The Watery Times: May 2014

Saturday, May 31, 2014

Sanlúcar, Spain - Feria and Bullfight

May 31, 2014

This was a day trip of full Spanish culture immersion; our first Feria and first bullfight. The Sanlúcar Feria is called the Feria de Manzanilla, named after the white wine of which Sanlúcar is famous. Feria season is a huge series of parties in each town where the locals work even shorter hours and frequently will take full days off. Spaniards work to live, not live to work. Most notable, Feria is when all the women and girls get totally decked out in their brilliantly colored Feria dresses typically topped with a huge flower in their hair. This day of the Feria was for the horses parade and the bullfight, so we got to see it at the coolest day. The central plaza had horse-drawn carriages you could pay for a ride down the promenade. All around the long plaza were restaurants with tents up for eating and dancing. There were also lots of food carts where we got some delicious helado (ice cream). Next was the main (and Damon's favorite) event; the bullfight. Overall, it was very interesting to see. A bit jarring at first but by the third bull I much better understood the beauty and symbolism of the fights. There is an elegance to the fights that I had not expected. My favorite part was the structured manner in which the crowd is involved with the final decision on the fight by the President. Nothing at all like the popcorn throwing swear-fests of American sporting events. I counted nine 'steps' to the fights that are explained below with the corresponding pictures. I don't know if I will get season tickets to the bullfights, but this was very fascinating to see.

(Photo Credit: Jessica V.)

Left: Daniel Luque

Middle: Sebastian Castella

Right: El Fandi

Left: Daniel Luque

Middle: Sebastian Castella

Right: El Fandi

1) El Fandi - he is ranked the #1 bullfighter in Spain and is statistically considered one of the most skilled bullfighters in the world. He was confirmed as a matador in 2002. His records include 1325 single ears, 2581 double ears, 171 tails, and 20 pardons (meaning the bull gets to live). In this bullfight in Sanlucar, he got another pardon which includes two ears and a tail.

2) Sebastian Castella - Originally from France, he was confirmed as a matador in 2004. In 2006 he became the first French matador to lead the ladder in Spain. His records include 744 runs (not quite sure what that means) 933 ears, and 14 tails. In this bullfight in Sanlucar, he got 3 ears.

3) Daniel Luque - He was confirmed as a matador in 2008. His records include 318 single ears, 427 double ears, and 26 tails. In this bullfight in Sanlucar, he got 4 ears, and 1 tail.

This is Damon patiently awaiting the fight...by reading the huge book he dragged around all day.

(Photo Credit: Jessica V.)

Before any of the bulls came out, the two horsemen showed off their 'horse dancing'.

The following is the steps that each fight followed. This fight had 6 bulls and 3 matadors with each matador having three helpers. More than three of the helpers would be out for each fight. Each fight only took 20 minutes total.

Step 1 - Introduce the bull.

Step 2 - Piss off the bull. Three to four guys with the pink and yellow capes get the bull all worked up. Around the ring are protected pockets that the matadors will run to hide behind when the bull chases them. If they can't make it to the protected area, we saw one guy jump the entire fence.

Step 3 - First hit to the bull by the guy on a blind-folded horse. The bull would try to go after the horse, but the horse had some sort of armor that prevented it from being gored. Often, the bull would be able to lift up the entire horse.

(Photo Credit: Jessica V.)

Step 4 - Stab the bull with the two fuzzy spears. These are done in pairs with a total of six.

(Photo Credit: Jessica V.)

Step 5 - Out comes the red cape and the smaller sword. This is a lighter weight sword used to hold up the cape most of the time. This part of the fight is just between the main matador and the bull. The matador will get 'points' if he is able to touch the bulls head of body during the bull's passes or have a long sequence of passes. When he does a good line of passes (5-6) each time the bull passes, the crowd will yell 'ole!'.

(Photo Credit: Jessica V.)

Step 6 - Now the smaller sword is switched with the kill sword and the fatal blow is struck between the shoulder blades into the aorta. If the sword doesn't cause the final fall, the matador's helpers will hit the bull in the head with a short blade into the brain.

(Photo Credit: Jessica V.)

Step 7 - The President puts out flags to finish the fight with four possibilities:

1) One white flag = the matador gets one ear

2) Two white flags = the matador gets both ears

3) One green flag = the bull is considered 'bad' and is sent back into the pen to be killed there and the matador gets both ears and the tail

4) One orange flag = the bull had an excellent fight and will be rehabilitated and spends the rest of his life as a stud making more baby bulls. This is very rare.

During this process of the President deciding, the entire crowd will either wave their own white handkerchief, whistle if they disapprove, or in general yell at the President. I had never seen Spaniards so fired up about anything until this.

Step 8 - The matador and his helpers do a victory lap around the ring where he will throw the ears or tail into the crowd and people will throw things into the ring for him to throw back. I assume this is for good luck.