Fui a los toros

La corrida de toros was like nothing I have ever experienced. Anyone could probably guess that considering we no longer live in a time in which animals are sacrificed in a public gathering (That is always the word used in Spanish, sacrificar, to recognize meaningful loss). However, la corrida is much more than a spectacle of the matador’s skill followed by a gory death.
 

When the first bull entered the ring, bolting toward the matador on his knees, the crowd shushed in unison; this first moment was powerful in its seriousness. Everyone in the ring showed great respect for this huge animal, including the golden matador who faced him from the ground. The matador artfully guided the bull within inches of his body, as the untrained bull expressed its most instinctual actions. Next, two other matadors came out on horses, who were covered in a heavy protective garment and blindfold. The bull rams into a horse, as he most naturally wants to do, often coming close to picking up this other amazingly strong creature with his weaponry of horns.

There are other men in the bull ring who historically help the matador and at this time place two sticks with hooks on one end in the bull’s back; Judy said that for the two-ton animal this feels something like an ear-piercing. In this particular round, the bull knocked down one man as he tried to attach the THINGS and cornered him on the ground. The matador and OTHERS took some moments to attract the bull’s attention with their capes, and only acted in this way. At this point my hand was over my mouth, eyes wide-open, and I couldn’t believe what was happening. I couldn’t and still cannot describe the emotions I felt during these first minutes, as they came and went faster and with more intensity than I could recognize.

The man was pulled from the ring and the performance continued. The matador took hold of his red cape and sword and faced the bull alone in the sandy circle. The crowd shushed again. The matador beautifully and masterfully guided the bull with his cape, showcasing the animal’s strength and power with each movement as much as his own bravery and grace.

Somehow this dance of death becomes greater than man versus beast. Like poetry, it is at once so real and so unbelievable that the audience is in awe of its beauty. At once, the drama honors the art of the matador and the nature of the bull. This is no spectacle of sport; there are no venders selling popcorn down the aisles, no member of the crowd is here to party. All eyes are on the two masters of their instincts with upmost respect. “Olé,” chanted by the crowd in acknowledgement of a skillful dance, comes from Allah as praise.

After these honorable minutes of interaction, the matador calls once more to the bull, pulling his cape across the ground next to his body and drives his sword into the back of the charging bull, an within moments he dies. La corrida feels like a thousand years in one evening. I felt every emotion I can name. I observed the history of humankind in sequence with the expressions of modern humanity. I saw death respected as a part of life and a crowd brave enough to honor an animal’s sacrifice for the benefit of mankind.

This might seem an attempt to justify cruelty. It may be impossible to believe otherwise without having such an experience or you may believe otherwise regardless. Nonetheless, I have interpreted this procession as a respectful acknowledgement of man’s place in the world. It is rational to regard humankind as the highest group on the food chain or as the most valuable species in nature; it would be difficult to argue otherwise if you are gaining anything (meat, leather, labor) at the expense of an animal. Judy is a vegetarian with two exceptions: she eats a type of pork because she loves it, and she will eat bull because they are treated better and live longer than any other animal raised for livestock. The idea of sacrifice that is so deeply rooted in the history of humanity has value in that it forces us to acknowledge the circles of life that are natural and inevitable as well as those which we as intelligent beings have created.