Maybe most of you are interested (or just curious) about bullfighting. But in Spain the interest is less and less every day. Only a few among young people like bullfighting (in the cities, of course; in villages tradition is still strong). Cataluña goverment is thinking about forbid "las corridas", something that already happens in Canarias.

Surprised?

PADM we have had this discussion many times on this message board . I love the bullfights , I go many times , and know , for example , that during the Feria de San Isidro .. 22,000 people are at the plaza de Toros ( Ventas ) EVERY day for 2 weeks ! Many are very young . Some are just children . And everybody loves it ! They will never forbid bullfights in Madrid .. And Cataluña will have a big "fight" to stop the Corridas . I hope , with all my heart , that the bullfights will continue and I will look forward to seeing them next year . The spectacle of the bullfight is amazing .. The toreros with their "Trajes de Luces " , the picadores , los caballos . los toros . I know that the bulls will be killed . It´s part of the soul of Spain ... El Alma de España .

PADM:

I am very interested in learning about what the young people think of bullfighting. I am a US Spanish teacher and my students are fascinated with the subject. Like Steve, I also enjoy the bullfight. The last time I went (June 21, 2009) the stadium seemed more empty than full and I was surrounded by a lot of foreigners. Is it becoming more of a tourist event? How do you, as a Spaniard feel about it? Is it worth it to have the bullfight if the main crowd is tourists?

And Steve, a question for you: If bullfighting ever became something that only tourists attended, would you still support it or do you think it should also be supported by Spaniards? (I know that it is a tradition that hopefully won't fade away, but I'm just asking)

Going back to the popular San Isidro festival ... I could not buy tickets .. Everything was taken by the "abonos" .. season tickets .. Totally Spanish . I agree the tourists will be there at other times .. many of them .. but go to any magazine kiosk and you can buy the bullfighting magazines . It´s still immensely popular here in Madrid !
I support the bullfights because it´s a tradition of Spain . But I will support it and fight for it even if the Spanish government tryed to ban it ( unlikely ).

Sorry, I'm new in this forum and I didn't notice you have had this discussion before. Anyway...

Steve, 22.000 people is not a big number. Yes, there's still a great support for bullfighting, but it's decreasing day by day, specially in the cities, and specially among the youngs. There is not a great organizated movement against the misnamed "fiesta", people attitude is more like indifference. And I hope that spanish soul will be more than an animal torture.

Teachertraveller, I used to like bullfighting a long ago. My family has got a great relationship with the Bull's world (?). I wasn't an expert, but I liked it. Gradually I realised that bullfighting is not anything but torture; and torture can't be justified by any matter of aesthetics or tradition. This is the point of view of many of the people I know. Bullfighting will survive for a while, supported by the traditional part of society, but it will slowly fade away. I wish.

And thank you for your answers.

No worries PADM . As you can see there are very opposite and sometimes strong views on this subject . But just one point and then I´ll stop talking ! 22,000 is the maximum capacity of ventas . 14 days of that is over 300,000 people ! And I could not get a ticket ! But this is an emotive subject so now I will keep quiet .

Like PADM says there isn’t a big anti movement more an indifference. The majority of Spanish who go to bullfights only go during their local fiesta, and don’t bother with it the rest of the year, as can be seen by the half empty Las Ventas the rest of the temporada.
The Catalan anti movement , I think was started as a more of a political thing , seeing the corridas as a Spanish thing and they like to think of themselves as different from Spain . But if you goto the French part of Catalunya , they are very proud of their bullfighting tradition , and place a big importance on the picadors , where as in some Spanish bullrings the picadors can be booed straight away.
The bull is killed in the ring in front of your eyes using acient methods . But the average bull killed in the ring will have lived to 4 to 5 years . A hell of a lot more than the beef cattle you are eating . 10 times better than the factory farmed food, which have no life and then death, probably not a pleasant one .
Steve San Isidro lasts more like a month rather than a fortnight .

He,he,he, good answer, Steve. And, please, keep talking, this is funny.

But , Joe , do thay have a fight every day for that whole month ? I only seem to remember a 2 week long period of fights every day ..... I just know it was impossible to get tickets , and that when I was in the queue at Ventas there were many guys infront of me buying 100 tickets at a time . Only the grados were available to us mere mortals !!!

This year they started with 4 corridas from the 30th of april till the 4th of May for the 2nd of may celebrations , then san Isidro started in the 7th of may for 25 nights finishing on the 31st of may .Then there was 6 nights of corridas from the 2nd of June for the feria del Anivesario , which started in 2006 for the 75th anniversary and they have kept going .