Bullfighting in Spain

Bullfighting is the most traditional of Spanish Fiestas. The Spanish people consider them art forms which are intimately linked with their country’s history, art and culture.  Pressure groups attempt to lobby against bullfighting yet the King of Spain himself has been quoted as saying that the day the EU bans bullfighting is the day Spain leaves the EU.

Bullfighting can be traced back to ancient days. They were popular spectacles in ancient Rome, but it was in the Iberian Peninsula that these contests were fully developed by the Moors from North Africa who overran Andalucia in AD 711. Bullfighting developed into a ritualistic occasion observed in connection with feast days, on which the conquering Moors, mounted on highly trained horses, confronted and killed the bulls.

Today bullfighting is big business in Spain with the top matadores earning comparable salaries to the nation's top soccer stars and rock idols.