What's with the big bulls on the hills?

[Damien Reynolds]

So I have always enjoyed that big bull on the hill on the Frances. I don't remember where exactly but it's near a wood recycling yard, near the new roadway construction.

Well today, I saw the same thing on the Mozarabe day 1 between Rioja and Santa Fe, while walking on the dried out river.

Can someone please explain its meaning? Is it an advertisement? Is it art? I mean there are zero bovines in this parts... at least so far...

 

[C clearly]

Here is an article about them

How These Bull-Shaped Billboards Became Spanish Icons

Once an advertisement for brandy, the Osborne bull is now a symbol of the country.

www.atlasobscura.com

 

[J Willhaus]

Yes there is one between Logroño a d Navarette.

 

[peregrina2000]

Well today, I saw the same thing on the Mozarabe day 1 between Rioja and Santa Fe,

Woo hoo, I know you're not one to post regularly while you're walking, but it's good to hear you're on your way.

And an unsolicited bit of advice -- if you hope to visit the Alhambra in Granada, tickets are going fast. All days in February still available but many are showing "last tickets." There are many sites that sell tickets, but the official site is here.

Buen camino, Damien!

 

[Damien Reynolds]

but it's good to hear you're on your way.

Finally! Had flights delayed through Dallas on Mon, then couldn't get a new flight until Wednesday. Of course that meant I arrived on Thursday and actually took a sightseeing day on Friday. So today was day one walking.

 

[OzAnnie]

Great to know you’re really on your way - I can picture your ‘bull’ up on the left as you walk along the dry river bed. It would be great to hear from you when you’ve got time. I empathise with you re your exit delays from USA around Monday. There have been a few of us (from forum) who were in similar ‘delay anxiety’ over that time.

You’re there now. Buen camino

 

[islandwalker]

Well today, I saw the same thing on the Mozarabe day 1 between Rioja and Santa Fe, while walking on the dried out river.

Damien, how great to see a posting from you!

You may not be seeing very many cows now, but I was just reading this morning how plentiful they used to be in the small villages there. It was traditional to have a single shepherd (called a dulero) who daily took all the villagers' cattle, sheep, and goats out to pasture. The Google translation:
"Although the system of dula was normally used with sheep and goats, in some towns in the region it was also applied to pigs. In this sense, Juan Antonio Muñoz records, from oral sources, how the Abrucena dulero walked the streets daily blowing a horn so that the owners would open the pigsties so that their pigs could join the herd.
In the most common case, of sheep and goats, in the times when the dula herd grazed on a daily basis, it drew attention, as it returned to the collection town, how each owner's herd separated from the group on its own initiative to enter its corral, without the need for the shepherd to make even a gesture."

Hoping to hear more from you as your walk continues!

 

[trecile]

My first guess would be Spanish pride.

 

[Bradypus]

You may not be seeing very many cows now, but I was just reading this morning how plentiful they used to be in the small villages there. It was traditional to have a single shepherd (called a dulero) who daily took all the villagers' cattle, sheep, and goats out to pasture.

A few months ago I came across the diary I wrote on my first Camino. I thought that I had lost it years ago. Reading through what I wrote then I was struck by the number of times I met farm animals along the way: sheep, goats, a pack mule, a donkey pulling a cart, and twice I saw yoked oxen working - ploughing a small field at one place and pulling a cart with timber in another. One scene on the outskirts of Carrion de los Condes struck me at the time:
"a shepherd and his mixed flock of sheep and goats crossing the road at the edge of town. A middle-aged man wearing a beret and with a folded blanket over his left shoulder. 3 dogs behind him – one either side of the flock, one behind and the shepherd in front with a caricature of a crook. No words, no barking, no bleating. Just a few awkward goats breaking ranks to grab some leaves from a bush up against a fence. I crossed the road to avoid breaking up the flock but I suspect they'd have passed me without even noticing me."

A few of the village lavaderos were still in regular use then with groups of women busy doing their laundry by hand and talking. One group of ladies offered to scrub my clothes and me too! There were times during that walk when the scene might just as easily have been in 1890 or 1790 rather than 1990.

 

[Sweething]

When travelling through Spain in 2015 as tourists, not pilgrims, one of our accommodation hosts told us that whenever you see a huge bull silhouette anywhere, it means it is a bull-fighting region.

 

[VNwalking]

Here is an article about them

Brandy aside, perhaps the modern ghost of an ancient tradition?

Verraco - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org

Buen camino, Damien!

 

[Camino Chrissy]

@Damien Reynolds, I am so glad that you posed this question! I have seen a number of those bulls on hills over the years and wondered the same thing as you, although I would quickly forget about my curiosity shortly after I passed by.
@C clearly has provided an interesting link to solve the little mystery, so thanks to both of you.

 

[ritaj]

Here is an article about them

How These Bull-Shaped Billboards Became Spanish Icons

Once an advertisement for brandy, the Osborne bull is now a symbol of the country.

www.atlasobscura.com

So glad Damien asked and that you provided us with this wonderful article! Always wondered about them.

 

[Glenshiro]

A few of the village lavaderos were still in regular use then with groups of women busy doing their laundry by hand and talking.

I saw the same thing in a village just outside Santiago (on a non-Camino visit) in 1989. And a frequent sight in the countryside was a lone shepherd, leaning on a stick, guarding a flock of sheep. Cheaper than fencing, I surmised at the time.

 

[Michelle O]

So I have always enjoyed that big bull on the hill on the Frances. I don't remember where exactly but it's near a wood recycling yard, near the new roadway construction.

Well today, I saw the same thing on the Mozarabe day 1 between Rioja and Santa Fe, while walking on the dried out river.

Can someone please explain its meaning? Is it an advertisement? Is it art? I mean there are zero bovines in this parts... at least so far...

Yes! They are the last remaining "billboards" for Osborne brandy. They are iconic. When I was a small child visiting family in Spain (I'm 57 now), my father would make it a game to spot all the Osborne bulls as we drove the long roads. Alas, many of them are gone now. You can read more here: https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/osborne-bull-billboard-spain

 

[jfgough]

So I have always enjoyed that big bull on the hill on the Frances. I don't remember where exactly but it's near a wood recycling yard, near the new roadway construction.

Well today, I saw the same thing on the Mozarabe day 1 between Rioja and Santa Fe, while walking on the dried out river.

Can someone please explain its meaning? Is it an advertisement? Is it art? I mean there are zero bovines in this parts... at least so far...

Yes, advert for Osborne brandy!

 

[Charlie Davenport]

According to a Bard Search it is most probably it is "Osborne, a renowned brandy producer. Their iconic black silhouette of a charging bull, known as the "Toro de Osborne," has been a fixture on the Spanish landscape for over 50 years and can be seen across the country, particularly along highways."

Driving throughout Spain in 2019-2022 we saw many.

 

[Gerard Griffin]

I saw the bulls when I hitched through Spain in 1968, and everything is different now but they're still there. I love to see them. It's a great brandy too, that also hasn't changed.

 

[stevelm1]

There is yet another bull on the highway between Seville and Cordoba.

 

[rojasa]

Bull-boards! I saw them last October...looked up the same article as C Clearly, and enjoyed the story...buen camino, Damien.

 

[Pelegrin]

When travelling through Spain in 2015 as tourists, not pilgrims, one of our accommodation hosts told us that whenever you see a huge bull silhouette anywhere, it means it is a bull-fighting region.

That is not exact. Galicia is one of the less bull fighting regions, it has only 1 plaza and has 5 bulls. Navarra has 4 plazas (and San Fermines) and has 0 bulls.

 

[jfgough]

So I have always enjoyed that big bull on the hill on the Frances. I don't remember where exactly but it's near a wood recycling yard, near the new roadway construction.

Well today, I saw the same thing on the Mozarabe day 1 between Rioja and Santa Fe, while walking on the dried out river.

Can someone please explain its meaning? Is it an advertisement? Is it art? I mean there are zero bovines in this parts... at least so far...

 

[ward4e]

Well if prepared well they are quite tasty.

 

[Bradypus]

I mean there are zero bovines in this parts... at least so far...

Way back in a previous century the Camino used to cross farmland just west of Burguete rather than running parallel to the fields. Halfway across one field a big white bull wandered down and stood right on the path staring at me. Bull? In Spain??? I made a big circle around him saying "Buenos dias Señor Toro!" in a quiet polite voice. As a dairy bull in a field of cows he was probably pretty placid and just being nosey. But on my first morning in Spain...

 

[J Willhaus]

Way back in a previous century the Camino used to cross farmland just west of Burguete rather than running parallel to the fields. Halfway across one field a big white bull wandered down and stood right on the path staring at me. Bull? In Spain??? I made a big circle around him saying "Buenos dias Señor Toro!" in a quiet polite voice. As a dairy bull in a field of cows he was probably pretty placid and just being nosey. But on my first morning in Spain...

Dairy bulls can be some of the most aggressive in the US. You may have dodged a bullet or a goring...

 

[Gerard Griffin]

True, their tiny brains cause them to imagine we might be after their harem. Come to think of it though, anyone loco enough to walk across Northern Spain with a backpack talking to total strangers has to be capable of anything.

 

[Bradypus]

Dairy bulls can be some of the most aggressive in the US. You may have dodged a bullet or a goring...

You are right of course. In the UK laws allow bulls of beef breeds to be kept in fields where there is a public right of way so long as they are with cows. Recognised dairy breeds are not permitted to be loose in areas with public access. I should have been hoping for the opposite situation! But the animal was quite placid in either case. I think that an aggressive animal would not have been allowed to wander in a field crossed by the Camino at the time.

 

[cherie]

Here is an article about them

How These Bull-Shaped Billboards Became Spanish Icons

Once an advertisement for brandy, the Osborne bull is now a symbol of the country.

www.atlasobscura.com

What a fabulous read, I've always loved seeing the Bulls on our road trips. Thanks for posting

 

[Gerard Griffin]

Most people think what we cityfolk call "cows" are no problem, but I was attacked once while walking by a herd of young bullocks, and I was terrified, with reason. Worse, my then wife was laughing her head off (from behind the hedge) and casting loud aspersions on my masculinity.

So imho the only safe animal on the Camino is our noble Veterano bull, being 2-dimensional.

 

[J Willhaus]

As a former farm wife a good wack on the nose is a great defense if they are ever that close. Always had a pair of plyers in.my pocket for that purpose. On the Camino, anything hard will do such as a pocket knife.(not deployed, just to give a hard rap on.the nose between the nostrils. Very sensitive area.)

 

[pietie]

So I have always enjoyed that big bull on the hill on the Frances. I don't remember where exactly but it's near a wood recycling yard, near the new roadway construction.

Well today, I saw the same thing on the Mozarabe day 1 between Rioja and Santa Fe, while walking on the dried out river.

Can someone please explain its meaning? Is it an advertisement? Is it art? I mean there are zero bovines in this parts... at least so far...

Google wikipedia Osborne bull and you get the story behind them.

 

[Rick of Rick and Peg]

Most people think what we cityfolk call "cows" are no problem, but I was attacked once while walking by a herd of young bullocks, and I was terrified, with reason.

The poet T. S. Eliot, known for his verses about cats, did not like cows. He made this clear in a little known verse titled "The Country Walk".

T.S. Eliot Among The Cows

By Ian Halbert In a previous post I discussed the habit of Robert Frost’s father tippling cups of ox blood for to cure his con...

theruralsite.blogspot.com

Now that you've read "The Country Walk" you understand why Eliot won a Noble Prize for Literature, right?

 

[Gerard Griffin]

TS had it right. I admire but do not share
J Wllhaus' courage in the face of the bovine, and I'm glad that TS shares and vindicates my terror of these beasts. This is of course a limitation, a pointer towards a craven spirit whose consequences TS describes so well:
"I have heard the mermaids calling, each to each/I do not think that they will call to me."

 

[AussieSunnygirl]

What a fabulous read, I've always loved seeing the Bulls on our road trips. Thanks for posting

Yes, totally agree. Would be interesting to see the brothers in action on site making repairs and perhaps having a chat too.