When I was laid low with a cold last week (I'm fine now, thanks for asking) I found myself watching lots of WWII videos to cheer myself up. First of all (spoiler alert!) we always win in the end. And while I might have been coughing, sneezing, and blowing my nose every 15 seconds, at least nobody was shooting at me or reducing my city to rubble. Also, I didn’t have to answer unthinkable questions like “So …. shall we build an atomic bomb or let the Nazis do it first?” Nor did I have to worry about defending my virtue. In Atlantic Crossing, Crown Princess Märtha of Norway, desperate to get America to join the Allies, spent much of WWII being chased around Washington, DC by that old womanizer, Franklin D. Roosevelt, who never let little things like being married or in a wheelchair slow him down. It was impossible to watch without asking myself, “Just how far would I be willing to go to save my country, Europe, and civilization as we know it?” One of the reasons we go to the movies — and spend sick days on the couch in front of the TV — is to imagine, if only briefly, how we would face up to life’s tough challenges. It’s why American teenagers flock to horror movies, millions of adults are addicted to reality TV and extreme sports, and why bullfighting has been popular for 4000 years. Especially in Seville. When I first came to Seville, I was gobsmacked to see all the bullfighting memorabilia around here. Gigantic horned heads loom high on hotel walls, glittering trajes de luces (bullfighters’ “suits of light”) gleam in restaurant display cases, and flyspecked black-and-white newspaper photos of famous toreros hang in places of honor above even the humblest bar. Animals killed in the ring are always eaten, appearing on menus as cola de toro, a succulent stew of bull’s tail simmered in wine and herbs. Years ago Antonio, owner of a tiny neighborhood tavern in the Triana district, tacked to his wall a newspaper clipping with the headline, “¡Volveré a torear!” (“I will return to bullfighting!”) When I asked about it, he explained that for his debut in Seville, one bullfighter decided to make his mark and demonstrate his courage by dropping to his knees and holding his ground when the bull was released into the ring. The bull, hardly able to believe his luck, instantly lowered his head and gored the man’s chest, neck and face. Antonio, Rich, and I gazed at the hideous scars in the grainy newspaper picture. “Where is this man now?” I asked. “Working in a stationary store here in Triana,” Antonio said. So much for that career in the bullring. Rich and I were reminiscing about that ex-bullfighter (whose name has been so lost to history I couldn’t even track him down on Google) during a recent lunch at Sol y Sombra, a classic bar taurino (bullfighting bar) in the Triana district. Sol y Sombra is dim and cozy, with worn tiles, yellowed posters, and handwritten menu cards stapled to the walls. Rolls of toilet paper are scattered about, to be used in place of napkins. Just keeping it humble and real. Faces of top toreros peer down from every wall. Many of them are unlikely characters, such as Juan Belmonte, a spindly Trianero with crooked legs. "My legs were in such a state," he said, "that if one wanted to move, it had to request permission from the other." Unable to leap nimbly out of harm’s way, he had to find another way to fight. "At night," he said, "we would swim the Guadalquivir and fight the bulls in the pastures in the moonlight. That was the beautiful time, fighting them naked in the moonlight." Naked or clothed, he developed a unique, close-in, barely moving style that led to getting gored fifty times but won him acclaim as “the greatest bullfighter of all time.” Another unlikely local hero is Curro Romero, who often took fright and ran away from a bull, flapping his cape from a safe distance, not even pretending to fight. “Curro was booed and cursed and rained on with seat cushions,” explained blogger 100swallows, “and of course fined heavily for breaking the rules that required a bullfighter to kill his animal.” But when he was at his best “it was like going to heaven. There was nothing like it in this world. If you saw it, you knew you had seen something angelic. Curro hypnotized with his slow capework and the dignity of his poise. The bull charged as though he too were trying with all his might to reach perfection, to ‘get it right.’” Say what you will about bullfighting — go ahead, everyone does! — you have to admit it’s colorful stuff. The season starts Easter Sunday, runs through spring, pauses during the heat of summer, and finishes up with a few fall events. And I can already hear you thinking, “Nope, not me! I wouldn't be caught dead at a bullfight!” Never say never. When my friend Reza Hosseinpour, the brilliant pediatric heart surgeon, moved to Seville, he was appalled by the very idea of bullfighting. But Spanish amigos finally persuaded him to go just once, and he fell in love with “the esoteric ritualistic art.” Eventually he wrote the first comprehensive English book on the subject, the meticulously researched and lavishly illustrated Making Sense of Bullfighting. Inspired by our lunch at Sol y Sombra, Rich and I decided to drop by Seville’s Maestranza bullring. During the off hours you can pay a small fee and wander about to your heart’s content, checking out the museum, the arena, and the torero's chapel, where some of the most urgent praying on Earth takes place. When I first visited you could also poke around in the bullfighter’s hospital — another hotspot for communing with the Almighty — but then some stickler for hygiene objected to the idea of random crowds tramping around a sterile operating theater, and the medical facility was shifted to a less public area. Go figure. The museum houses a wonderful collection of trajes de luces, some still showing bloodstains. Toreros are “dressed to kill” in outfits inspired by the spangled, embroidered, and tasseled extravagances favored by dandies in the eighteenth century, when modern bullfighting practices developed. To prevent horns from snagging in the fabric, the fit is super snug. Indeed, men wear their trousers so tight that their “noble parts” are clearly visible, arranged to one side, or “away from the bull,” as famously demonstrated in this statue of Curro Romero. Life is full of impossible moral dilemmas. Should animals be killed for food? If so, is it wrong to perform this act yourself, assuming personal risk to achieve artistry? Is it kinder to raise beasts in overcrowded pens and kill them in slaughterhouses ringing with the death cries of their mates? Is it OK to eat cola de toro if you’re opposed to bullfighting? These questions have been hotly debated for thousands of years, and are best discussed over a cold beer in one of Seville’s classic bullfighting bars. Let me know what you decide. BULL BARS YOU MIGHT LIKE Taberna Sol y Sombra, Calle Castilla, 147, Triana Casa Pepe Hillo, Calle Adriano, 24, Seville centro Bar Estrella, Calle Estrella 3, Seville centro OUT TO LUNCH This story is part of my ongoing series "Out to Lunch." Each week I write about visiting offbeat places in the city and province of Seville, often by train, seeking cultural curiosities and great eats. (Learn more.) WANT TO STAY IN THE LOOP? If you haven't already, take a moment to subscribe so you'll receive notices when I publish my weekly posts. Just send me an email and I'll take it from there. [email protected] LIKE TO READ BOOKS? Be sure to check out my best selling travel memoirs & guide books here. PLANNING A TRIP? Enter any destination or topic, such as packing light or road food, in the search box below. If I've written about it, you'll find it. Why is Rich carrying around a bull's head?
Read all about it here.
Vida Felsenfeld
2/27/2024 07:01:52 pm
Dear Karen, I LOVE your article on the bullfights. I am a big fan of the bull, because he's the underdog --yes, he will kill you in a second, but his chances of doing so are rare since the matador has a posse backing him up. For my MFA Creative Writing program, I'm writing a paper on the bull's role and training for a bullfight. I'm going to run out and by your friends book so that I can cite from it. And, would like your permission to cite from your blog, as it will be super valuable for my paper. I graduate next December, and after I do, we're heading back to Sevilla to dance and see a bullfight. Hope you and Rich will come with us! muchos besitos, Vida.
Karen McCann
2/28/2024 09:53:07 am
Vida, your paper sounds fascinating and I'd be honored to be quoted in it. And I know Reza would, too. (You can get his book on Amazon.) Like you, I tend to favor underdogs and have lots of sympathy for the bull. Although when I've seen humans gored in the ring — usually due to carelessness or hubris — the contest seems considerably less one-sided. Good luck with your paper, and what a great way to reward yourself — with a trip to Seville! 2/27/2024 07:40:51 pm
A very interesting post, thank you. I understand the romance and tradition. But to me it is the perfect example of humans' inhumanity to other species. If I went to a bullfight, which I would never do, I would definitely be pulling for the bull to gore his torturer.
Karen McCann
2/28/2024 10:10:02 am
Lynne, I give you a lot of credit for living by your beliefs and appreciate you sharing your perspective. Plenty of visitors deplore bullfighting but ironically see nothing wrong in eating cola de toro, even when it comes directly from a bull killed in the ring. We each have to navigate the world we live in, making the best moral decisions we can, given our perspectives and culture. I think you're wise to avoid ancient, carnivorous societies such as Spain and parts of France, where things that seem normal to them are abhorrent to you. No point in exposing yourself to stuff that will make you crazy! 2/27/2024 08:33:33 pm
Well, I'm glad I don't have to sit around arguing in Sevillian bars about bullfighting if these are the questions. In my experience, Spaniards don't (any more than do most nationalities) enjoy being told they're posing straw-questions. (thereby seeming either disingenuous or obtuse). To wit:
Karen McCann
2/28/2024 10:18:46 am
Thanks, as always, for bringing your sharp eye and keen wit to an analysis of my latest post, David. I would like to clarify that these "straw questions" you had so much fun picking apart are meant to reflect what visitors argue about; the Spanish see it differently, and I wouldn't presume to speak for them. My questions were simply meant to start a discussion ... and they certainly inspired you to jump in! 2/28/2024 08:19:12 pm
Dear Karen,
John
6/30/2024 10:47:23 am
Hi David, for accuracy Ozzy (not a fan btw) inadvertently bit the head off a live bat, leading to rabies shots and countless headlines worldwide. He threw offal at his shows into the audience on that tour and encouraged them to bring ‘equivalent’ to his shows and return the compliment. He supposedly thought the bat was rubber until his mouth filled with blood etc etc 2/27/2024 10:24:40 pm
As always I loved your blog on bullfighting, although I wasn't sure at the end if you are on the "approve" or the "disapprove" side of the fence. Your experiences coincide closely with mine, but your flare for describing them far outstrip mine. As a short pseudo-anecdote, I am reminded of the Monday in May, 1995, when I went to a nearby quintessential restaurante taurino near the Maestranza Plaza de Toros and ordered a rice dish like the one I saw a family eating at a nearby table. When the waiter brought the platter to my trable I was disappointed that the meatballs atop the rice pile were much smaller than the ones I saw on my neighbor's plate. When I voiced my complaint to the waiter he simply explained "Oh señor, you must understand, the toro, he does not always lose."
Karen McCann
2/29/2024 10:41:08 am
Bruce, I had to chuckle over your "pseudo-anecdote," which is one of the longest running and best-loved jokes in Spain. Thanks for sharing it with my readers! 2/27/2024 10:36:36 pm
I've been to a number of bullfighting arenas, both in Spain and France, but I've never cared to attend a billfight.
Karen McCann
2/29/2024 10:43:03 am
Yes, the toreros tend to be slight in stature, which makes it all more astonishing they choose to fight an animal bred for fierceness and weighing 1000 to 1500 pounds!
Larry Siegel
2/28/2024 11:30:35 am
Another wonderful column, Karen, filled with insight and wit. Though I have yet to attend a fight in Seville, I've viewed several bullfights in Mexico and South America. There is a dark, wild sense in the ritual of the fight, the slow progress toward the final sword thrust. When they come charging into the ring, the bulls are immense and ferocious. It's a wonder anyone would stand in their way. It's a ballet that flirts with death.
Karen McCann
2/29/2024 10:49:53 am
I'm so glad you enjoyed the post, Larry. I hope you do have a chance to go to a bullfight here in the Maestranza, as a point of comparison. Sevillano friends say it's the best place in the world to see a corrida de toros, and I'm inclined to believe them. And yes, it always amazes me that anyone would be willing to stand in front of these monster bulls. I sure wouldn't do it for any money!
Harold Clark
2/28/2024 06:44:57 pm
Querida Karen,
Karen McCann
2/29/2024 10:59:20 am
Thanks for your kind comments, Harold. How lucky you were to live in Seville back in the day, and to see the great bullfighters of that age. Sadly, it's true that Calle Vida is much more commercial and touristy now, as is the whole city; Seville retains much of its charm, but you will find it's a much different place than you left. Like all cities, it's constantly evolving, and the changes are always a mixed bag. However, it's still "la maravilla," and when I show newcomers around, I see in their eyes they are dazzled and entranced. You're the second person in two days to mention the possibility of moving here out of concern for the rise of fascism in the US. Let's hope it doesn't come to that! Comments are closed.
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