Bullfighting Is Part of Spanish Culture
We always connect Spain to bullfighting and Flamenco. But for the Spanish people, "bullfighting" is not a game. It is a ceremony. It originally comes from the ceremony to sacrifice bull for the richness of stock farming. Although the death of a bull is unavoidable, killing the bull is not the main attraction. The Spanish people enjoy the performance of the bull and the bull fighter like ballet dancing. They call this the pase.
In March, the Spanish celebrate a Festival of Fire in Valencia. In October, they celebrate Pilar in Zaragoza. Bullfighting takes place between these two holidays.
We do not know when it began but there is a Spanish legend that Hercules fought with a bull of Geryon in the plain of Hispania. People think that was the beginning. There are no records of bull fighting during the medieval times but in the thirteenth century, a book titled Chronica General contained a record of it after a wedding ceremony. Many written records of this ceremony was found in the late fourteenth century. The popularity of it grew between the sixteenth and seventeenth century during the Renaissance.
At the time, the knight rode on a horse to fight the bull which is called Rejoneo. From the end of seventeenth century to eighteenth century, bull fighters started to go on foot without horse riding just like today. During this time, they killed the bull very violently. In a painting by Goya, it shows how bloody and violent it was.
Francesco Remero was the one who made rules of today's game including the red cape on a removable stick. After that, it became a team game. Picadores, Toreros, other ring attendants and two Matadors made up a team. Matadors are the ones that throws the Muleta and finally kills the bull. It kills the bull by stabbing right above the bull's heart in front of it. After the bull dies, the ears of the bull are cut off and given to the Matadors for honor much like a trophy is given to a champion.
It is very important to the Spanish culture. The king of Spain said if the EU bans bullfighting it would leave the EU. Today, bullfighting is a big business. The Matadors earn as much money as the best soccer player or a rock star. The great bull fighter of modern time is Manolete, a Matador who began in 1938 and died at the age of thirty during a bullfight. The Spanish see him as a great Metador in the twentieth century.
Resources: http://alcoso.es/ http://ezinearticles.com/?Bullfighting-IsPart-of-Spanish-Culture&id=5946718
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