into the bull’s back. Eventually, its front legs begin to fail him, he tumbles a few times until it finally stops, falls, and no longer gets up. It’s horns are hooked with rope, a team of three horses comes into the arena and drags the bull from the ring.

Two minutes between the bull getting dragged out of the ring and a new bull entering. The crowd is loudly in favor of the matador and yell ‘ole’ when the guy really has the bull riled up.

There were boos from the crowd during the second bull because it was stumbling before it reached the stage of the program where the three guys jam swords in its back. This lagging bull was removed from the ring before its death. I guess he wasn’t worth the hassle. There was also another bull that lacked gusto. Some cows were ushered into the ring with that bull to humiliate it (i.e., ‘Hey, bull, you are no more fierce than these cows’). I don’t think the bull minded.


From the point of curiosity, Wow, what a sight to see, bullfights. Otherwise, didn’t seem very sportsmanlike.
-klem