Bullfights in Cabra

"There are only three sports: bullfighting, motor racing, and mountaineering; all the rest are merely games." Ernest Hemingway.

Whether the Spanish like it or not bullfighting is part of their culture. Most missionaries wouldn’t go to see a fight, understandable it is extremely barbaric, but… I went, for mixed reasons sharing Ernest Hemingway’s interest in another blood sport, boxing, I wondered whether I would be attracted to bullfighting also you couldn’t really go to Spain and not see a bullfight and it is a window of sorts into the Spanish culture, well that's what I kept telling myself.

There is a Plaza de Toro’s in Cabra and recently a Corridas de Toros (Bullfight) was being run. I took the Sol seats (in the sun) rather than the Sombra (shade). The Sol seats are equivalent to the old Hill at the Sydney Cricket Ground. It is where all the characters sit providing entertainment by shouting out funny things. I’m pretty sure the bloke up the back kept yelling out ‘scaredy cat’ to one of the toreros, which is a little bit funny.

And entertainment is really what this event is all about. Despite what Hemingway says about bullfighting it really is World Championship Wrestling with slightly higher stakes for the bullfighter, extremely high for the bull! It most definitely will die in a brutal way. One Spanish person I talked with about the bull fight told me that the bull either way is going to be slaughtered, either at the abattoirs or in the ring, at least in the ring it has a chance for a moment of glory in front of the crowd. An interesting perspective…

The fight starts with everyone in the ring, except the bull that is. They present themselves to the officials and the public. The toreros walks into the centre of the ring and throws in his black hat down (hence the expression). Next the bull comes changing out of the puerta do los toriles looking like Gordon Tallis after seeing a sign in the crowd about his mum. The fight is in three rounds with three toreros fighting two bulls a piece. The first round has a number of assistants who come out and get the bull riled. Then the second round begins with two picadors on horses jabbing the bull with a short lance. Followed by three banderilleros who come out and try to stab two coloured daggers into the bulls back (see picture). Last comes the toreros who us a muleta, a short red cape draped over sword. The idea is for the toreros to work the bull closer and closer to him with finesse and skill, almost mesmerizing the bull into submission. The moves are named after women, ‘the Veronica’, ‘the Christina’ etc. and there is some sexual thing happening with the toreros and the bull, a deadly dance that will eventually end with the toreros sticking the sword through the bulls back into his heart. The end comes when the bull falls down dead. If the bull goes down quickly and the fight has been a spectacle, the bulls ears are cut off and given to the toreros.

It’s a brutal end for the bull, remembering that the origins of the bullfight go back to Iberian cults sacrificing the bull to placate the gods. It is interesting to reflect on the phenomena today, no longer explicitly a bloody sacrifice, but still many people come to see the blood of the bull, what does it say about the culture which delights in this type of brutality, whether it’s bullfighting or cock fighting or boxing…

Another thought I had during the event, which was less profound, was has there ever been a streaker at the bullfight? Mark Roberts, an Englishman has streaked over 380 times in the last ten years at almost every major sporting event. I would like him to take the challenge and to do it at a Bull Fight! The bullfight would have to be the high point of his career, especially if he got caught on more than just the horns of a dilemma!