**WARNING SOME PICTURES MAY BE OFFENSIVE**
If you are at all ill at ease about seeing this...please stop viewing now!!
Bull fighting in Spain is in a transitional state....while it has been a mainstay of 'entertainment' for years/centuries....it is being looked at to be prohibited. It will result in a constitutional amendment being put to a vote of the people. However, it is a very lucrative business. Thousands of people from around the world come to view the bull fights and for 2 hours the average price of a seat (on concrete) is 50 Euros.
My seat is in the 4th row from the ring just below the 'royal' or 'presidential' box is located. All participants parade to the area below the box to pay their respect to those in that box. I did not recognize any of them...but here is a photo of that box....
It begins rather mild....one from the Western World would think they were at a rodeo.....a parade of the participants.....the grounds keepers, the horsemen, the removal crew, and the bull fighters -Matadors!!
Each 'match' (yeah....really like this bull has a chance...I am just sayin...) begins with an identity plaque to show the number on the program of the bull and the matador....
Then at at sound of the trumpet...the bull enters the ring....
Four of the intermediate bull fighters then participate in engaging the bull with the use of a colorful cape....
But then....in the first 'match' disaster strikes as one of the bull fighters slips and the bull takes the advantage and goes for him with his horns....throwing him in the air and then mauling him to the ground.....
The next sound of the trumpet signals the exit of the horsemen and the re-entry of the intermediate bull fighters who have colorful batons with a small blade on one end that when engaging the bull they will place in the front shoulder of the bull. One of the bulls got rather close to the location where I was seated and you got a good view of these batons and what they had done to the bull.
The trumpet sounds signaling the time has come for the Matador to acknowledge the "Royal box" and engage the bull....The engagement that I observed took from 10 to 15 minutes depending on the strength of the animal.
The Matador seeing the weakening condition of the animal takes his sword and stabs the bull in between the shoulders....and then repeats the stabbing with another sword....
In this case the bull retreated to an area of the ring away from where the fight was conducted and fell to the ground......
The Matador acknowledged the completion of his performance to the 'Royal Box'....
The bull was dragged from the ring....often in full circle of the ring to be viewed by all in attendance....
On this day there were 4 more performances....all in similar fashion...and after 2 hours all 5 bulls had been killed....but one bull fighter was mauled...and another got his outfit ripped by the horns of a bull....a close call....
I do not anticipate viewing another bull fight. I believe it is very inhumane and not really a sport. It is much like the gladiator in the Roman times....but then sometimes the gladiator won....in the case of the animal against man....man is the winner.
But with the venue full at each performance I am sure the fights will continue......and so it goes.....
as usual you have some great pictures .. I had to pass quickly thru the bull fighting... I will be watching for more:)
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