Introduction
Bullfighting is a practice that has sparked deep admiration and heated debates worldwide. Originating in Spain and spreading to various countries like Mexico, Portugal, and parts of South America, bullfighting is considered both a traditional art form and a cultural event. However, it also faces intense scrutiny from animal rights advocates and modern audiences who question its relevance in today’s society. This article explores the history, significance, controversies, and future of bullfighting.
Bullfighting is a physical contest that involves a bullfighter attempting to subdue, immobilize, or kill a bull, usually according to a set of rules, guidelines, or cultural expectations.
There are several variations, including some forms which involve dancing around or leaping over a cow or bull or attempting to grasp an object tied to the animal’s horns. The best-known form of bullfighting is Spanish-style bullfighting, practiced in Spain, Portugal, Southern France, Mexico, Ecuador, Venezuela, and Peru. In Colombia it has been outlawed but is being phased out with a full ban coming in effect in 2027. The Spanish Fighting Bull is bred for its aggression and physique, and is raised free-range with little human contact.
The practice of bullfighting is controversial because of a range of concerns including animal welfare, funding, and religion. While some forms are considered a blood sport, in some countries, for example Spain, it is defined as an art form or cultural event, and local regulations define it as a cultural event or heritage. Bullfighting is illegal in most countries, but remains legal in most areas of Spain and Portugal, as well as in some Hispanic American countries and some parts of southern France.
The History of Bullfighting
Bullfighting, known as corrida de toros in Spanish, dates back to ancient times. It’s believed that bull-related events began with the Romans, who would pit animals against one another in amphitheaters. Over centuries, the practice evolved in Spain, blending with cultural and regional elements, eventually transforming into the ritualized spectacle we see today.
Bullfighting traces its roots to prehistoric bull worship and sacrifice in Mesopotamia and the Mediterranean region. The first recorded bullfight may be the Epic of Gilgamesh, which describes a scene in which Gilgamesh and Enkidu fought and killed the Bull of Heaven (“The Bull seemed indestructible, for hours they fought, till Gilgamesh dancing in front of the Bull, lured it with his tunic and bright weapons, and Enkidu thrust his sword, deep into the Bull’s neck, and killed it”). Bull-leaping was portrayed in Crete and myths related to bulls throughout Greece.
The cosmic connotations of the ancient Iranian practice of Bull sacrifice are reflected in Zoroaster’s Gathas and the Avesta. The killing of the sacred bull (tauroctony) is the essential central iconic act of the Iranian Mithras, which was commemorated in the mithraeum wherever Roman soldiers were stationed. The oldest representation of what seems to be a man facing a bull is on the Celtiberian tombstone from Clunia and the cave painting El toro de hachos, both found in Spain.
Bullfighting is often linked to Rome, where many human-versus-animal events were held as competition and entertainment, the Venationes. These hunting games spread to Africa, Asia, and Europe during Roman times. There are also theories that it was introduced into Hispania by the Emperor Claudius, as a substitute for gladiators, when he instituted a short-lived ban on gladiatorial combat.
The latter theory was supported by Robert Graves (picadors are related to warriors who wielded the javelin, but their role in the contest is now a minor one limited to “preparing” the bull for the matador.) Spanish colonists took the practice of breeding cattle and bullfighting to the American colonies, the Pacific, and Asia. In the 19th century, areas of southern and southwestern France adopted bullfighting, developing their distinctive form.
Religious festivities and royal weddings were celebrated by fights in the local plaza, where noblemen would ride competing for royal favor, and the populace enjoyed the excitement. In the Middle Ages across Europe, knights would joust in competitions on horseback. In Spain, they began to fight bulls.
In medieval Spain bullfighting was considered a noble sport and reserved for the rich, who could afford to supply and train their horses. The bull was released into a closed arena where a single fighter on horseback was armed with a lance. This spectacle was said to be enjoyed by Charlemagne, Alfonso X the Wise and the Almohad caliphs, among others. The greatest Spanish performer of this art is said to have been the knight El Cid. According to a chronicle of the time, in 1128 “… when Alfonso VII of León and Castile married Berengaria of Barcelona daughter of Ramon Berenguer III, Count of Barcelona at Saldaña among other celebrations, there were also bullfights.”
In the time of Emperor Charles V, Pedro Ponce de Leon was the most famous bullfighter in Spain and a renovator of the technique of killing the bull on a horse with blindfolded eyes. Juan de Quirós, the best Sevillian poet of that time, dedicated to him a poem in Latin, of which Benito Arias Montano transmits some verses.
Francisco Romero, from Ronda, Spain, is generally regarded as having been the first to introduce the practice of fighting bulls on foot around 1726, using the muleta in the last stage of the fight and an estoc to kill the bull. This type of fighting drew more attention from the crowds. Thus the modern corrida, or fight, began to take form, as riding noblemen were replaced by commoners on foot. This new style prompted the construction of dedicated bullrings, initially square, like the Plaza de Armas, and later round, to discourage the cornering of the action.
The modern style of Spanish bullfighting is credited to Juan Belmonte, generally considered the greatest matador of all time. Belmonte introduced a daring and revolutionary style, in which he stayed within a few centimeters of the bull throughout the fight. Although extremely dangerous (Belmonte was gored on many occasions), his style is still seen by most matadors as the ideal to be emulated.
The Ritual of Bullfighting
Bullfighting is much more than a sport; it’s a deeply choreographed ritual filled with symbolism. The event usually includes three stages, or tercios: the picadors on horseback use lances to weaken the bull, the banderilleros plant decorated barbed sticks to further tire it, and finally, the matador performs his skilled maneuvers before attempting the estocada, or the killing blow. Each stage demands courage, agility, and a deep understanding of the animal.
Cultural Significance of Bullfighting
In Spain and other bullfighting countries, the spectacle is seen as an expression of cultural identity. It is an event that goes beyond the bullring, representing themes of bravery, honor, and sacrifice. For many fans, the matador’s performance is akin to an artist’s masterpiece—each movement is calculated and deliberate, merging physical skill with mental fortitude.
Spanish-style bullfighting is called corrida de toros (literally “coursing of bulls”) or la fiesta (“the festival”). In the traditional corrida, three matadores each fight two bulls, each of which is between four and six years old and weighs no less than 460 kg (1,014 lb).
Each matador has six assistants: two picadores (lancers mounted on horseback), three banderilleros – who along with the matadors are collectively known as toreros (bullfighters) – and a mozo de espadas (sword page). Collectively they comprise a cuadrilla (entourage). In Spanish the more general torero or diestro (literally ‘right-hander’) is used for the lead fighter, and only when needed to distinguish a man is the full title matador de toros used; in English, “matador” is generally used for the bullfighter.
Structure
The modern corrida is highly ritualized, with three distinct stages or tercios (“thirds”); the start of each being announced by a bugle sound. The participants enter the arena in a parade, called the paseíllo, to salute the presiding dignitary, accompanied by band music. Torero costumes are inspired by 17th-century Andalusian clothing, and matadores are easily distinguished by the gold of their traje de luces (“suit of lights”), as opposed to the lesser banderilleros, who are also known as toreros de plata (“bullfighters of silver”).
Tercio de Varas
The bull is released into the ring, where he is tested for ferocity by the matador and banderilleros with the magenta and gold capote (“cape”). This is the first stage, the tercio de varas (“the lancing third”). The matador confronts the bull with the capote, performing a series of passes and observing the behavior and quirks of the bull.
Next, a picador enters the arena on horseback armed with a vara (lance). To protect the horse from the bull’s horns, the animal wears a protective, padded covering called peto. Prior to 1930, the horses did not wear any protection. Often the bull would disembowel the horse during this stage. Until the use of protection was instituted, the number of horses killed during a fiesta generally exceeded the number of bulls killed.
At this point, the picador stabs just behind the morrillo, a mound of muscle on the fighting bull’s neck, weakening the neck muscles and leading to the animal’s first loss of blood. The manner in which the bull charges the horse provides important clues to the matador about the bull such as which horn the bull favors.
As a result of the injury and also the fatigue of striving to injure the armoured heavy horse, the bull holds its head and horns slightly lower during the following stages of the fight. This ultimately enables the matador to perform the killing thrust later in the performance. The encounter with the picador often fundamentally changes the behavior of a bull; distracted and unengaging bulls will become more focused and stay on a single target instead of charging at everything that moves, conserving their diminished energy reserves.
Tercio de Banderillas
In the next stage, the tercio de banderillas (“the third of banderillas”), each of the three banderilleros attempts to plant two banderillas, sharp barbed sticks, into the bull’s shoulders. These anger and agitate the bull reinvigorating him from the aplomado (literally “leadened”) state his attacks on the horse and injuries from the lance left him in. Sometimes a matador will place his own banderillas. If so, he usually embellishes this part of his performance and employs more varied maneuvers than the standard al cuarteo method commonly used by banderilleros.
Tercio de Muerte
In the final stage, the tercio de muerte (“a third of death”), the matador re-enters the ring alone with a smaller red cloth, or muleta, and a sword. It is a common misconception that the color red is supposed to anger the bull; the animals are functionally colorblind in this respect: the bull is incited to charge by the movement of the muleta. The muleta is thought to be red to mask the bull’s blood, although the color is now a matter of tradition.
The matador uses his muleta to attract the bull in a series of passes, which serve the dual purpose of wearing the animal down for the kill and creating sculptural forms between man and animal that can fascinate or thrill the audience, and which when linked together in a rhythm create a dance of passes, or faena. The matador will often try to enhance the drama of the dance by bringing the bull’s horns especially close to his body. The faena refers to the entire performance with the muleta.
The faena is usually broken down into tandas, or “series”, of passes. The faena ends with a final series of passes in which the matador, using the cape, tries to maneuver the bull into a position to stab it between the shoulder blades going over the horns and thus exposing his own body to the bull. The sword is called estoque, and the act of thrusting the sword is called an estocada. During the initial series, while the matador in part is performing for the crowd, he uses a fake sword (estoque simulado). This is made of wood or aluminum, making it lighter and much easier to handle. The estoque de verdad (real sword) is made out of steel.
At the end of the tercio de muerte, when the matador has finished his faena, he will change swords to take up the steel one. He performs the estocada with the intent of piercing the heart or aorta, or severing other major blood vessels to induce a quick death if all goes according to plan.
Often this does not happen and repeated efforts must be made to bring the bull down, sometimes the matador changing to the ‘descabello’, which resembles a sword, but is actually a heavy dagger blade at the end of a steel rod which is thrust between the cervical vertebrae to sever the spinal column and induce instant death. Even if the descabello is not required and the bull falls quickly from the sword one of the banderilleros will perform this function with an actual dagger to ensure the bull is dead.
If the matador has performed particularly well, the crowd may petition the president by waving white handkerchiefs to award the matador an ear of the bull. If his performance was exceptional, the president will award two ears.
In certain more rural rings, the practice includes an award of the bull’s tail. Very rarely, if the public and the matador believe that the bull has fought extremely bravely – and the breeder of the bull agrees to have it return to the ranch – the event’s president may grant a pardon (indulto). If the indulto is granted, the bull’s life is spared; it leaves the ring alive and is returned to its home ranch for treatment and then to become a semental, or seed-bull, for the rest of its life.
The Controversy Surrounding Bullfighting
Bullfighting has become a polarizing issue in recent decades. Animal rights activists argue that it’s an outdated and cruel form of entertainment, leading to calls for bans or modifications to the practice. Countries like Spain and France continue to host bullfights, though with varying levels of regulation, while other regions have banned it outright.
Arguments in Favor of Bullfighting
- Cultural Heritage: Supporters argue that bullfighting is a cultural practice that deserves preservation.
- Economic Benefits: Bullfights attract tourism, particularly in Spain and Mexico, benefiting local economies.
- Artistic Value: Fans view bullfighting as a form of art, where the matador’s movement and style are as important as the outcome.
Arguments Against Bullfighting
- Animal Welfare: The harm caused to bulls is the central criticism of bullfighting, with activists advocating for alternative forms of entertainment.
- Declining Interest: Younger generations are less interested in bullfighting, and ticket sales have declined, leading some to question its future.
- Social Progress: Some believe that bullfighting no longer aligns with modern views on animal rights and humane treatment.
The Modern Landscape of Bullfighting
Despite its controversial nature, bullfighting has managed to adapt in some places. In Spain, for instance, events such as rejoneo (bullfighting on horseback) and novilladas (events with younger bulls) attract those interested in less traditional forms. However, regions like Catalonia have banned bullfighting entirely.
In recent years, there’s been a shift toward revamping bullfighting traditions to appeal to a more socially conscious audience. In some cases, non-lethal bullfighting, which spares the bull’s life, has emerged as a middle ground.
The Future of Bullfighting
The future of bullfighting remains uncertain. As societies evolve, there is a strong push to either reform or replace the sport. Those in favor of preserving it argue that bullfighting is an essential piece of cultural heritage, while others believe that it must either adapt or cease altogether. In a world increasingly focused on animal welfare, bullfighting may face an uphill battle.
Conclusion
Bullfighting stands at a crossroads between tradition and change. While it has served as a cultural cornerstone for centuries, the growing emphasis on ethical treatment of animals challenges its place in modern society. Whether bullfighting will continue as it is, undergo reform, or fade into history, only time will tell. For now, it remains one of the world’s most unique and divisive spectacles, embodying the complex relationship between human culture and nature.