aimee's corner
Bullfighting 101
Bullfighting is a very old sport. It has been seen in a wall painting at Knossos in Crete, dating to about 2000 BC. It shows women and men confronting a bull, grabbing its horns, and jumping over it. This is like what the Visigoths did to the bulls for fun.
The Moors from North Africa came to Spain in AD 711 and changed bullfighting because they were mounted on highly trained horses and killed the bulls. They also had parties with lots of food and drinks.
Today, the bullfight is the same as it has been since about 1726. Francisco Romero of Ronda, Spain, is believed to have introduced the estoque and the muleta, which are still used.
It usually starts around 5PM when the matadors march into the ring to the traditional paso doble music. The matadors are the stars of the show. They wear a montera, and a traje de luces. Usually there are six bulls, to be killed by three matadors for one corrida, and each bull lasts about 15 minutes.
Bulls are angry animals weighing more than 1,000 lb. The bulls instinctively go for the cloth because it is a large, moving target. Bulls are color-blind and charge at anything. Unlike domestic bulls, they are not trained to charge, nor are they starved or tortured to make them angry. Those animals selected for the corrida are allowed to live a year longer than those going to the slaughterhouse. Bulls for novilleros are supposed to be three years old and matadors get the four year olds or older ones.
When a bull first comes into the arena out of the toril, the matador greets it with a series of passes using a capote. A capote is usually a large cape-like cloth, bright pink on one side and bright yellow on the other. These passes are usually verónicas, named after the woman who held out a cloth to Christ on his way to the crucifixion.
The second part of the corrida consists of the work of the picadors, bearing lances and mounted on horses with heavy padding. The picadors wear castoreños and costumes similar to those of their matadors as their jackets and trousers are gold. After three lancings or less, a trumpet blows, and then the banderilleros place their banderillas in the bull's shoulders.
Afterwards, a trumpet sounds telling the matador to begin the faena. Although the bull is weak and slow, it has learned that something behind the cape is the enemy. This is when most gorings happen.
The basic muleta passes are the derechazo (done with the right hand and aided with the sword) trincherazo, the pase de la firma, the manoletina, a pass invented by the great Spanish matador Manolete (Manuel Laureano Rodríguez Sánchez), and the natural(done with the left hand).
After several minutes with these passes, the bullfighter gets closer and closer to the horns. The matador takes the sword and faces the bull for the kill. The kill is known as the moment of truth because it has to be done correctly.
The bullfighter has to show his best skills to the very critical audience. If he does a good job and gets a good round of applause, he may be given one or both of the bull's ears. If his bullfighting is excellent, he may even be carried around the arena or he may be given the tail by the judge. Not every arena allows a tail to be awarded.
Bullfighting terms
| Muleta | A small cloth stretched over a stick (Palo) |
| Capote | The cape |
| Paseillo | The parade of fighters at the beginning |
| Corrida | A Bullfighting show |
| Espada | The matador's sword also called the ESTOQUE |
| Matador | The bullfighter |
| Novilladas | Beginners fights |
| Rejoneadores | Horse-mounted fighters |
| Toril | Enclosure for the bulls |
| Picador | Fighter to weaken the bull |
| Banderillas | Barbed darts on coloured shafts placed into the bull's shoulders |
| Puntilla | A dagger that is stabbed into the base of the bull's skull, used if needed |
| Puerta grande | The main door to the arena |
| Gradas | Highest seats at the back of the ring (cheapest seats) |
| Barreras | Front seats |
| Sol/Sombra | Sun/Shade - the choice as to where you sit |
| Plaza de Toros | Bullring |
