Folklore

What from is a bullfight composed of?

To explain a bullfight is relative exhausting, because you have to put yourself in a spectacle, which is different to many others and in addition, like every art, it is varying every time. Nevertheless there is a ritual and guidelines, which are mostly used and these are going to be explained here. In a bullfight normally attend three toreros and six bulls, two per torero. The toreros fight in the order of their age, which is noted in an extra “Torero-pass”. The first torero is also fighting with the first bull, the second with the second, the third with the third, the first with the fourth and so on.

The bullfight starts with the “Paseíllo”, the invasion into the arena, in which everybody how takes part in the bullfight, appears to the audience. This deployment is opened on horses by the two so called “Alguacilillos”. They cross the arena in direction to the chair and request symbolically the key for the gate to the “Toriles”, in which are the bulls. Behind the “Alguacilillos” the three toreros march in, followed by the respective members of their groups: three “Banderilleros” and two “Picadores”. The procession is closed by the youngsters and hinnies, which later have to remove the dead bull. Then the bull is permitted to enter the arena and the bullfight begins. The torero is the whole time in dialogue and fight with the bull and always anxious to subdue the beast. The spectacle is rationed in three parts, the so called “Tercios” (thirds). Each “Tercios” starts with a horn signal.

In the first “Tercio” the torero uses a big pink kerchief, the so called “Capote”. As soon as the horn signal resounds, the “Picadores” join in the events. Each of them positions at one end of the place and one of them hits a lance in the nape of the bull, which is called “Suerte”. In the second “Tercio” the “Suerte de banderillas” takes place, in which the “Banderilleros” hit all in all six spears decorated with flowers in the back of the bull. In the last “Tercio” the torero practises the “”Suerte Suprema”, by using the Muleta, a red kerchief, to anger and exhaust the bull and finally to kill the bull with a sword. These are the most different ticks for the torero, in which he has to get the bull to an attack. At this he has to adjust the right moment, when the bull jumps at the Muleta, to hit the right point. At this moment the torero is the biggest surface of attack for the bull and exact this fight is considered as the most alive and fast moving art of the spectacle. If the audience liked the performance of the torero and the deathblow, it will be thankful in a special way. The trophies are one or both ears of the bull or alternatively its tail. The audience ask the president for the trophies by swaying kerchiefs symbolically. But the president by himself has finally to decide, if he agrees or not. The rules around the bullfight are fixed in the “Reglamento de espectáculos taurinos”.

[Spanish costums and folklore]     [1 2 3 4 5 6]