Bullfighting

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Bullfighting

The spectacle of bullfighting pits a man against a charging bull. The

bullfighter, called a matador, faces the bull in a large dirt-filled arena that

is usually surrounded by spectators. Aided by a group of apprentices, called

the cuadrilla, the matador goads the bull into charging at him. A bullfight

usually features three matadors, each of whom fights two bulls. The bulls are of

a distinctly savage breed especially trained to attack humans. A bullfight is

relentless. If a matador is injured, another replaces him, and the bull is

killed at the end of each match. To followers of bullfighting the contest

between man and beast demonstrates human skill and courage as does no other

sport. However, many people believe bullfighting is barbaric and inhumane.

The contest begins with a colorful grand entrance by the participants.

The actual fight starts when the picadors, who are horse-mounted members of the

cuadrilla. They fend off the bull's charges with sharp steel-tipped pikes,

called pics. They weaken and anger the bull by piercing its neck and shoulders.

Then come the banderilleros, named after their banderillas, or decorated barbed

sticks. Clutching a stick in each hand, they rush the bull on foot and plant

the barbs in the animal's neck, weakening and angering the beast even more.

Finally the matador comes in for the kill. Brightly dressed, he uses a

sword draped with a cloth, called muleta. After a number of intricate passes

with the muleta, during which the matador must work extremely close to the bull,

the matador sights the bull along his sword, runs forward, and plunges it in,

aiming for the half-dollar-size spot between the shoulders. If the sword enters

correctly between the shoulder blades, it severs the aorta, or great artery, and

the animal dies almost instantly.

A crowd-pleasing matador may be awarded one or both of the bull's ears

or its ears and tail. An exceptionally fierce bull may be honored by having its

body paraded around the arena. The one thing that sets the Spanish apart from

most Europeans living beyond the Pyrenees mountains is their national spectacle

of bullfighting. Every city and most towns of any size boast a bullring, where

the crowds cheer their favorite but jeer the inept matador, or bullfighter, as

he faces his large-horned adversary.

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