Re: The art of the Bullfight. Well, I had the mods change it since this is the Food & Travel forum and the old title didn't seem too travel oriented.
www.infole.com.mx This website primarily covers the bullfights in Mexico City but occasionally touches on other bullfights throughout Mexico. I hadn't looked at this website in awhile but I went back to it the other day to check it out again. It isn't too bad but I think it could be organized much better and have more information. I did go through all of their photos (all 23 pages) and found a few I wanted to post. I'd like it if their photos were bigger though and they desperately need to organize them better. Some of their photos show up a few different times on different dates. Oh well. Following are photos of the bullfight museum of the Armilla family located in Chichimeco Veracruz Mexico Fermin Armilla with the last bull that he killed. Some trophy presentation in September of 2002. (The only reason I post these pictures are because of the girl on the left and the girl in red on the right.)
man, what a wonderful thread, although I think you overpowered us with photos, cup. My knowledge of this is limited to the two Hemingway books, (Death in the Afternoon and Dangerous Summer). Can't believe I have never been to spain.
You ain't seen nothing yet, wait until I finish going through the last four years of photos from Las Ventas and posting the best ones. I could easily be posting a few hundred photos all at once. It is going to take me awhile to go through them but it will give me something to do this cold winter.
Here is a link to some great photos of bulls on the Monteviejo ranch located in Caceres Spain. The ranch was founded in June of 1999 by the famous rancher Victorino Martin and I guess they are using the ranch to keep in tact and also strengthen the Vega Villar line of bulls that have been one of the best over the past 60 years. http://www.mundotoro.com/mundotoro/control/VerDetalleAN.asp?Tabla=A&Numerador=44350&OpenWindow=N (click on "Pagina Siguiente" to go to the next page)
If you want some photos of Toreros getting gored, here you go. These are all from this year. Check out the second page and the first photo, Cesar Rincon is getting gored in the mouth. Damn. http://www.mundotoro.com/mundotoro/control/VerDetalleAN.asp?Tabla=A&Numerador=44373&OpenWindow=N
Depends on how you define "oldest" bullring. I went to a bullfight in Arles, France that was held in their Roman arena. They always have bullfights there, and it dates from Roman times. I assume you're referring to "BFSS"s? lol!
Another link to some nice photos of bulls on the ranch. These bulls are on the Tomas Prieto de la Cal ranch which has been around since 1919 and located in Huelva Spain. They are famous for being a unique white color. Take a look at the bull in the first picture on page 3, nothing but muscle. http://www.mundotoro.com/mundotoro/control/VerDetalleAN.asp?Numerador=44725&Tabla=A&OpenWindow=N
Yea so, Who else likes to watch the "bloopers" where the Toreros get mauled and Gored by the bulls Swweeet!
I wasn't entirely sure if I would like them but it turned out to be one of the highlights of the Screaming Eagles trip to Mexico for the Big Game back in the spring. But the bullfights were awesome. The first thing remember remarking was that it was either the greatest thing I'd ever seen or the worst thing I'd ever seen, in the end I easily settled on it being the best. We were at a small "provincial" meet (I think) in Texcoco, and even at that there was a nearly packed stadiums and two mariachi bands dualing throughout. To anyone who isn't a member of PETA I recommend the bullfights wholeheartedly... To anyone is IS a member of PETA, I recommend them even more! PS: Here is the link to Wade Jackson's outstanding shots of the bullfight in Texcoco
Re: The art of the Bullfight. Im sorry dude, but this is cowardly. Im not saying you should devote a period of time to watch a video of a slaughter every time you go to a steak house, but at least sometimes you, (people in general, not "you" you) need to be face to face with how stuff works. How stuff REALLY works. This to me is bigger than weather or not you like bullfights, or agree with the ethics of it. Life is violent. Life is bloody. Leather does not grow on trees, and hamburgers do not begin at MacDonalds. The core of survival begins with the death of another organism, be it cow, or deer or brocalli. If you're gonna eat, then its not fair to call killing barbaric. And Im not saying that everyone should butcher livestock at least once, but come on. Grow up, and acknowledge that its a fundemental part of life. America seems to live in this imagenary world where convience is a God given right. We go to grad schools to make enough money to hire people to take care of everything, lawn, laundry, cleaning, etc. We then pay more money to join a gym. In a lot of ways we are practically useless. Its great to see a culture celebrate couarge, and beauty. This is not a chigaco slaughter house, these are indiviuals skillfully challengeing fearsome fighting bulls. They wager their lives that they are good enough to finish unhurt. This isn't putting kittens in a sack and droping them in a river.
You can never get too comfortable in your seats due to the possibility of a salto or jump, as when the bull leaps the fence. Often it indicates cowardice on the bull's part, and it unfailingly exposes the cowardice of the men in that particular part of the callejon, who usually spill headfirst over the fence into the arena. That happened this Sunday January 29th in Mexico City. Although it is not unusual for the bull to jump the fence, this happens every once in awhile, but they usually end up in the callejon and are hearded back out into the arena. It is unusual though for a bull to make such a big jump that they actually make it into the stands. Bull vaults into stands at Mexico City bullfight Associated Press MEXICO CITY — A bull named Pajarito, or Little Birdy, jumped into the stands during a bullfight, injuring several spectators before it was killed. Officials said Monday they planned to reinforce Mexico City's most famous bullring after the bull leaped into the stands Sunday, landing on spectators who tried to scatter as the animal ran through the aisles. "We need to take preventative measures to avoid that a situation of this nature happens again,'' Mayor Alejandro Encinas said, adding that Mexico City officials were meeting with specialists to determine the best way to reinforce the stadium. The bull easily cleared the wall around the ring and a second, higher fence as it crashed into the stands. Eventually one of the bullfight participants crawled up into the stands and stabbed the animal to death. At least two people were hospitalized. The bullfight resumed 30 minutes after the incident, which occurred during the second fight of the day during one of Mexico City's most popular weekend sporting events
I saw that on the news. Awesome! Too bad they drove a 3-foot long knife through the back of it's neck afterwards
Re: Ronda Spain Bullfighting, albeit less eleborate than the modern Spanish corrida, goes back to Early Mediterrenean Civilizations (pre-Greek empire). It spread throughout the Meditarrenean & Northern Africa before Christ.
Are you fvcking kidding me? Cowardice on the bull's part? What a fvcking joke! How would you like it if someone forced you to battle same gay looking dork in a sequined suit in front of thousands of people when you are unarmed and she has a plethora of swords with which to literally stab you in the back, and all of those people are cheering her on? Cowardice? The bull doesn't even understand what is happening. If he was smart enough to know what was going on, then I would venture to guess that he knew he was going to die that day anyhow, so why not try to take some of the a.s.sholes that are there cheering for his slaughter with him? What a stupid barbaric activity. there is no honor in this at all!!! Then you claim that the people in the stands are cowards for getting into the arena when the bull jumps the fence? Man, I would love to see just how you would react if you were in the stands when the bull jumps the fence. I doubt very seriously if you would be willing to take on the beast. You would be running away like a chicken with it's head cut off.
Relaaax....it doesn't seem like you have ever been to a corrida, or understand the intricacies & nuances. While I am consistently left on most issues including the environment & animal rights etc.,...I can tell you there is great cultural value in the bull fights. Further, I haven't know any indignant person that goes to a couple of bull fights and doesn't fall in its spell. With that said....we could still do it Portugese style....without hurting the bull. What you are missing, is that untrained, poorly bred bulls have a tendency to freak out with the crowd like this one did. Bull breeders purposely breed bulls that are extremely agressive in a very focused way. The whole point of the bull fight is to have a bull that tests every nerve in the bull fighters body. In case you did not know...there is a scoring method in bull fight (and no, its not kill the bull you win), instead judges & fans vote whether the fighter has done well, the objective being to let the bull come as close to you as possible....then dodging it as elegantly as possible, without showing any fear or nerves.
Sunday March 12th Madrid The European bullfight season has now started with corridas already in Valencia, Seville and Madrid. Here are a few photos from Madrid.