MADRID – Play, jump, fight and run are all things one can do with a bull in Spain. I moved to Spain to study abroad on Sept. 3 and I have already been fortunate enough to witness the various ways in which Spaniards interact with bulls.
Living with a host family in Villaviciosa de Odón, a small town located 30 minutes outside of Madrid, has been a great way to get to know the true culture of a Spanish town, as opposed to living in a dorm with other Americans in a big city. The first week I was here, my host brother took me and the other two Elon students to watch our first bull fight. We traveled to a small pueblo, or town, called Navas del Ray. The town was having the bull fight because it was their pueblo's fiesta. Many pueblos outside of Madrid have a week-long fiesta in August or September to celebrate their town.
It was such a cool feeling walking into the plaza de toros, or the bull ring - it wasn't Elon anymore. We were slightly nervous about how exactly they would handle the bull in front of us and how much we would see. When the first of six bulls was released and the picador took his first stab at the bull it was painful to watch, especially as the red blood shimmered in the sunlight. At first it was tough to watch and hear but it did not take long for us to become part of the Spanish crowd, cheering for the torero, the bull fighter.
The closest comparison I can make is to an American football game, because it was about two hours long and was more of a social event, people catching up with friends, eating and drinking in the stands and on.
I was also introduced to an event called Vaquillas, meaning small bulls. I ventured to another nearby town, Valdemorillo, my second week in Spain. Vaquillas is an event where a young bull is released into a ring for a group of brave Spaniards to play with for approximately 20 minutes. We watched six bulls that night. Each bull was released one at a time. It appeared that the object of the game was to taunt the bull without getting killed and successfully jump over it while it charged.
Recently, I have seen the running of the bulls. Several running of the bulls events have been hosted in the mornings this week in Villaviciosa de Odón as part of our town's fiesta. For each bull released, there are three cows that herd the bull. They set up a tall fence that spectators stand behind and runners latch onto, which lines that street into the plaza de toros, bull ring.
As a first-time witness to bull events, I understand the excitement of the events and I can no longer look at bulls the same way. They are simply a form of entertainment, which has been an integral part of Spanish culture. I hope one day a conclusion can be reached to please everyone--animal rights activists and proponents of the tradition alike. But as of now, the bulls are still here to play, jump, fight and run.