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 by John Clare
10 October 2010 - Bullfights in
the Algarve
Last month a strange thing
happened here in the Algarve. The village of Monchique staged a
bullfight. At least, it was billed as that.
The fight was about as one-sided as one could get. The bull was
disfigured, and weakened before the fight. It's horns were covered up,
and it was harried by a whole host of people with weapons. It was a
piece of deliberate baiting of an animal by a bunch of frightened
people too gutless to go out and face a proper bull.
It was also a very stupid thing to do for a country that is dependent
upon tourists for its very survival. The damage done abroad is beyond
calculation. The outrage on the bulletin boards is not just a
hysterical outburst, but honestly felt sadness and almost disbelief
that people in what they thought was a civilized country can behave in
such a disgustingly barbaric manner.
The conclusion many people will obviously come to is that the
Portuguese are not civilized, and are not fit to be admitted into
civilized company.
Obviously not all Portuguese should not be lumped together in this
reaction, and it is sad that the idiots who started this thing have
done so much damage to the image of the nation as a whole.
The bad news is that the baiting continues. It is called a rodeo. It is
not. It is a bull-baiting.
If a man had the guts to go out in a ring and face a real bull maybe we
could accept the situation. But when the men are such craven little
creeps it demeans everyone who has anything to do with it.
I dont like saying this, but I really think tourists should cross
Monchique off the list of places to visit. It is the only way to get
the message through. There is a nasty smell in Monchique. I shall not
be going back.
Once upon a time bullfights in Spain were part of a religious ceremony.
They were part and parcel of a way of life that derived from
christianity. They were part of the same mentality that claimed
pleasure to be a sin, and that the way to salvation is through pain and
suffering.
I'm sorry to say that theory has a long and hallowed history in
christian thought. It was certainly part of the daily learning for
children in Spain up to the time of the end of the Franco regime, when
they had to read books about the suffering and tortures endured by the
saints. The stories I used to read to children when I travelled through
Spain as a teenage bum used to give me the creeps. Bullfights were in
this tradition of a religious catharsis analogous to the crucifixion.
The theory is that you can only reach redemption thru extreme pain. The
bull is a substitute for those who are not prepared to suffer the pain
themselves.
It is interesting to note Lorca's poem on the death of the famous
bullfighter, Manolete. He makes the religious connection crystal clear.
That's where it all started, and unless you subscribe to that
particular view of christianity (and it occurs in several other
religions) then there is no excuse for passing off pain onto others. In
short, it means you are showing to the world that you are a coward and
cant cope yourself, or you are a sadist.
It is now quite some time since sacrifices were made illegal in every
country on the planet. Such religious practices have long since become
taboo. How is it the secular variety still survive?
I do have a chapter on all this in my book on Spain. It's called Catharthis
at
Five. I have written up my experiences travelling through Spain
back in the early sixties when most of Spain was largely medieval. Do
have a look. And tell me what
you think.
john
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