From Tourists to Aficionados: The Fair in Colmenar Viejo

This is a longer post which summarizes our week at a bullfighting fair and some of my reflections on it.

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Season tickets to a bullfighting fair in Colmenar Viejo? That's the question that was on my mind when Jo suggested it after we booked the unico espada tickets. I had no idea what "season tickets," "a bullfighting fair," or "Colmenar Viejo" meant (which, if you check that first sentence, leaves only the prepositions left). Jo found it on Servitoro, a fantastic aficionado's resource for all things bullfighting, as she was looking for a corrida the Borja Jimenez had advertised on his Instagram. She found that we could get tickets for his fight, which was ten days after the unico espada, for about 30 dollars (each), or we could get season tickets for 175 dollars (each). She quickly discovered that the "season ticket" covered five corridas in a row. When we looked at the lineup, we saw it was several different types of corridas: novillada con picadores, corrida de toros, corrida mixta, corrida de toros, and novillada sin picadores.

A little bit about what that means:

- Novillada con picadores: these are amateur bullfighters who have progressed into what is best described (in American terms) as the minor leagues of bullfighting. Not full-fledged matadors yet, they are known as novilleros. They have at least 25 corridas under their belts, but have not taken their alternative yet (the bullfight where they become full matadors). They fight novillos, bulls between 2 and 4 years old. Besides the novilleros' experience and the bulls' age, there is little difference between a novillada con picadores and a full corrida de toros, although the lack of experience can make for a tough-to-watch bullfight.

- Corrida de toros: this is a bullfight as you picture it. Three full-fledged matadors taking on toros bravos, bulls who are between 4 and 6 years old.

- Corrida mixta: this is a bullfight which has at least one matador and at least one rejoneador, a bullfighter which fights the bulls on horseback. The rejoneador performs all of the tercios himself in a rejoneo (bullfight on horseback). He places the small barbs in the bulls back that the picadores would normally place, places the banderillas the banderilleros would normally place, and executes the tercio de muerte from horseback instead of on foot like the matadors. It is a display of horsemanship as well as bullfighting skills, as the horses aren't blindfolded like those of the picadores and are specially trained in bullfighting.

- Novillada sin picadores: these are the true amateur bullfighters. They have less than 25 corridas under their belts, and they do not have picadores to weaken or exhaust the novillos in the first tercio.

Getting season tickets would mean we would have seen every kind of corrida except a mano y mano (two matadors taking on 3 bulls each). Well, this was enough to convince me, albeit hesitantly. Seeing as we had 10 days between the unico espada, we decided to visit Sevilla for longer than just the unico espada and hit up Valencia before heading to Madid. We had said we were going to skip southern Spain, but our newfound love of bullfighting had other plans.

The first corrida was a novillada con picadores. These kids were pretty good, given their age and experience. Something Jo and I both noted was how the novillos seemed to be more outwardly aggressive than the toros, which we have read is a factor of their younger age. It was interesting to watch the older toreros provide some coaching to their novillero in the ring between tercios and while he was working the muleta. Something Jo and I both learned over our time in Spain is that bullfighting is a team sport, and we loved seeing the older generation passing their knowledge and experience to the younger ones. While their lack of experience gave some of the novilleros trouble, overall they did quite well. We'd certainly seen full-fledged matadors perform worse on a few occasion. Later that night we met some Aussies who had come to the novillada just to see a bullfight, and they weren't going to see another before they left. When we explained that it was the younger novilleros (and answered some of their questions about the corridas in general), one of them said that so much of what they saw made more sense now, and that they, too, were expecting something other than what they saw. I guess preconceptions about other cultures transcends national borders, continental divides, and expansive oceans.

The second corrida was the one we really wanted to see: Borja Jimenez. The lineup was Miguel de Pablo, Borja Jimenez, and Angel Sanchez. Before it started, we went over to where the toreros enter the bullring in hopes of seeing (and getting a picture with) Borja. Well, we did see him! He was right in front of us, but he looked to be intent on getting into the ring, so we didn't approach him. He and de Pablo did well (all things considered), but the bulls from that night did not. They were not aggressive, and all of the matadors had trouble showing off their qualities (someone would later call it a "cattle disaster" on Instagram). Jo and I both commented how embarrassed the ranch owner must have been. Despite the "cattle disaster," the two senior matadors did what they could, and the crowd awarded (rather leniently, in our opinion) them ears accordingly.

However, Angel Sanchez really chapped us both. He was younger than the other two, albeit not by much (he's 27 years old), and had only recently taken his alternative (so recently that Las Ventas hadn't updated his torero profile online yet). Despite being 27, he acted like he was 12. Neither of his bulls cooperated with him (nor did the ones belonging to the other matadors), but instead of working it, he threw a temper tantrum. When he changed his fake sword for the real one, he threw the fake one into the callejo rather than hang it on the barrera, as is the norm. Then he yanked his estoque out of its sheath in anger, which was on full display to the crowd. When he had finally slain the bull, he stormed out of the bullring without saluting the president (more on that in a second). His team followed after him, and were noticably absent during de Pablo's next faena. Sanchez's second faena was more of the exact same behaviour, including not saluting the president.

About saluting the president: this is, in our observation, the single, most-inviolable rule of being a torero. When you enter or leave the ring, you salute the president. That applies to everyone participating in the corrida, from the matadors to the picadores to the guys that rake the sand between faenas. Not doing so is outright disrespectul to the highest authority in attendance that night. On top of that, the president during this fair was Don Eutimio. He usually presides over Las Ventas in Madrid, the largest and most important bullring in Spain. We couldn't believe Sanchez would snub him like that, even if unintentionally, simply out of frustration with the bulls. The second time he did it, Eutimio called one of his representatives in the callejon and had him hand the phone to Sanchez. We don't know what he said, but Sanchez handed off the phone and saluted. The crowd whistled him out of the plaza when he departed. Rightfully so, in our opinion.

The third night was a corrida mixta. Diego Ventura was the rejoneador that night. He was clearly a great horseman. His horses were well trained, and he was able to get them right up against the bulls' horns without injury. He even placed two banderillas into one of the bulls while riding no-handed! It really was quite impressive to watch. That said, neither Jo nor I were fans of the rejoneo (bullfight on horseback). The bull was in full gallop the entire time going after the horse, which clearly outmatched the bull, as opposed to the start-and-stop charges against matadors. You could clearly see the bull getting more and more exhausted as the faena went on. The rejoneo seemed, to us, to be less about the one-on-one test of skill and honour of a standard corrida and more about the rejoneador's display of horsemanship. On top of that, Ventura couldn't nail the estocada. Both times he had to dismount and work the bull on foot with the muleta. Even then, he seriously struggled. We were glad to have watched the rejoneo, but we weren't its biggest fans.

The fourth night was a great night. Jose Maria Manzanares, Roca Rey, and Francisco de Manuel. The first is a big name in Spanish bullfighting, the second is a highly-skilled Purvian, and third is a skilled up-and-comer. De Manuel was the only one to be awarded two ears that night, which Jo and I both agreed that he deserved, and was carried through the puerta grande on the shoulders of a decent-sized crowd. Despite the struggles with the bulls that night, all three of them did well. We were both least impresses with Manzanares. We would later learn that he had recently had a massive shakeup on his team, which was apparently quite contentious. One of his team, Daniel Duarte, an impressive banderillero to watch, had transitioned to de Manuel's team starting this year. I'm sure it gave him some satisfaction to see his new matador carried through the puerta grande in front of his former one!

The fifth night was a novillada sin picadores. As mentioned earlier, these are the true amateurs. The bullring didn't even scan our tickets on the way in. They just tore a corner off. They also didn't enforce the rule that you cannot leave or enter the ring during a faena. Quite frankly, these guys are the junior leagues, and people treated them as such. Nonetheless, we thoroughly enjoyed these youngsters pursuing their dream! One of them (and I do apologize to him for not remembering his name) was thrown in his first faena, and the bull pierced his leg. It wasn't bad, but enough to draw blood. As I said earlier, bullfighting is a team effort, and even when a novillero or matador isn't actively fighting a bull, he has a roll to play in others' faenas. One of the reasons we like Borja Jimenez so much is it will take him being unable to walk before he would leave his fellow matadors in the ring without him there to jump in if necessary (and we watched him help carry someone off once, even as the senior matador in the ring). Well, this novillero was the same way! He had the medics bandage up his leg, and then he jumped right back into the ring to back his fellow novilleros. He even took on his second bull! Now this was passion, dedication, and teamwork!

I mentioned before that the crowd was extremely supportive of the novilleros, and this night was no exception. When the third novillero just couldn't nail the estocada ater several attempts, rather than whistle him like they would a full-fledged matador, the crowd applauded and cheered for him as a form of encouragement, as he was clearly frustrated with himself. After this, he nailed it!

A bit more about the crowd. When we got up to leave one evening (I forget which one), an older lady behind us asked us where we were from. When I told her from the US, she asked if we liked the corridas. We told her we did, and that we had been to several over the past few weeks. She told us she was glad we enjoyed it, thanked us for giving it a try, and offered us her program as a souvenir to remember them by. While we already had our own programs, we were grateful for the gesture. On another night, one man had brought his toddler child to the corrida. He was playing the drums on his seat as the band played the pasodobles, and Jo snapped a few pictures. She had me ask him if he wanted them, and he was so grateful for them. When they wouldn't go through, he even asked us to keep trying. He said thank you I don't know how many times. That same night, afterwards, Jo did the same for someone else, and they were incredibly grateful. One thing that impressed us about bullfighting fans is that they did not judge us for being Americans or speaking childlike Spanish. Instead, they welcomed us into their culture and really made us feel like one of their own.

I know this is a long post summarizing a week's worth of bullfighting, but I wanted to convey some of what we witnessed, especially considering much (if not most) of our audience isn't from Spain. There is a lot more to it than simply killing a bull in front of a large crowd. There is respect, skill, ceremony, etiquette, and a sense of community that is difficult to describe. There is also pride, honour, prestige, and reputation on the line for everyone involved from the matadors to the ranch owners. After watching five nights, 15 matadors/novilleros, 45 banderilleros, and 30 faenas, Jo and I both felt more like aficionados than we had before walking in.

I have to admit, and I later did to Jo, that I am glad we changed our plans to follow a torero around Spain. Europe is fairly accessible for Americans. We can get to Copenhagen, Hamburg, Krakow, Dubrovnik, you name it, fairly easily from the US. What we can't do is take the extended amount of time off necessary to really involve ourselves in a unique aspect of a given culture by traveling across a country to experience it night after night. The closest I have come to this experience in the past was my deployment to the Sahara, where I spent several months working with local forces, getting to know them, their city, and their culture.

Jo and I decided, separately but also together, that we would come back next year for another bullfighting season. On my own, I decided I really wanted to understand bullfighting on a deeper level. I've since re-read "The Sun Also Rises," and I read "The Spanish Bull," a sort of beginner's guide to bullfighting. The latter has a chapter on the moral discussions of bullfighting that I recommend to everyone, regardless of which side of the argument you fall.

I used to make fun of men who watch sports day-in and day-out, know everything about their team or favourite players, and re-watch old games that they've seen a hundred times (actually, I still do when it comes to most sports). But now I'm that guy when it comes to the corridas. One guy asked me in Krakow, "so do you watch football?" I responded, "The only sport I give a damn about is bullfighting." (Just don't tell the Spanish I called it a sport!).

As Jake Barnes said, "Nobody ever lives life all the way up except bull-fighters."