Running with the Bulls

sillydoll · Apr 26, 2007

Here is an interesting article on running with the bulls on the Star.

http://www.thestar.com/Travel/article/206615

Ulysse · Apr 27, 2007

Interesting indeed... wonder why Barcelona passed such a by-law forbiding bullfights, although not implementing it ?

Could it be because Catalans relate less to bullfight than Andalucians or others. Have seen little about bulls in Galicia as well.

Anonymous · Apr 27, 2007

I've wondered about that myself. It may have had to do with the ways cultures have developed, region-wise, in Iberia. This is why in many aspects I think of Spain more as "Las Españas." Can anyone comment as to whether this regionalism exists in the Br Isles?

In the Americas, Colombian cities like Medellin, Cali, and Bogota, have bullfights. Not so, I've been told in other areas of that country, though I understand there r diff versions of rodeos (also a Spanish institution), found as well in many Latin American countries. There r also bullfights in Mexico (Mexico City and Tijuana), Peru, and...

BTW, not that it has to do with the subject at hand, well, a little bit...I just finished reading the latest Isabel Allende novel, "Ines of my soul." It's excellent :!: The book is about a historic "conquistadora" that went from Spain to Peru looking for her huband in the 1500's, continuing to become an important figure in the creation of what eventually became SANTIAGO de Chile. Towards the end, there's an interesting section that illustrates the well-documented belief that St. James miraculously appeared and guided the conquistadores to victory, to the cry of "A por Santiago :!: ". I believe it translated well into English.

xm 8)

Ulysse · Apr 27, 2007

xm

I almost finished reading the biography of Francisco Pizzaro and his conquest of Peru... quite a venture and quite a bloodshed. I am going to Peru in October and hope to walk into the Inca trails (what is left of it).

St James did in fact "appear" to the brothers in arms of Pizzaro at the siege of Cuzco, dressed as "el Matamores" to confort them into believing they were in some sort of "reconquista"; good argument to pardon the pillage of anything that came into their views.

Glad Ivar opened this section...

Anonymous · Apr 27, 2007

Ulysse, El Camino del Inca :!: :!: :!: Wow...a dream. Lucky u. Do me a favor, when u get up there to Machu Pichu, give God a hug from me :!: It is in my future plans. Am curious, what takes u there? The Pizarro brothers were something else, living proof that "who kills by the sword..." But then the Incas were no saints either :!: :!: :!: I kinda think of them, Atahualpa, et al, as "super stars" of that era. Yes, so many "documented" apparitions of Santiago thoughout that period in time. Don't think I would have liked to have lived there, then. But can u imagine what it must have been like for the two worlds to have met? Wonder if u've seen Mel
Gibson's "Apocalypto?" Awesome film.

Anonymous · Apr 27, 2007

It reminds me of the children's story of Ferdinand, the good-natured bull who would rather sniff the daisies than fight.

:lol: I know that story, a personal favorite :!: Great, easy to read, article, on bullfighting, Sil, thanks. OK, how many people do u have working for u, that u come up with so much info re: practically everything :?: :?: :?: :lol:

Abrazos de xm 8)

Anonymous · Apr 28, 2007

One of the things that I find interesting about the tradition of Santiago in the New World is that, though there were documented "apparitions" of "el Jefe" (that's how I call him), countless towns and cities called "Santiago de..." in Chile, Dominican Republic, Cuba, among others, and syncretism of the cult with native/African religions, the tradition of the Camino is non-existent. It's only been recently, due mostly to Coelho (I don't know Shirley, to what extent) and the media, that you see more peoples from the Americas walking the Roads. Now, as far as I know, the Camino was in full swing 1500s-1600s, so what happened? How come the Spaniards, that transplanted so many values and traditions on to Hispanic America, didn't plant/cultivate this tradition, there, too? Best, xm 8)

Anonymous · Apr 28, 2007

Bullfighting, aka Tauromachy

Bullfighting traces its roots to prehistoric bull worship and sacrifice. The killing of the sacred bull (tauromachy) is the essential central iconic act of Mithras, which was commemorated in the mithraeum wherever Roman soldiers were stationed. Many of the oldest bullrings in Spain are located on the sites of, or adjacent to the locations of temples to Mithras.

Bullfighting is often linked to ancient Rome where, when many human-versus-animal events were held as a warm-up for gladiatorial sports. Alternatively, it may have been introduced into Hispania by the Moors in the 11th century, although there are theories that it was introduced into Hispania a millennium earlier by the Emperor Claudius when he instituted a short-lived ban on gladiatorial games, as a substitute for those combats. The latter theory was supported by Robert Graves. In its original Moorish and early Iberian form, the bull was fought from horseback using a javelin. (Picadors are the remnants of this tradition, but their role in the contest is now a relatively minor one limited to "preparing" the bull for the matador.) Bullfighting spread from Spain to its Central and South American colonies, and in the 19th century to France, where it developed into a distinctive form in its own right.
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bullfighting

[/quote]

Bullfighting takes place in countries such as Spain, Portugal, France, Colombia, Ecuador, Mexico, Peru, China, USA and Venezuela.

Intro: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=irDRYCtpM6k (Paco Ibañez sings "Como tu,"a poem by Leon Felipe)

COMO TÚ...

Así es mi vida,
piedra,
como tú. Como tú,
piedra pequeña;
como tú,
piedra ligera;
como tú,
canto que ruedas
por las calzadas
y por las veredas;
como tú,
guijarro humilde de las carreteras;
como tú,
que en días de tormenta
te hundes
en el cieno de la tierra
y luego
centelleas
bajo los cascos
y bajo las ruedas;
como tú, que no has servido
para ser ni piedra
de una lonja,
ni piedra de una audiencia,
ni piedra de un palacio,
ni piedra de una iglesia;
como tú,
piedra aventurera;
como tú,
que tal vez estás hecha
sólo para una honda,
piedra pequeña
y
ligera...

Anonymous · Apr 28, 2007

Hey, XM - if you read your quote again it actually says "no idea at all, but here are three guesses". The Mithraian religion - which was still as large and as popular as Christianity in the 3/4th centuries - was a mystery religion, therefore the blood aspect would have been done in secret places, very private (usually underground) not in front of an audience - and the blood sacrifice was usually represented, from at least 1st C on if not earlier, as a sacrificial ritual meal of wine and bread, which represented the blood and flesh of the Son of their God ....

Don't you think it is just a boy's thing? Testosterone fun? Plains Indians of America going off to steal horses from another village, English boar hunts with minimal weapons, usually only one. Tiger hunts, soldiers putting themselves in harms way? The 'Forlorn Hopes' of the British Army? Until end of Napoleonic Wars volunteers would be asked for to mount, say, first scaling of a fortress, or attack against a well-defended position. If they survived they got to wear a white armband. All other soldiers knew what it meant ... so, stylised man versus beast - just boy's games?

Commandos? Mountain Climbing, extreme ironing, ... though in bull-fighting, of course, there is the real but stylised eternal contest between the two natures of Man...