Why is bullfighting so popular

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A.� Why indeed It's a great Hispanic tradition that's both exciting and colourful. It's also sadistic. More than 10,000 bulls are tortured and killed each year in Europe's bullrings. The season is just starting now. Persistent campaigns by animal welfare groups have stopped bullfights in many countries. Attempts to introduce bullfighting have been successfully stopped in Eygpt, Mozambique, Greece, Italy and Poland. < xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />

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Q.� So this so-called sport is in decline

A.� Apparently not. It's a national sport that's gaining, not losing, popularity.

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One bull sees red

A.�Yes. Almost to prehistoric times. The origins of the plaza, the bullring, probably pre-date Roman amphitheatres and go as far back as Celt-Iberian temples. Bulls were certainly sacrificed to the Gods as part of the Iberian beliefs. The Greeks and Romans helped convert them to a spectacle.

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Q.� What happens at a bullfight

A.� The crowd gathers in the area. Two horsemen, in all their plumed finery, suddenly burst into the middle of the ring at a gallop. They turn aside in opposite directions and gallop round the arena on each side. Then comes the parade of the bullfighters and their entourage, and all the other people who will have some part to play in the event.

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Q.� Such as

A.� The picadors, carrying their lances and the banderilleros.

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Q.� What do they do

A.� They run at the bulls and stick darts into their backs.

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Q.� Nice.

A.� There are others similarly dressed - the peones, who simply play with the bull with their coloured capes so that the bullfighter can watch the way that the bull charges and turns with his horns. The mulillas also take part in the parade. Their horses will drag the body of the dead bull from the ring.

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Q.� This is all awful.

A.� As awful as the spectators who encourage it Now to the actual fight: There are three bullfighters and two bulls for each one. Each bullfight has three standard movements, called tercios. The first tercio takes place as soon as the bull is released into the ring. The peones tempt the bull with their capes. Then the picador appears with his horse and lance. He will pierce the back of the bull with his steel lance to weaken it. The bullfighter then plays with the bull with a yellow cape to learn more about the way it charges and turns.

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Q.� Then

A.� The second tercio begins when the banderilleros run at the bull and stick in large darts, with a small steel hook at the end. The third tercio is when the bullfighter uses his red and yellow cape held by a wooden sword. In the final suerte suprema, the bullfighter uses the muleta, a small red rag. He has to show his mastery to dominate the bull, and to establish an artistic symbiosis between man and beast.

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Q.� Artistic symbiosis This is how the fans talk

A.� Oh yes. The aficionado - the name for a bullfight fan - is full of such phrases. Magazines discuss the sport's complexity and its many facets. Many Western intellectuals, including Ernest Hemmingway, Kenneth Tynan and even the great (and liberal) film-maker Orson Welles fell under the spell of the bullfight.

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Q.� So what happens next

A.� The bullfighter carries out several different movements where he tries to dominate and tire the bull. When the bull is getting exhausted, he changes the wooden sword for a steel one and kills him.

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Q.� And the appalling ritual ends...

A.� Oh no. Once the bull is dead, the president of the arena decides if he will reward the bullfighter. If he has done everything well, the audience appeal for an award - an ear, two ears, the tail - depending on how well he has done. If the crowd doesn't like him, they'll boo and hiss him ... and wait for the next fight.

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Q.� Anything else I need to know

A.� Just a few terms: Toro means bull; plaza de toros, bullring; novillero, a novice fighter; corrida, bullfight; matador, star bullfighter; traje de luces, suit of lights (the bullfighters' colourful sequined suit); �Que se jodan los toros! Me voy al bar means Bugger the bullfight. I'm going for a drink.

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By Steve Cunningham

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