50 Fun Facts About Bullfighting

Who is generally credited with introducing the practice of fighting bulls on foot, around 1726 in Ronda?

Before him, bullfighting was a mounted pastime for noblemen with lances; his grandson Pedro founded the classical Ronda school.

Which matador is credited with the modern bullfighting style of staying within centimetres of the bull?

He was gored many times for it; like Hemingway, who admired him, Belmonte died by his own hand in 1962.

How is a traditional Spanish corrida made up?

Each bull is four to six years old and weighs at least 460 kg.

The bullfight is divided into three stages known by what Spanish name?

Each begins with a bugle call: the lancing third, the banderillas third and the third of death.

The matador's glittering costume is known as what?

It means suit of lights; the lesser banderilleros in silver are known as toreros de plata.

The large cape used in the first stage of a bullfight is which two colours?

The smaller red cloth only appears in the final stage.

What is the mounted lancer in a bullfight called?

He stabs behind the morrillo, the mound of neck muscle, so that the bull carries its head lower for the rest of the fight.

The padded covering that protects the lancer's horse is called what?

Before 1930 horses were unprotected, and more horses than bulls typically died at a fiesta.

Roughly when did picadors' horses begin wearing protection in Spanish bullfights?

Until then the bull would often disembowel the horse during the lancing stage.

The barbed sticks planted into the bull's shoulders in the second stage are called what?

Each of three banderilleros tries to place two of them, and a matador sometimes places his own.

The small red cloth used by the matador in the final stage is called what?

The colour is tradition rather than provocation; the bull is functionally colourblind and charges at movement.

Why does the bull charge the matador's red cloth?

The cloth is thought to have been made red to mask the bull's blood.

The killing thrust with the sword is known as what?

The matador aims between the shoulder blades over the horns; if the bull does not fall, a dagger-like descabello severs the spinal column.

During most of his final performance the matador uses a fake sword made of what?

It is lighter to handle; he switches to the steel estoque de verdad only for the kill.

The whole final performance with the red cloth, a linked dance of passes, is called what?

It is broken into tandas, or series, and the matador heightens the drama by drawing the horns close to his body.

How does the crowd petition the president to award a matador an ear of the bull?

An exceptional performance earns two ears, and in some rural rings the tail as well.

What is an indulto in bullfighting?

A pardoned bull returns to its ranch as a seed-bull for the rest of its life; it happens very rarely.

The opening parade in which the participants salute the presiding dignitary is called what?

The costumes are inspired by 17th-century Andalusian dress and a band plays them in.

The ceremony at which a bullfighter is formally promoted to full matador is called what?

Before it, they fight younger bulls as novilleros; Cristina Sánchez was the first woman to complete hers in Europe.

Which is the largest bullring in the world?

It seats 41,000; the oldest bullrings are the 18th-century plazas of Seville and Ronda.

Manolete, the great matador of the 1940s, died in 1947 after being gored in which town?

The bull was a Miura named Islero; Manolete's death left Spain in shock.

What was the name of the Miura bull that killed Manolete?

The bull's horns turn up as a macabre souvenir in an episode of The Blacklist.

El Cordobés, the 1960s star known for his acrobatic style, took his nickname from which city?

Born Manuel Benítez Pérez, he also acted in films and famously placed banderillas with his back to the charging bull.

In which year did Ángela Hernández win a Supreme Court case overturning Spain's 1908 ban on women bullfighters?

The torera La Reverte had earlier got round the 1908 ban by claiming to have been assigned male at birth.

Cristina Sánchez, who rose to prominence in the 1990s, was the first woman to do what?

She was born in Madrid in 1972; Bette Ford had been the first American woman to fight on foot in the Plaza México decades earlier.

Which nickname did matador Juan José Padilla earn on returning after a 2011 goring cost him an eye?

He came back with an eyepatch and titanium plates in his skull.

The Madrid hospital that specialises in treating matadors' horn wounds is called what?

Over three centuries 534 professional bullfighters have died in the ring or from injuries sustained there.

The main difference between Portuguese and Spanish bullfighting is what?

Oxen are let in to lead the bull out, and it is usually killed later by a butcher; some brave bulls are healed and used for breeding.

In Portuguese bullfighting, what are the eight men who grab the bull bare-handed called?

The frontman provokes the charge and secures the animal's head in a pega de cara, or face grab.

The Portuguese cavaleiro fights the bull from the back of which breed of horse?

The aim is to plant three or four bandeiras, small javelins, in the bull's back.

Which Portuguese frontier town was granted a special exemption in 2002 to keep killing bulls in the ring?

The killing of bulls had been banned in Portugal since 1928; Reguengos de Monsaraz received the same exception in 2014.

In the French course camarguaise, what are the participants trying to snatch from the bull?

The raseteurs use a claw-shaped metal hook, and the bulls themselves are the stars of the show.

The French course landaise differs from other bullfighting in that it uses what animals?

Teams aim to complete at least a hundred dodges and eight leaps over the animal.

France's most important bullfighting venues are the ancient Roman arenas of Arles and which other city?

Spanish-style corridas enjoy legal protection in southern France wherever there is an uninterrupted tradition.

The famous running of the bulls in Pamplona is part of a festival honouring whom?

The Sanfermines run from 6 to 14 July, with the first bull run on 7 July at 8 a.m.

How long is the Pamplona bull run course?

Since records began in 1910, 15 people have been killed on it, most of them gored.

Which two Hemingway books helped make the Pamplona bull run world famous?

Death in the Afternoon, from 1932, called bullfighting the only art in which the artist is in danger of death.

Who wrote The Story of Ferdinand (1936), about a bull who would rather smell flowers than fight?

It appeared weeks after the Spanish Civil War began, was banned in Spain until after Franco's death, and Disney's 1938 short won an Oscar.

Which Spanish region became the first on the mainland to ban bullfighting, in 2010?

The Canary Islands had banned it in 1991 after a campaign; the Catalan campaign was called Prou, meaning enough.

Bull-leaping is thought to have been a key ritual of which civilisation?

Frescoes at Knossos show acrobats vaulting over bulls; scenes have also been found on seals in Syria.

Jallikattu, where participants cling to a running bull's hump, is a tradition of which Indian state?

It is part of the Pongal harvest festival and was banned by India's Supreme Court in 2014 over concerns about mistreatment.

In Japanese bullfighting, togyu, what happens?

Each bull has a coach, and the bout ends immediately if one bull accidentally gores the other.

Which pope's 1567 bull De Salute Gregis banned bullfighting on pain of excommunication?

His successor Gregory XIII rescinded it eight years later at the request of Philip II of Spain.

Which South American country banned bullfighting shortly after independence in 1818, yet made rodeo a national sport?

Chilean rodeo has riders pin a cow against the wall of an oval arena without killing it.

Who abolished bullfighting in Cuba in 1899?

Civic associations pressed for the ban after the Spanish–American War, and independent Cuba kept it after 1902.

In the Philippines, the Americans suppressed bullfighting and it was replaced by which now-popular sport?

Bullfighting had been recorded there as early as 1619 under Spanish rule.

In which year did Colombia's Congress vote to ban bullfighting nationwide from 2027?

President Gustavo Petro had earlier tried to block bullfights as mayor of Bogotá by refusing to lease the bullrings.

Which Spanish region was the first to ban bullfighting, in 1991, though it exempted cockfighting?

Bullfighting had never been popular there and no spectacles had been held since 1984.

Protests by the Portuguese community of which California town led to 'bloodless' bullfights being allowed after 1957?

The bull's horns are shaved and it is not killed, but the events are tied to certain Christian holidays.

Which city symbolically declared itself an Anti-Bullfighting City in 2006?

Catalonia went on to ban bullfighting outright in 2010.