Sunday, September 28, 2008

Bullfight

Mom works in the town next to ours. Well, actually our town/city surrounds the town where Mom works on 3 of the 4 sides. Anyway, the town has a very large Portuguese population, and across from her school is a bullfighting ring attached to the Portuguese Hall. They have bullfights there about 2 or 3 times a year. In the United States, the bull CANNOT be physically harmed during the bullfight, so they put a velcro pad on the bulls' backs and the torero (bullfighter) has little stick-like things with velcro on the end that he tries to get on the pad on the bull's back.

In other countries, those would be little swords. Anyway, there was a bullfight last night and Mom went. She said it was very interesting, and it was a good thing the bulls couldn't be hurt because she would have refused to go if the bulls were. She said the best part was seeing so many former and current students and their parents. They were all surpised to see her and the teachers she was with but in a good way.




Here is one of the bullfighters on horseback. There were 2 on horseback, and there were supposed to be 4 on foot, but the last two bullfights got called off by the official. We aren't sure why, but what he says goes. Apparently there are very strict rules that the toreros must obey and if he says the fight is over, they are not allowed to come back out. He called the last two fights before anything happened.



Here is one of the bulls. He had just finished being fought on horseback and you can see the colorful sticks stuck to his velcro pad. It is hard to see, but his horns were encased in leather to help protect the horse.


We know that this isn't an activity that is approved by all people or cats, and we understand if you don't approve. Mom says the fights lasted less than 10 minutes each, and the bulls were a bit tired at the end, but were still ready to keep fighting. Mom was actually cheering for them and liked the fiestiness that they showed. The bulls got the better of the toreros a couple of times and got their capes away from them and pawed them.

15 comments:

Pearl C. Pritchard said...

Oh yes... we hate real bull fighting but in this case it sounds HOkay. The bulls get a bit of exercise and those men in tights look very interesting.

Parker said...

I'd be cheering for the bulls too!

The Island Cats said...

Wow! We didn't know that there was bullfighting in the US. We're happy to hear that the bulls don't get hurt here!

Wally, Ernie & Zoey

Anonymous said...

We're surprised to hear about bullfighting in the US! At least they make sure they can't be hurt, but we still don't 'get it'.

Shaggy and Scout said...

What a humane alternative!

Tatum Tot said...

I'm very glad the bulls don't get hurt too! I would be scared of them, they look big and mean. I guess if people HAVE to do bullfighting, this is the best way.

Mickey's Musings said...

Well,I don't mind as it seems that they make sure no man or beast gets hurt :) That's as it should be ;)
Purrs Mickey

Tesla and Hansel said...

I love that they've found ways to protect both the horse and the bull. We approve! It makes it so we could actually try to enjoy the show! It must've been very exciting!

We came because of tiki though- we wanted to say, that we're thinking of you and purraying real hard. :)

Lux said...

I'm really glad no bean or animal gets hurt at this kind of bullfight!

Sweet Purrfections said...

I didn't know they allowed bull fights in the U.S., but at least the bulls or people don't get hurt!

MaoMao said...

Wowie, that's furry kool that nobody gets hurt!

Kittyhugs and purrs from MaoMao!

Ivan from WMD said...

This sounds quite humane for everybody--who knew? (I wonder why this isn't done elsewhere.)

Anonymous said...

We are THRILLED to hear about this new way of doing the bullfighting.

We understand that it is a cultural thing and are so pleased that it has been integrated safely into another culture. It now combines the best features of Portugese and US.

Woo hoo! How great! No bulls are hurt. Way to go!

Anonymous said...

We knowz your Momma is too nice to go to something that would hurt-ed an animal..
And what a great idea of doing it!
The bulls are prolly hasing just as much fun!
I know I has lots of fun when Momma and dadda wave my feathers on a stick in front of me to tease me!

It is so lovely to know that they can do things without being mean :)

V-V

Anonymous said...

Don't like real bull fighting, but this sounds OK.
Great site, thanks.