About 15km from Gumiel
de Mercado is a town called Roa which recently held their
fiestas patronales. The fiesta is somewhat infamous in the area and runs for
four days. There is live music and parties at night but the real
attraction is in the morning. The town is no bigger than a few
thousand at most but they hold their own version of the running of
the bulls. Since human and animal rights have become more prominent
in Spain, many of the fiestas patronales have become somewhat watered
down, aka, safer and more responsible. However, traditions remain
strong and authentic in rural areas where fiestas are less likely to
be scrutinized and changed.
The first running takes
place at 9AM, extremely early for the average Spanish person. This is
a result of the festivities carrying on throughout the night. It is
well known, accepted and even encouraged for the youth to stay up all
night drinking and partying, followed by a running of the bulls. The
town offers free soup before running, a rural specialty called sopa
de ajo (garlic soup), a simple dish consisting of day-old stale
bread, garlic,olive oil, red pepper and water, most commonly consumed
in the winter. This acts as a replenishing meal of sorts for those
planning on running. The meal is organized by the asociación de
amas de casa, loosely translated to the housewives association,
another clear indicator of how rural Roa is.
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| Free soup! |
The main corridor is
constructed through the city and although it is temporary, it is
strong enough to withstand the bulls and thin enough that you can
easily slide through the bars. As the time got closer to the running,
those brave enough to run with the bulls congregated and stretched.
Many continued drinking beer, wine and hard alcohol. Although I
didn't stay up all night partying, I knew the familiar look in many
of the people's eyes; intense alcohol consumption paired with sleep
deprivation.
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| A volunteer medic and excited runner get ready. |
Before the bulls were
let loose there were two cannon-like firecracker signals to let
everyone get prepared, and another when they were released. While the
bulls weren't very large and there weren't as many as I expected,
they were running fast with throngs of people in front of and behind
them. I was a bit disappointed there weren't more people in the thick
of it, though unbeknown to me at the time, there was more.
A sign of a village
developing into a town is the presence of a 'plaza de toros'.
These plazas are found throughout cities in Spain and are typically
constructed for these very types of events. Sometimes they will host
concerts or other events, but their main purpose is for the once a
year event of the bulls, specifically for corridas de toros
(bull fighting and killing the bull).
The bulls run through
the streets ended at the plaza de toros. T̈he same canon-like
signal is broadcast to let everyone know the bulls had reached. After
the last bull had run, the crowd filled into the stadium. There were
two doors, one labeled 'sol' (sun) and one 'sombra'
(shade), and each took you to the respective side of the stadium. The
signs were ornate and permanent, indicating that these events always
took place at the same time of the day (afternoon).
As people filled the
stadium the buzz was contagious. People were anxious in anticipation
for the first bull to be let out. A group of people had set up two
props: a kind of hollow box, resembling an empty foosball table, and
a small elevated stand with an iron pole-like structure in the
middle. I was initially confused by the presence of these objects but
soon found out their utility.
After everything was
set up, they let the first bull out in the ring. I was shocked as the
ring was full of two dozen or so young men, all of them completely
amateurs and the majority obviously drunk. Meanwhile the bull ran
wild and their provocations only further angered him. Most of the
guys only provoked the bull until it turned their direction, at which
point they scampered to the nearest wall and desperately flung
themselves over it. The walls were just high enough that one needed
to have some athletic ability to clear it resulting in some people
flipping over the wall, much to the delight of the crowd.
Occasionally there were brave souls that stood the bull head on and
dodged the horns at the last minute. When well executed they received
a collective audible gasp of breath from the crowd and a raucous
applause. It was as close to Roman games at the Colosseum than I think
I'll ever get.
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| Dodging the bulls. |
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| The bull is released and immediately goes for those along the wall. |
The loudest cheer of
the morning came when an over-zealous and drunk guy finally got what
was coming to him. He was showing off a little too dramatically and
reveling in crowd glory before the bull had moved onto another
target. He was narrowly gored a few times and on one pass he was
finally caught and pinned to the ground by the bull. He quickly
recovered, pounced on his feet, faced the bull head on, and when the
bull charged he leaped over the bull, using his head as a kind
of stepping stone. It was something out of Crouching Tiger Hidden
Dragon and the fact that seconds earlier he had been pinned under the
bull made it all the more spectacular. The crowd ate it up and he
received a thundering ovation. Drunk with glory, he attempted to
provoke the bull again, only to realize that he had sustained an
injury and was limping.
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| Showdown. |
There were a total of
three bulls, each of them getting progressively more aggressive and
in turn, the boldness of the participants decreased. Spain is
traditionally an extremely masculine culture and these events used to
have a major role in the display of locals bravery. Although this
aspect might still be part of the event, I doubt these men get the
glory of those in years past. It was still fun to watch and there
were certainly some very good moments, especially with the props.
When people jumped inside the hollow fooseball table, they thought
they were safe, but the bull attempted several times to overturn the
structure. The bull also managed to frighten a guy up the iron pole,
making him appear something like a cat stuck in a tree.
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| I bet they didn't count on the bull stepping on the platform. |
The whole thing was
equally entertaining as it was shocking. I mean, to put people in a
ring with bulls is dangerous enough. The fact that these guys were
amateurs almost guaranteed something would go wrong and add in the
fact that they were drunk, well, I am shocked no one died. When I
asked about the danger of someone dying it was explained that usually
people will come and distract the bull if they have pinned someone.
And although no one wants to see anyone get killed, there is a
certain longing for disaster that no one vocalizes but everyone hopes
for. In fact, a few years back there was a bull that killed someone
and all the other small villages with events with bulls wanted to
rent the bull. It was some kind of celebrity killer bull for fiestas
across Spain.
I went back for another
round on the last day and I found they had gotten rid of the props.
The wannabe matadors were fewer in number and not as bold (or
drunk) as the first day. The crowd was a bit restless and several
murmurs of 'this isn't very exciting' and 'all these guys are
cowards' could be heard all around. This was only accentuated by the
fact that the bull was now standing in the middle, leisurely peeing
after surveying the empty arena. The wannabe matadors must
have felt the same because they soon stepped up their performance. A
couple of guys ended up getting mauled, one of them getting pinned
against the wall and coming up with a torn shirt (which the crowd
loved).
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| This guy bit off more than he could chew. |
A big highlight and the
most serious injury came when a young guy drinking a cup of wine was
inside the arena and got caught unexpectedly off guard. He was on the
opposite side of the bull and was enjoying himself, taunting the bull
and joking with friends. Suddenly, the bull came full steam from
across the arena and it took the guy a second to realize he was too
far from the wall. He immediately turned and bolted for the wall,
throwing his cup of wine in the air in dramatic fashion. He nearly
escaped but obviously had trouble climbing the wall and as he pushed
himself over the bull caught up to him and shoved him even further in
the air. The resulting flight of the poor guy was something out of a
cartoon as he shot high in the air and subsequently disappeared
behind the wall falling face first. Because of the way the wall is
positioned, people often jump over the wall and from the seats above
it's unclear if they landed properly. Well, it was obvious to
everyone right away that this guy wasn't going to pop right up. A
crowd rushed over and the medics were standing by so he received
immediate attention. After a minute or two he popped up and received
a nice ovation from the crowd.
The fiesta up to this
point had been fantastic and a great introduction to the prominence
of bulls in Spanish culture. I was satisfied and could have gone home
happy. Then, a rare, exciting, and dangerous event occurred.
The bull jumped the
first wall. How an animal that big jumps a wall that more adept and
agile humans struggle with is beyond me, but it did it. And
pandemonium ensued.
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| The bull being directed back to the interior. He received pats on the back and butt slaps like a professional athlete. |
I had been told that
the bulls occasionally jump the walls, but that it was rare. And
luckily there was another wall that separated the tiered spectator
seating but there were still a lot of people in the area the bull
jumped into. Some of them were among those that would provoke the
bulls, but the majority were just those who wanted to be close to the
action but not actually get their hands dirty. All those standing in
the area immediately tried to jump over the fence and enter in to the
main ring as the bull, suddenly panicked by the confined space, moved
through the narrow area.
The bull was eventually
led back into the ring but the crowd remained on their feet. I
couldn't help but smile as I looked over towards the two elderly
gentlemen who had earlier been sitting with their arms crossed
complaining about the lack of action, now grinning ear to ear,
apparently now satisfied with the amount of action.
