Whattodoinmadrid.com offers you the best bullfighting in Madrid tickets. You may ask yourself what you will see with them, what kind of show you are going to attend. If you are a bullfighting fan, you will already know how this spectacle develops. But if this is going to be your first time, you’ll have to learn some concepts about it. Here is a brief explanation of this ancient show.
Bullfighting is a tradition whose origins are in the Greco-Roman culture. But the so-called ‘game of bulls’, precedent of modern bullfighting, started to take place around 17th and 18th centuries. After that, the development of this show has been different depending on the region: Madrid leads the rest of the country, regarding the quantity of bullfights and the expectation generated. Andalucia and Castilla-La Mancha are right behind Madrid.
There are different types of shows that use a bull as the main character. Of course, the traditional bullfighting, which is called ‘corrida’ in Spanish. But there is a variant, in which the bull is killed with horses in the bullring and it is called ‘rejoneo’. A show of bullfighting which is getting more and more expectation is ‘recortes’: young boys face the bull without any kind of tool or arm and try to dodge the brave charges in a flamboyant way. Another famous show is the ‘encierro’, which is a kind of road race along with the bulls. The most famous ‘encierro’ is San Fermín, in Pamplona (North of Spain). Beside these, there are other types of local traditions related to bulls, which usually take place during their mayor festivities.
The ‘corridas’: how they are
If you buy one of our bullfighting in Madrid tickets, you will attend a traditional Spanish ‘corrida’. Not to be confused with other types of ‘corrida’, such as the Portuguese and the French ones, in which the bull is treated in different ways. These are the main rules of the Spanish ‘corrida’.
The bullfighting takes place in a bullring, which is a circular sandy space called ‘ruedo’ and provided with grandstands. The bull and the ‘torero’ fight in the ruedo, which is separated from the grandstands through a wood wall. The most important bullring in Madrid and in the world is Las Ventas.
The bullfightings usually take place in the afternoon. This show takes between one hour and a half and two hours and a half. Every afternoon six bulls are killed by three ‘toreros’, although sometimes they organize special ‘corridas’ in which the six bulls are killed by the same bullfighter. The bulls belong to a special breed, developed to have a great bravery.
The time the bullfighters spend in killing the bull is called ‘faena’. Every faena takes about 20 minutes and it is divided into three parts, called ‘tercios’. During the first ‘tercio’, the bullfighter calls and dodges the beast with a ‘capote’, a big pink cape, and the bull is pricked by ‘picadores’ riding horses, in order to value the bravery of the bull. During the second ‘tercio’, the bullfighter calls and dodges the bull with a ‘muleta’, a small red cape, and the ‘banderilleros’ prick the beast with ‘banderillas’ (small spears). And during the third ‘tercio’, the ‘torero’ slaughters the bull with a special sword.
If the ‘torero’ fights and kills the bull in a brave and skillful way, he gets a prize: one bull’s ear, the two ears or the two ears and the tail, depending on how much skillful he was. If the bullfighter has been really extraordinary, the jury orders to open the main gate of the bullring and the ‘torero’ gets out through it, carried on shoulders.
But this is reserved to historic occasions. If you buy one of our bullfighting in Madrid tickets, you could be one of the privileged persons in attending it.
