La Tortura No Es Cultura!

"La corrida de toros", literally translated into English as "the running of the bulls", but better know as a bullfight, is known as one of the most popular traditions in Spain. or , has been practiced for centuries and is even depicted in some wall paintings dating backwards to at least 2000 B.C. If you don't know much about bullfighting, I came across this website that seemed pretty informative: http://www.spanish-fiestas.com/bullfighting/history.htm

Although the sport may not have originated directly from Spaniards, Spain is definitely the country that expanded and developed it into more than just the slaughtering of bulls. While the ultimate objective of bullfights remained the same, certain techniques and maneuvers were added in order to form a more regulated practice of a bullfight. A normal bullfight now is comprised of 3 main parts, which are called "tercios": el tercio de varas, el tercio de banderillas and el tercio de muerte. Each stage is distinguished by the sound of trumpets, and all together, each bullfight should only last about 15 minutes in total.

During a typical bullfight, there are 2 "picadores" during each fight (which are men on horseback with spears), 6 toros, 3 "toreros" (the bullfighters--each needs to kill 2 of the bulls) and the "cuadrilla" of each bullfighter. A cuadrilla is comprised of several men that are basically the fighter's "entourage" and help him during the fight and with public relations; the main helpers during the actual bullfight are the "banderillas" and the "picadores".

While I definitely "held my own" during the bullfight, unlike many other study abroad students that left after a couple of the bulls were killed, there are two parts of the bullfight that I decided I can't really stand to watch--atleast not completely. During the "el tercio de varas", the picadores are in charge of spearing the bull's neck several times, in order to try and weaken the bull's muscles, thus making the bull less dangerous to fight--it was disgusting to watch the men basically digging under the bull's flesh, and watching the bull's reaction (obviously it was mad! and in pain!), and watching the horses trying to remain standing up as the bull pushed into it. Though "el tercio de banderillas" isn't pleasant to watch either, it is not as bad as the other parts; this is when the bullfighter's banderillas are in charge of poking 3 pairs of metal poles into the bull's neck to further weaken it (basically making it helpless), in the same place that the picadores previously tore muscle. At this point, the bull's neck is dripping blood, which is kind of gross and surreal to see... I couldn't fully grasp that it was all blood. Although this was the first bullfight I have seen and will probably the only one I will ever go to, based off of lessons about the techniques of bullfighting in my Introduction to Spanish Cultures class, I recognized that it was not a proper bullfight. In between the picadors and before the last part of the fight, the matadors dropped their capes several times; one time, the bull even charged and came in contact with a matador's hand! The banderillas didn't perform their "task" properly either; many of their arrows/poles fell out right after they stuck them in the bull's neck. Lastly, but probably the worst thing that they could have done improperly (which I could even tell by the reactions of Spaniards) was during the last part of the fight: el tercio de muerte. During this stage, the matadors/torreros objective is to finally kill the bull. At this point, it is supposed to be a quick death and should prevent the bull from suffering any longer. The bullfighter enters the ring alone with his cape and a sword and is supposed to stab it... if a bullfighter does a good job, he receives an ear from the bull he fought, if he accomplished his "task" very well, he receives 2 ears and if the bullfighter gives a phenomenal performance, he receives the bull tail; let's just say that NONE of the 3 bullfighters received anything. This was the other part of the fight that I hated to see; the matadors stabbed their bulls several times, and while I think one of the fighters managed to kill his bull with the sword, when the rest failed, they ultimately were required to provide an instant death by taking a dagger to bull's head instead. One of the fighter's even had to poke the bull twice with the dagger! It was AWFUL!

All in all, I am not going to say that I enjoyed the bullfight; I certainly did not. But I am glad that I was able to see into some Spanish culture, especially before bullfighting is completely banned (since it is already banned in much of Northern Spain), as it is a popular tradition in Spain. A few days after we had gone to the bullfight, we also encountered a protest against bullfighting. While I was aware that many people are against this vicious "sport" (or as some Spaniards even call it an art!), I thought that Sevilla, of all places in Spain, had the most supporters. The protesters and my host mom have demonstrated to me, though, that many people are actually against it and similarly view it as animal cruelty. One of the signs that "hit home" for me, was "La tortura no es cultura", demonstrating that the torture of bulls does not really demonstrate Spanish culture. While the bulls are not simply killed to be killed (their meat is sold and eaten, etc), it is still sad that the death and torture of the bulls are a public spectacle.

Yesterday, when I was walking on the street, I also saw a woman walking a HUGE pig down the street. Literally "walking a pig" as if it were a dog! It was really funny to see, but I could only think that she was probably walking it home to kill it! :( While many Spaniards have resorted to simply buying fresh meat at a market, some Spaniards still commit the act themselves, bringing live animals to their home, cleaning and packing the meat, which usually last pretty long. Similar to bullfighting, the killing of animals used to be used as a type of ceremony or festival in the home, and families would get together for this "event" and complete the task together, followed by a feast. While I personally (and I'm sure many others) view these "ceremonies" negatively due to the torture that animals are forced to go through, I know that I need to try to view it differently, because it is just a completely different culture.

La Pascua en España

Semana Santa is literally translated as "Holy Week", and it takes place the week preceding Easter, during which the many different brotherhoods of the Catholic churches perform processions down the streets of Sevilla (and many other cities throughout Spain).These processions are also referred to as "pasos", but are basically parades of men and women with floats of the Virgin Mary and the crucifixion of Jesus, which are carried by atleast 20 men (maybe more?) that can't see where they are going, and the floats are covered with tall candles that sway with each move that it makes--but somehow it is still rare for the floats to catch on fire!! The pasos also include nazarenos (the people that look like the KKK), bands and people that light incense while they parade through the streets. The streets get very crowded, and prior to Semana Santa, I was warned by my professors and host family that if I were to be walking on the streets before, during or after one of the processions, that it may take me a few hours to get to where I want to go!

I promise they're not in the KKK!

Though it is normally always rainy during Semana Santa, the weather was so awful that the processions were continuously canceled--especially the ones that I was told were the best to see, including La Macarena and Los Gitanos (gypsies). Although the weather was awful, I still managed to see the last paso of the entire week, on Easter Sunday. While I was also warned that Easter Sunday is not a "big deal" in Spain, thus the best processions would not take place on this day, I am still happy that I was able to see one since the rest were all rained out. Perhaps this wasn't the "best" paso, but it still demonstrated to me the "basics" of Semana Santa processions, and without the annoying crowds that would have been present, had it been one of the more popular brotherhoods.

Outside of the cathedral after the Easter service.

After watching the paso for awhile, we attended the Easter service in the cathedral, which although Easter is not a "big deal" in Spain, was very crowded--mostly with tourists, though, I presume. The service was two-and-a-half hours... in Spanish of course... and it was a Catholic service, so I barely followed what was going on, but it was still a cool experience, especially being able to hear the beautiful, gigantic organ that only plays on very special occasions, like holidays. (We were warned before we entered the cathedral that the service would be 2.5 hours and that we had to stay for the entire thing, also.. we debated it for awhile, but I decided that we might as well go, because while there was another shorter service; only 30 minutes; afterward, it would not include the organs... plus, we were already there, and would've had to wait 2.5 hours for the next one anyways!) To be honest, I don't have too much to comment on the service, except that I loved hearing the organs; especially Beethoven's 5th as the first piece!... and that other than that, it seemed like a "normal" Catholic service (according to Michaeline, who I went with, whom is a religion major and a practicing Catholic), with hymns, glorias and kyries and all.

The Start of La Feria

The entrance and masses of people

Tonight, at midnight (or I guess you could technically say it was this morning), la feria de abril began! I had no idea what to expect when I went to see "el alumbrado" tonight, which is just when they light up the entrance to feria and marks its beginning at midnight on the monday of the week of feria (which is normally in April, but this year is only the 2nd time in history that it occurs in May!). To be completely honest, I wasn't impressed at all by the lighting, but once we got inside, thanks to Vicky's ability to weave through the crowd, I was amazed by how many casetas (basically tents, which I will explain later) and people there were inside... and that there was an amusement park and food stands just like any other fair in the U.S. too.

Vicky and I inside feria!

Our new Turkish friends, Vicky, Ryan, Kelsey and I

Some adorable little girls all dressed up!

Based off of the information that I was given before feria, I was under the impression that there would just be rows and rows of casetas... no amusement park or food stands or anything else. Before going, we were also warned that there are "private" and "public" casetas, and that the private ones are better than the public ones, but you can only enter them if you know someone. The majority of the hundreds of casetas are private, while the rest are "public", supported/paid for by the government, including political party casetas and neighborhood ones. We were told to stay away from/be careful in the public ones, especially at night, because this is where things "sometimes get violent/rough".We unintentionally steered clear of any public ones tonight, and Vicky and I also actually managed to get into a private one so that she could use the bathroom! (which I'm assuming is kind of a big deal..?)

Inside a private caseta (thanks to Vicky's weak bladder haha)

While some people still decided to wear flamencowear tonight, the majority of people were dressed more casually--I chose to wear jeans, boots and a nicer blouse/collared shirt, as my host mom had said that if she had been going tonight, she would be wearing a nice shirt and jeans because it's "not a big deal". After walking inside a little and realizing how overpriced everything was, we decided to walk out of feria and down the street to a little cafe for Alex and Kate to get churros con chocolate...which didn't end up being any cheaper since they decided to hike up their prices for feria! After they finished, we all decided to head home since we figured we would go back during the day and night tomorrow. Overall, I think the lighting of feria was not all that it was hyped up to be, but I am still very excited to party and dance there this week!