|
While in Granada in September 1994, I was able to
witness a special bullfight during a religious holiday that
featured a special procession of candles. This bullfight was held
as one "sin picadores," where the bulls are able to
maintain their strength longer since they do not have to bear the
pain of those darn pics. Nevertheless the bulls were very frisky
on this day and really didn't need to be spurred on to try to get
the matadores. |
  |
|---|
|
First you have to choose to sit either in la sombra or el sol
(sun or shade) and you pay more if you choose shade. On this day
there were 6 bulls and 3 matadores (each matadore getting a crack
at two bulls). The poor bulls did eventually bite the dust and
the death of such a large animal that seemingly moments ago was a
prize combination of power and spirit had quite a profound effect
on the emotions of even the locals. In the spirit of fairness
though, I can say that each matadore was struck rather soundly at
least once during the show. When the matadore would perform his
tour of the stadium after each kill you could see the great
effort he was making not to show his pain. A very unusual thing
happened during this fight that you can see on the right. One
bull was so frisky that he jumped right over the fence and into
the alley where the workers are. It caused quite a stir as you
can imagine, but added some badly needed comic relief. |
 |
|---|
|
You can see on the left the special team of helpers that come
in to cart away the bull after he has succumbed to his fate. On
the right is the matadore and his contingent celebrating the coup
de gras. |