Bullfighting is a form of "entertainment" with a very long and well-recorded history, with some of the first records being a 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, Europe, and Asia 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. 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 own 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 to the rich, who could afford to supply and train their animals. The bull was released into a closed arena where a single fighter on horseback was armed with a lance.
Muleta and estoc
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 (stick with a red cloth hanging from it) in the last stage of the fight and an estoc (type of sword characterized by having a cruciform hilt with a grip for two-handed use and a straight, edgeless, but sharply pointed blade) 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.
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.
Spanish-style bullfighting is called corrida de toros (literally "running 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 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.
Torero's traje de luces
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").
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 bull is not an aggressive animal, and the reason he is angry and attempts to charge at the matador whilst in the bullring is mainly because he has been horrendously abused for the previous two days. In fact, what spectators see is not a normal, healthy bull, but a weakened, half-blinded and mentally destroyed version, whose chances of harming his tormentors is virtually none.
The bull has wet newspapers stuffed into his ears; vaseline is rubbed into his eyes to blur his vision; cotton is stuffed up his nostrils to cut off his respiration and a needle is stuck into his genitals. A strong caustic solution is also rubbed onto his legs which throws him off balance. This also keeps him from lying down on the ground. In addition to this, drugs are administered to pep him up or slow him down, and strong laxatives are added to his feed to further incapacitate him. He is kept in a dark box for a couple of days before he faces the ring: the purpose of this is to disorientate him. When he is let out of the box, he runs desperately towards the light at the end of the tunnel. He thinks that at last his suffering is over and he is being set free — instead, he runs into the bullring to face his killers and a jeering mob.
Picador lances bull;
horse's peto protects from goring
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 which side the bull favors. If the picador is successful, the bull will hold 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 behaviour of a bull; distracted and unengaging bulls will become more focused and stay on a single target instead of charging at everything that moves.
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, but further weaken, the bull. He tires from his attacks on the horse and the injuries from the lance. Sometimes a matador will stab his own banderillas into the bull. If so, he usually embellishes this part of his performance and employs more varied manoeuvres than the standard al cuarteo method commonly used by banderilleros. In the final stage, the tercio de muerte ("the third of death"), the matador re-enters the ring alone with a small red cape, or muleta, and a sword. It is a common misconception that the color red is supposed to anger the bull; the animals are colorblind.
Matador performs the faena
The cape is thought to be red to mask the bull's blood, although the color is now a matter of tradition. The matador uses his cape to attract the bull in a series of passes, which serve the dual purpose of wearing the animal down for the kill and creating an interesting display, or faena. He may also demonstrate his domination of the bull by caping and bringing it especially close to his body. The faena refers to the entire performance with the cape (muleta). It is usually broken down into tandas, or "series", of passes. The series (tanda) 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 and through the aorta or heart.
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 and he matador is supposed to sever the artery near the heart with one thrust of the sword — in fact, this almost never happens. It often takes 2-3 times before the creature is mercifully released by death. By this time, the bull’s lungs and heart will be punctured and he always vomits blood. Miraculously, he sometimes attempts to rise again, and gets up on his knees, only to receive further mutilation at the hands of his tormentors.
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; these are almost always removed while the bull is still alive. In most cases, the crowds boo and jeer him and throw empty beer cans at him as his body is then taken away to be skinned, and even then he may not be dead when this happens. Very rarely, if the public or the matador believe that the bull has fought extremely bravely, the event's president may be petitioned to grant the bull 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. There the bull becomes a stud for the rest of his life.
Recortes acrobat "fighting" the bull
Recortes, a style of bullfighting practiced in Navarre, La Rioja, north of Castile and Valencia, has been much less popular than the traditional corridas, but recortes have undergone a revival in Spain and are sometimes broadcast on TV. This style was common in the early 19th century, etchings by painter Francisco de Goya depict these events. Recortes differ from a corrida in the following ways: The bull is not physically injured, drawing blood is rare, and the bull is allowed to return to his pen at the end of the performance, the men are dressed in common street clothes rather than traditional bullfighting dress, acrobatics are performed without the use of capes or other props, performers attempt to evade the bull solely through the swiftness of their movements, rituals are less strict, so the men have freedom to perform stunts as they please, men work in teams but with less role distinction than in a corrida, and teams compete for points awarded by a jury. Since horses are not used, and performers are not professionals, recortes are less costly to produce.
Comical spectacles based on bullfighting, called espectáculos cómico-taurinos or charlotadas, are still popular in Spain and Mexico. Troupes include El empastre or El bombero torero. Most tourists don’t know that the dozens of bulls who are forced to run in the streets of Pamplona, Spain, are later killed in the bullring. During the daily runs, spectators and runners hit them with sticks and rolled-up newspapers. The panicked animals can lose their footing on the slippery cobblestone streets and crash into walls, risking breaking bones or otherwise injuring themselves.
This violence prompts yet more violence: There are numerous reports of sexual and non-sexual assaults during the “festivities.” A toro embolado (in Spanish), bou embolat (in Catalan), roughly meaning "bull with balls", is a festive activity held at night and typical of many towns in Spain (mainly in the Valencian Community and Southern Catalonia). Balls of flammable material are attached to a bull's horns. The balls are lit and the bull is set free in the streets at night; participants dodge the bull when it comes close. It can be considered a variant of an encierro (correbous in Catalan). This activity is held in a number of Spanish towns during their local festivals.
The forcados performing
peda de caras
Most Portuguese bullfights are held in two phases: the spectacle of the cavaleiro, and the pega. In the cavaleiro, a horseman on a Portuguese Lusitano horse (specially trained for the fights) fights the bull from horseback. The purpose of this fight is to stab three or four bandeiras (small javelins) into the back of the bull. In the second stage, called the pega ("holding"), the forcados, a group of eight men, challenge the bull directly without any protection or weapon of defence. The front man provokes the bull into a charge to perform a pega de cara or pega de caras (face grab). The front man secures the animal's head and is quickly aided by his fellows who surround and secure the animal until he is subdued.
Forcados are dressed in a traditional costume of damask or velvet, with long knitted hats as worn by the campinos (bull headers) from Ribatejo. The bull is not killed in the ring and, at the end of the corrida, leading oxen are let into the arena and two campinos on foot herd the bull among them back to its pen. The bull is usually killed out of sight of the audience by a professional butcher. It can happen that some bulls, after an exceptional performance, are healed, released to pasture until the end of their days and used for breeding. In the Portuguese Azores islands, there is a form of bullfighting called tourada à corda, in which a bull is led on a rope along a street, while players taunt and dodge the bull, who is not killed during or after the fight, but returned to pasture and used in later events.
Since the 19th century, Spanish-style corridas have been increasingly popular in Southern France where they enjoy legal protection in areas where there is an uninterrupted tradition of such bull fights, particularly during holidays such as Whitsun or Easter. Among France's most important venues for bullfighting are the ancient Roman arenas of Nîmes and Arles, although there are bull rings across the South from the Mediterranean to the Atlantic coasts. Bullfights of this kind follow the Spanish tradition and even Spanish words are used for all Bullfighting related terms. Minor cosmetic differences exist such as music. This is not to be confused with the "bloodless" bullfights which are indigenous to France.
Raseteur snatching the cocarde
from between the bull's horns
A more indigenous genre of bullfighting is widely common in the Provence and Languedoc areas, and is known alternately as "course libre" or "course camarguaise". This is a bloodless spectacle (for the bulls) in which the objective is to snatch a rosette from the head of a young bull. The participants, or raseteurs, begin training in their early teens against young bulls from the Camargue region of Provence before graduating to regular contests held principally in Arles and Nîmes but also in other Provençal and Languedoc towns and villages. Before the course, an abrivado—a "running" of the bulls in the streets—takes place, in which young men compete to outrun the charging bulls.
The course itself takes place in a small (often portable) arena erected in a town square. For a period of about 15–20 minutes, the raseteurs compete to snatch rosettes (cocarde) tied between the bulls' horns. They do not take the rosette with their bare hands but with a claw-shaped metal instrument called a raset or crochet (hook) in their hands, hence their name. Afterwards, the bulls are herded back to their pen by gardians (Camarguais cowboys) in a bandido, amidst a great deal of ceremony. The stars of these spectacles are the bulls themselves.
Another type of French 'bullfighting' is the "course landaise", in which cows are used instead of bulls. This is a competition between teams named cuadrillas, which belong to certain breeding estates. A cuadrilla is made up of a teneur de corde, an entraîneur, a sauteur, and six écarteurs. The cows are brought to the arena in crates and then taken out in order. The teneur de corde controls the dangling rope attached to the cow's horns and the entraîneur positions the cow to face and attack the player. The écarteurs will try, at the last possible moment, to dodge around the cow and the sauteur will leap over it. Each team aims to complete a set of at least one hundred dodges and eight leaps. This is the main scheme of the "classic" form, the course landaise formelle.
Écarteur dodging a roped cow
However, different rules may be applied in some competitions. For example, competitions for Coupe Jeannot Lafittau are arranged with cows without ropes. At one point, it resulted in so many fatalities that the French government tried to ban it, but had to back down in the face of local opposition. The bulls themselves are generally fairly small, much less imposing than the adult bulls employed in the corrida. Nonetheless, the bulls remain dangerous due to their mobility and vertically formed horns. Participants and spectators share the risk; it is not unknown for angry bulls to smash their way through barriers and charge the surrounding crowd of spectators. The course landaise is not seen as a dangerous sport by many, but écarteur Jean-Pierre Rachou died in 2003 when a bull's horn tore his femoral artery.
Jallikattu is a traditional spectacle played in Tamil Nadu, India as a part of Pongal celebrations on Mattu Pongal day. Bos indicus bulls are bred specifically for the sporting event and a specific breed of cattle bred for this purpose is known as "Jellicut". During jallikattu, a bull is released into a group of people, and participants attempt to grab the bull's hump and hold onto it for a determined distance, length of time, or with the goal of taking a pack of money tied to the bull's horns. Freestyle bullfighting is a style of bullfighting developed in American rodeo. The style was developed by the rodeo clowns who protect bull riders from being trampled or gored by an angry bull. Freestyle bullfighting is a 70-second competition in which the bullfighter (rodeo clown) avoids the bull by means of dodging, jumping and use of a barrel.
Competitions are organized in the US as the "World" Bullfighting Championship (WBC) and the Dickies National Bullfighting Championship under auspices of the Professional Bull Riders (PBR).A distinct type of bloodless bullfighting is practised in California's Central Valley. In this historically Portuguese-settled area, a form of bullfight has developed in which the bull is taunted by a matador, but the lances are tipped with Hook and loop fasteners (e.g. Velcro) and aimed at similar patches secured to the bull's shoulder. Fights occur from May through October around traditional Portuguese holidays. Bullfighting was introduced by the Portuguese to Zanzibar and to Pemba Island, in modern Tanzania, where it is known as mchezo wa ngombe. Similar to the Portuguese Azorean tourada a corda, the bull is restrained by a rope, generally neither bull nor player is harmed, and the bull is not killed at the end of the fight.
Bull goring Iván Fandiño,
leading to his death
Spanish-style bullfighting is normally fatal for the bull, but it is also dangerous for the matador. Danger for the bullfighter is essential; if there is no danger, it is not considered bullfighting in Spain. Matadors are usually gored every season, with picadors and banderilleros being gored less often. With the discovery of antibiotics and advances in surgical techniques, fatalities are now rare, although over the past three centuries 534 professional bullfighters have died in the ring or from injuries sustained there. Most recently, Iván Fandiño died of injuries he sustained after being gored by a bull on June 17, 2017 in Aire-sur-l'Adour, France.
Some matadors, notably Juan Belmonte, have been seriously gored many times: according to Ernest Hemingway, Belmonte's legs were marred by many ugly scars. A special type of surgeon has developed, in Spain and elsewhere, to treat cornadas, or horn-wounds.The bullring has a chapel where a matador can pray before the corrida, and where a priest can be found in case a sacrament is needed. The most relevant sacrament is now called "Anointing of the Sick"; it was formerly known as "Extreme Unction", or the "Last Rites". The media often reports the more horrific of bullfighting injuries, such as the September 2011 goring of matador Juan José Padilla's head by a bull in Zaragoza, resulting in the loss of his left eye, use of his right ear, and facial paralysis. He returned to bullfighting five months later with an eyepatch, multiple titanium plates in his skull, and the nickname 'The Pirate'.
Participation in bullfighting is not gender specific, Conchita Cintron was a Peruvian female bullfighter, perhaps the most famous in the history of bullfighting. Patricia McCormick began bullfighting as a professional Matadora in January 1952, and was the first American to do so. Bette Ford was the first American woman to fight on foot in the Plaza México, the world's largest bullfight arena. In 1974, Angela Hernandez (also known as Angela Hernandez Gomez and just Angela), of Spain, won a case in the Spanish Supreme Court allowing women to be bullfighters in Spain; a prohibition against women doing so was put in place in Spain in 1908. Cristina Sánchez de Pablos, of Spain, was one of the first female bullfighters to gain prominence; she debuted as a bullfighter in Madrid on 13 February 1993.
Bullfight fans waving white flags
to reward matador with the bull's ear
Many supporters of bullfighting regard it as a deeply ingrained, integral part of their national cultures; in Spain it is called "La fiesta nacional", literally "the national festival". The aesthetic of bullfighting is based on the interaction of the man and the bull. Rather than a competitive sport, the bullfight is more of a ritual of ancient origin, which is judged by aficionados based on artistic impression and command. Ernest Hemingway said of it in his 1932 non-fiction book Death in the Afternoon: "Bullfighting is the only art in which the artist is in danger of death and in which the degree of brilliance in the performance is left to the fighter's honour." Bullfighting is seen as a symbol of Spanish culture.
The bullfight is regarded as a demonstration of style, technique and courage by its participants and as a demonstration of cruelty and cowardice by its critics. While there is usually no doubt about the outcome, the bull is not viewed by bullfighting supporters as a sacrificial victim — it is instead seen by the audience as a worthy adversary, deserving of respect in its own right. Those who oppose bullfighting maintain that the practice is a cowardly, sadistic tradition of torturing, humiliating and killing a bull amidst pomp and pageantry. Supporters of bullfights, called "aficionados", claim they respect the bulls, that the bulls live better than other cattle, and that bullfighting is a grand tradition; a form of art important to their culture, yet international condemnation of this deadly spectacle continues to grow. Bullfighting has been banned in at least 100 towns in Spain.
The region of Catalonia, banned the spectacle after officials were presented with the signatures of 180,000 residents demanding an end to the carnage. From 2008 to 2013, attendance in Spanish arenas fell by 40 percent. In 2008, about 3,300 bullfights were held in the country. In 2012, that figure dropped to fewer than 2,000, and in 2013, it was estimated that fewer than 500 bullfights were held.The Mexican states of Coahuila, Guerrero, and Sonora have also imposed bans, joining Argentina, Canada, Cuba, Denmark, Italy, and the U.K. In Spain, opposition to bullfighting is referred to as the antitaurino movement. Supporters of a ban on bullfighting remain a minority in Spain. About 30% of Spaniards actively follow bullfighting in Spain. Despite its slow decrease in popularity among younger generations, it remains a widespread cultural activity with millions of followers throughout the country.
I can completely understand why the people of these countries that feature bullfighting, have some reservations about banning the "festivities" as they are long-standing tradtions of these countires. However, as time goes on and history shifts, we must also shift our traditions to fit what we have learned thorugh history. Maybe during the firt days of bullfighting, they did not believe the bull could feel pain or that the bull was aware and willing to fight the matador, but now we have science to prove mammals feel pin and they do not have enough intellectual capacity to consent to any act. I think the "Velcro"-version of bullfighting is an excellent example of this.
If the countries who practice flesh and blood bullfighting would agree to stop using swords and lance, and only use acrobatics to dodge the bull, or Velcro to replicate stabbing the animal, I don't believe the sport would be nearly as controversial (or abusive to the animal). Many advocates for bullfighting claim that the real action of the sport comes from the men being endangered, not the bulls themselves. If this is true, than I think actual bloodless bullfighting is a great compromise, because the men face even more danger by facing the bull unarmed. Another claim, is that because they were treated so well during their lives, the pain of their death is justified. However, if you used this logic on another animal like a human, because someone had a peaceful life means it is just for them to be murdered in a torturous manner? No. Just because evil is put upon you at the moment of death, instead of during life, does not make it okay to happen at any point in time.
Like most other customs, traditions, and laws; there are simple fixes to solutions that people either search too hard for a complicated solution, they are completely unwilling to change, or they are actively fighting against the modernization of tradition. I do understand that change is hard when you have had something ingrained in culture for so long, it can be life-changing and people may even need time to grieve, but it is necessary part of evolution to modernize tradition. The first person to say the Earth was not the center of the universe was heavily persecuted in his time, however because of him, we know more about space then could have ever been known if he had not questioned tradition and traditional thought. Hopefully with time, bullfighting can truly become a bloodless sport.
Sources:
http://www.stopbullfighting.org.uk/facts.htm
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bullfighting
https://www.peta.org/issues/animals-in-entertainment/cruel-sports/bullfighting/