Bullfight
The Place: Calahorra, Spain
The Time: August 1972
The Style: Portuguese Bullfighting
In the Portuguese style of bullfighting, matador assistants and horses are present.
Festive Atmosphere in Calahorra
This was the only bullfight I attended when I lived in Spain. I was there to study at the University of Navarra in Pamplona. Two German "girls" invited me to go with them to Calahorra, as one of them had access to a car. They were all "gussied up" and wearing lots of make-up, provocatively low-cut blouses, and short skirts which became a problem, after the bullfight. When we arrived in this same Spanish town, the streets were filled with people, and the mood was festive.
Lots of people milling about in Calahorra, Spain, and a parade in the street.
Spaniards love bullfights just as Americans love baseball. I once read some lofty thoughts about the greater existential meaning of killing a bull, but those ideas are so fuzzy in my brain now, lo these many years later, I would not do justice to the subject to try to explain it.
Saving Photos with New Technology
The photos shown here had turned completely yellow and almost indiscernible. Using high technology, i.e. a scanner, I was able to recapture them and to a small extent, "relive the moment." These were taken with a small Kodak camera, that I no longer have, as I could no longer buy film for it.
Enter "El Toro"
Cape in Use
Bull chases horse
Matador is hurt.
Bull is weakened.
Here, the bull is being dragged off. In this kind of Portuguese style bullfight, the bull is sometimes rehabilitated and used for breeding purposes. At other times, he is killed and the meat given to the poor. At any rate, he is not killed in front of the crowd.
For more information, see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bullfighting#Portuguese
This is "No Bull"
The bullfight was followed by a parade, and we were followed by a "borracho" (a drunken man), who kept trying to pull us out of the car, or get in with us. He wanted us to go to his house for a party. He had been drinking wine all through this event, and perhaps, beforehand. We finally were able to close the car doors and lock them, and hit the highway and headed for home, at top speed!
Living in a foreign country at the age of 21, on my own, was a great experience. I only wish I could have also had a "foreign exchange" experience when I was in high school. At 15, I had wanted to avail myself of an opportunity to study in Chile, but my parents thought I was too young.
Note: As a more progressive city of the Arts, and a major tourist destination, Barcelona has decreed that no bullfights shall occur there.
Copyright 2009. Patricia Cummings, Quilter's Muse Publications, Concord, NH. pat@quiltersmuse.com