This morning I opened the Melbourne Herald Sun web site and was confronted by a picture of David Fandila, “El Fandi”, fighting a bull at Lima’s famous bull fighting ring, the Plaza de Acho. Would you believe I was actually there yesterday watching all the action live! The stadium is an amazing piece of architecture, built in 1766, and because of the closeness of the crowd the atmosphere was unbelievable. It ranges from total silence to cheers, whistling, clapping and many “ole”s!
The “pre-match” entertainment consisted of some great precision marching and rifle drilling by a unit of military personnel.
This was followed by eight women performing on wonderful prancing horses.Bull fighting in Peru is based on the Spanish-style bullfighting and is called corrida de toros, running of the bulls. In the traditional bull fight the three matadors each fight two bulls. Each matador has six assistants — two picadores or lancers mounted on horseback, three banderilleros or flagmen and the sword carrier.
The modern bull fight is highly ritualised with three distinct stages, the start of each being announced by a blast of a trumpet. The participants first enter the arena in a parade to salute the presiding dignitary, accompanied by band music. The costumes are inspired by 18th century Andalusian clothing and matadors are easily distinguished by their spectacular "suit of lights".
Next the bull enters the ring to be tested for ferocity by the matador and banderilleros with their magenta and gold capes. They work together to continually run it around the ring.
In the first contest the bull had two victories! Firstly, it knocked the matador down and secondly it managed to toss the matador into the air! After gathering his composure he returned to the cheers of the crowd.
In the first stage, the matador confronts the bull and observes his behavior. Next, a picador enters the arena on horseback armed with a lance. To protect the horse from the bull's horns, the horse is surrounded by a protective cover and is also blind folded.
At this point, the picador stabs a mound of muscle on the bull's neck, leading to the animal's first loss of blood. The manner in which the bull charges the horse provides important clues to the matador on which side the bull is favoring. If the picador does his job well, the bull will hold its head and horns lower during the following stages of the fight. This makes it slightly less dangerous while enabling the matador to perform the elegant passes of modern bullfighting.In the next stage, the three banderilleros each attempt to plant two razor sharp barbed sticks on the bull's flanks, ideally as close as possible to the wound where the picador drew first blood. These further weaken the enormous ridges of neck and shoulder muscle through loss of blood, while also frequently spurring the bull into making more ferocious charges.
In the final stage, the matador re-enters the ring alone with a small red cape and a sword. He uses his cape to attract the bull in a series of passes, both demonstrating his control over it and risking his life by getting especially close to it. This stage ends with a final series of passes in which the matador with a sword attempts to manoeuvre the bull into a position to stab it between the shoulder blades and through the aorta or heart.
My final impressions – the pageantry and theatre was really worthwhile witnessing, however, I did not enjoy the final dispatching of the bull, especially when it sometimes takes a little longer than I thought it would. Would I go again? I don’t think so.
