Bullfighting

Like it or loathe it, it is impossible to escape the impact that the corrida (bullfight) has on Spanish life. The colourful carteles (advertising posters) are ubiquitous in Spain and the temporada (season) lasts from March to October. The bullfight isn’t officially considered a sport – a contest between two equals. Instead it is a highly ritualistic event in which man pits himself against a magnificent and powerful animal.

A three-act spectacle

First tercio

The corrida consists of three tercios (acts), each with its own rituals. In the first tercio, the toro bravo (fighting bull) is released and the matador (literally ‘killer’) takes stock of the bull, making passes with his large magenta and yellow capote (cape). Next the picadores ­– mounted men armed with wooden poles tipped with a puya, a pointed metal head – attempt to lance the bull behind its morillo (large neck muscle), causing the bull’s head to lower.

Second tercio

In the second tercio, the banderilleros, part of the matador’s cuadrilla (team of assistants) work on foot to plant long sticks with a barbed end and covered with coloured paper into the bull’s back.

Third tercio

The third and final tercio, the faena, sees the matador return, without his montera (hat) and armed with just the much smaller, dark red muleta (cape). This is what he gets paid handsomely for. For the next 13 minutes – legally it cannot last any longer, and often it is shorter – he adjusts his skills to the characteristics and strength of the bull, with intricate passes that bring man and bull into close contact. If all is going well, the band will strike up an accompanying pasodoble; when the matador is ready for the ‘moment of truth’, the most dangerous point in the corrida, the band will unceremoniously stop.

It is then that the matador, muleta in his left hand directing the bull’s attention away from his body and sword in his right, will spin over the dangerous right horn, trying to deliver an espada (sword) stroke between the shoulder blades and into the heart, with the aim of killing the bull instantly.