BULLFIGHTING
- Six bulls are selected and allocated in pairs to three individual bullfighters.
- The bullfight begins in late afternoon. Each matador and his team walk out
together in a procession across the arena.
- The first bull is engaged by the first bullfighter's assistants, with large purple
capes, to see how it moves in the bullring.
- (The bull instinctively goes for the cloth because it is a large, moving target,
not because of its color; bulls are color-blind, and charge just as readily at the
inside of the cape, which is a different color).
- The judge signals the entry of two picadores (lancers on horseback), one of
whom is to pierce the bull's neck in a limited way. The aim is to plunge their
lances into the bull's neck, thus weakening its strong neck muscles.
- The first of three banderilleros (usually older bullfighters who form part of the
matador's team) individually run towards the bull, making him charge. Their job
is to insert two banderillas (decorated wooden sticks with spiked ends) over the
horns into the bull's neck muscle.
- The matador engages the bull with his cape in a series of passes. When the
bull is weak and unable to charge much longer, he pulls out a curved sword,
with which he kills the bull by inserting the sword between the cervical vertebra
and into the bull's heart. He might dedicate the bull to an individual or the
audience.
- If he performs well and the bull is killed cleanly, the audience will wave white
handkerchiefs, encouraging the judge to award an ear, or two ears and tail, to
him.
- If a matador is injured, the remaining matadores must kill the bull.
- The bull's carcass is quickly removed, pulled out of the arena by horses, and
then distributed for sale in butchers' shops or the local market.
BULLFIGHTING
- When the sixth and last bull is dead, the matadors and their teams cross the
arena. Occasionally a matador may be carried out of the arena through the
main gates on the shoulders of his fans.
- Every week, all over the country, many thousands of Spaniards flock to the
nearest bullring; it is reported that each year, within Spain, 24,000 bulls are
killed in front of an audience of 30 million people. As entertainment.
- Although many bullfight attendees are American tourists, surveys indicate that
90 percent of these tourists never return to another fight, after witnessing the
cruelty that takes place in the ring. Spanish bulls, and those in Mexico and
other countries, are victims of a form of "entertainment" that noted Mexican
author Eduardo del Rio described as "a stumbling block for the humanization of
man."
- The issue here is not entirely the cruel treatment of the bulls. After all, animals
are slaughtered for food everywhere, sometimes just as painfully as these bulls
are put to death in the ring. Rather more important is the idea that people
consider the killing of an animal in this way 'sport', and will pay money to watch
it.
- This brings into question the entire notion of killing animals for 'sport' at all. It
could be argued that killing animals for 'sport' is hardly a sport at all, if the
animal has no chance to
survive.
- In the ring, the bull has
no chance.