So when in one of Spain’s most thoroughly Spanish cities,
why not take in Spain’s national sport, the Corrida? I noticed lines outside
the bull ring next to the train station in the early afternoon and thought I’d
investigate . Yes, a bullfight in the evening and some reasonably priced tickets
too! Yes, I’ll get to see a real live corrida after these trips to Spain.

Actually, it was what they call a novillada, which I think
means novice bullfighters with young bulls rather than the real stars of the
sport. But these minor league matadors are good enough for me, especially if it
helps keep the price of the ticket down. I was promised six bullfights and took
one of the cheaper seats in the sol (sun) rather than the pricier sombra
(shade).

First of all, I should say that when it comes to bullfighting,
I have no idea what’s happening. It looks to me just like a bunch of skinny
guys in gaudy suits ganging up on a dumb animal, but what do I know? Of course,
I wouldn’t have any idea what was going on if you took me to an NFL game
either.

Each fight begins with a bull rampaging out of a pen and
going after everything in sight. It’s is already irritated by something
attached to its back that looks like a birthday present ribbon . There’s a team
of guys called picadors who have multiple functions but seem to me to be a bit
like rodeo clowns. They tease the bull with large pink capes to tire it out as
it runs from one part of the bull ring to the other to get the cape that’s
flashing.

Once the poor beast is exhausted, out come the lancers, two
dudes on big blindfolded horses covered with thick padding. Eventually the
already tired bull focuses its attention on one of these large objects and
attacks, trying to push over and lift up the horse (I kept thinking of a “bull
market” in stocks) while the lancers jab it between its shoulder blades to cut
the muscles and reduce the bull’s ability to buck its head upwards. It
sometimes takes a couple of jabs and the blood starts flowing. Meanwhile, the clueless
blindfolded horse doesn’t really do much of anything.

The picadors with the pink capes play around the beast some
more before the next part of the show begins. One picador, without the aid of a
pink cape to hide behind or beside, charges the bull with two banderillas,
metal poles with colorful ribbons that flap around from the bull’s back and
provide extra irritation for the next minutes until its demise . The process
gets repeated by two more picadors until the bull is attempting to shake six of
the poles out of its back.

The picadors play around a little more and then the matador
steps in. He’s the dude with the haughty macho attitude and little red cape who’s
the star of the show – the real hotshot who steps in to finish things off once
most of the difficult work has already been done. The matador plays around more
with the bull, by this point so bloodied and exhausted as not to be able to see
straight. The matador gets very close to it now that it’s moving more slowly,
impressing the crowd with the bravado of touching the bull, even petting it as
it catches its breath.

Eventually when the time is right, the matador plunges his
sword deep into the bull to kill it, apparrently a skill that takes time to
learn, since these novillos didn’t seem to have mastered it. Bull #3 kept
running around and charging for some time after his matador’s sword was deep in
him . Meanwhile, matador #5 needed about four tries before he more than poked
the bull deep enough for the sword not to be quickly shaken out.

Once the bull finally falls down to its knees, something not
immediate after being stabbed (at least not by these novillos), the picadors and
stab it in the brain until with a couple sharp shakes the bull rolls over. The crowd
goes wild with applause!

Although the bull always loses, once in a while one gets a
bit of revenge before death. Bull #4 threw his novillo matador into the air,
but his attention was quickly deflected by picadors with purple capes. The disgraced
matador was quickly carried from the ring and the bull immediately dispatched
by his stand-in.

Attending a bullfight is not something that’s not going to
win me any points with my animal rights advocate friends, but I think it’s
something worth seeing once because of its cultural importance in Spain. I have
to admit that I find it to be rather barbaric since each fight takes
approximately 20 minutes during which the bull is clearly in great pain . I’m
somewhat of a fan of American rodeo, a sport which some people also object
to, but even opponents of rodeo have to
admit that in no rodeo event is the point to hurt or kill the animal, and if
one is injured it is quickly killed out of sight and the fans get told that it’s
“sleeping”. I have a hard time seeing the appeal of bullfighting as a sport
rather than just a cultural relic.