Bull Fighting in Spain

As I have mentioned all ready, over the summer I went to Spain with two of my good friends. While I was there I learned a lot about their culture and way of life. Some things in their culture I loved and wanted to continue learning about even once I got back to the United States. Not everything about their culture was like this though. Towards the end of our trip in Spain we had the option to go to a bull fight. I knew it would be very gruesome and I really didn’t want to go. After thinking about it I thought, I am only going to be in Spain once (I hope to go again but you never know) I should make the most of it and learn everything I possibly can. So I bought my ticket, which I believe was around 30 Euros, and went to the fight. It was very gruesome and sad just as I had expected. There is a long process to kill the bull, which maybe I will explain in a later post. There were 3 bull fighters and each of them killed 6 bulls. Even though it was not the best situation I experienced while I was in Spain I can honestly say I am glad I went and saw that part of their culture. To the Spaniards, going to a Sunday night Bull Fighting is like watching Sunday night football or going to the Iowa football games on Saturdays is to a American. In the United States, there is a lot more awareness of animal cruelty. In Spain it is not unusual to see more cruelty towards animals particularly with bulls. There is a select few animal rights activists in Spain who protest the bull fights but they have very little success because bull fighting is so ingrained in the minds and the culture of the Spanish people. I would say that I am against the bull fights, but it does make me feel a little bit better knowing that the meat of the bull is sold after every show.