The Bull Fight

The Matador

Bullfighting as we know it today, started in the village squares, and became formalized, with the building of the bullring in Ronda in the late 18th century. From that time, it began to follow a particular sequence of events: the entrance of the bull, the picador, the banderilleros, and finally the matador (bullfighter). Many of the picadors' horses were injured in the early days, so these heavy horses now wear protection.

For the most part, the bullfighting season in Spain runs from April until September, with most major cities having one event a week (usually on a Sunday). However, there are also a number of bullfighting festivals throughout the season. These bullfighting festivals usually run for one or two weeks and have bullfights almost every day during the festival.

Ronda’s Plaza de Toros is the oldest bullring in Spain. It hosts the famous Goyesque Fair in early September. Some bullrings house bullfighting museums. They can also be used for other events such as concerts.

Toro

Bull

Plaza de toros

Bullring

Corrida

Bullfight

Matador

Star Bullfighter

Torero

Bullfighter (general term applicable to any person who engages in the ultimate death of the bull)

Picador

Lancer (on horseback)

Banderillero

Bullfighter (on foot) who inserts barbed wooden decorated sticks into the bull´s neck muscle

Traje de luces

Suit of lights (colourful sequinned suit worn by bullfighters)

Veronica

A type of pass whereby the cape is drawn over the bull’s head while the man holds a posture.(There are many terms used for defining moves.)

Novillos

A novice bullfighter is called a novillero and fights not in a corrida, but in a novillada with young bulls (novillos)

Matador DressA matador is usually distinguished from his assistants by his satin traje de luces (suit of lights) which is generally decorated in gold. Assistants tend to wear suits decorated in silver. A matator's suit is hand-made, taking six people a month to create and costing from 1.500 EUR to 2.400 EUR, the whole outfit usually costs over EUR 3.000.

The most popular colours are red, black, green, blue and white. Yellow is never worn, even by spectators as it is considered to be unlucky and toreros are highly superstitious. The suit is worn with a white shirt, narrow black tie, a red, green or black sash knotted at the waist, pink, knee-high stockings, black ballet-style slippers and a black astrakhan which is a kind of two cornered hat.

One final adornment is the pig tail which denotes a matador and is clipped to the back of the head and symbolically cut in the ring when the matador retires). The matador's cape is worn only in the parade before a fight commences and then hung on the fence in front of a friend or distinguished spectator

The Bull Fight