The band for the bullfights
Local Matador with the anxious wife
Apprentice bullfighter
Local Torreodor
Professional? Most looked the part.
Triumphant Torreodor
Roger with the cooking pot.
Lunch cooking. If you look closely you will see hoofs.This was a great day – the final day of the Feria which had been a 3-day event although I only went to part of Day 1 and didn't go to Day 2. I went with Suzette and Roger and we met lots of their friends there. The location was at the school just down the street from us so we just walked there.
As we entered the event location we stopped to look at what was cooking on the open fire – several large pots that obviously beef shins and hoofs simmering in red wine. Fortunately I’m from Southern California where one of my favorite Mexican foods is Menudo made with cow hoofs so I wasn’t daunted.
The first event of the day was the highlight – the actual bullfights. These are south of France bullfights and the bull isn’t killed or stabbed with darts as is done in Spain. Of course it isn’t for everyone but I did find it interesting on a lot of levels. We sat in the stands with Suzette & Roger’s friends who were very enthusiastic – lots of clapping, cheers, singing, and many olé’s. A band played music during the entire event – mostly songs from “Carmen” e.g., Toreador, Toreador.
There several toreodors/matadors – I say that not in the usual sense of what most of us think of when we hear matador. What I usually think of is the Spanish, slim, very handsome young man who seems much like a ballet dancer. Those at the Abeilhan Feria were not this stereotype. There were 3, or if you count the young apparent apprentice, there were four. One was a more traditional one – slim and dressed in costume. Then there were two, one older than the other, wearing white shirts from the local bullfighting club. Both of these were on the heavy side (one with a pronounced middle-aged belly). Then there was a young-20s male very slim and in no particular costume – looked like he had just graduated from the Toro Piscine event. The portable ring has two places on the inside with places for the matadors to take cover when needed. Because two of these guys were pretty big this shelter space was limited.
The first bull was released and the more professional matador took him on. He uses the cape like a Spanish matador with a sword appearing weapon inside of it. Unlike the Spanish matador though, he uses it to give structure to the cape. He got the bull to take passes at him and, although many of the passes looked great, on several occasions he dropped the cape and ran from the bull. The others would come out as soon as this started to happen and try to distract the bull. After about 10 minutes the door to the ramp to the bull truck opened and the bull was happy to run into it.
The next performance was by the oldest, fattest, local matador. His bull entered and he did a face off with him. The matador made a very menacing facial expression that reminded me of the New Zealand Maori warrior. As the bull charged this matador actually was quite graceful and performed well. At one point however, he got into trouble and the bull attacked him from the rear. Fortunately these bulls have the protector balls on their horns and so the matador was not gored. He regained confidence and continued with his performance.
The third matador was also much better than I had expected based upon his stature. His bull had probably the most aggressive of the bunch and it was pretty frightening to watch. Suzette pointed out to me that this matador’s wife was standing by the official’s stand with her several children but had her back turned so that she wasn’t watching. She was obviously scared to death and I felt bad for her – victim of her husband’s matchismo. In the end he did very well and received a standing ovation, and lots of carnations, from the crowd.
Another bull was released into the ring and he was bigger and much more aggressive than the other 3. No one took him on and he went back to the truck.
A much smaller bull was released and the “apprentice” took a couple minor passes with him holding the cape in both hands and without the sword inside. Then they released a “petite bull for the children” and few of the more accomplished Toro Piscine graduates ran around with it.
At the conclusion all the matadors and the bull’s handlers took their bows in the ring and the crowd enthusiastically cheered. Everyone seemed to find the bullfight to be a huge success. And then we had lunch……
Lunch was a lot of fun. It required a reservation. We were seated at tables. The conversation for me of course was a bit difficult but usually I had some idea about what they were talking about. The crowd was really the local people – I didn’t see any ex-pats there that I recognized. Language was a mix of French and Spanish. As you could see from the Feria – the culture here is a real mix of Catalan, Spanish, and French. Everyone was very friendly to me even though I was the only one at the table not from this area (other than a German man who was with a woman from Beziers and he spoke many languages). Lunch consisted of melon with sweet wine inside of the hollow, prosciutto, Carmargue bull/potato stew (which was actually delicious), and dessert of a packaged ice cream one. There was of course plenty of local wine included.
Then we took a couple of hour break – went home to rest etc. and then we all returned at 7 pm. We just “hung out” and later ate really good mussels and frites. The mussels were cooked over an open fire and sauced with tomatoes and sausage. They were great.
Afterwards a pretty good band played and everybody danced. It was a very, very, fun and interesting day.
As we entered the event location we stopped to look at what was cooking on the open fire – several large pots that obviously beef shins and hoofs simmering in red wine. Fortunately I’m from Southern California where one of my favorite Mexican foods is Menudo made with cow hoofs so I wasn’t daunted.
The first event of the day was the highlight – the actual bullfights. These are south of France bullfights and the bull isn’t killed or stabbed with darts as is done in Spain. Of course it isn’t for everyone but I did find it interesting on a lot of levels. We sat in the stands with Suzette & Roger’s friends who were very enthusiastic – lots of clapping, cheers, singing, and many olé’s. A band played music during the entire event – mostly songs from “Carmen” e.g., Toreador, Toreador.
There several toreodors/matadors – I say that not in the usual sense of what most of us think of when we hear matador. What I usually think of is the Spanish, slim, very handsome young man who seems much like a ballet dancer. Those at the Abeilhan Feria were not this stereotype. There were 3, or if you count the young apparent apprentice, there were four. One was a more traditional one – slim and dressed in costume. Then there were two, one older than the other, wearing white shirts from the local bullfighting club. Both of these were on the heavy side (one with a pronounced middle-aged belly). Then there was a young-20s male very slim and in no particular costume – looked like he had just graduated from the Toro Piscine event. The portable ring has two places on the inside with places for the matadors to take cover when needed. Because two of these guys were pretty big this shelter space was limited.
The first bull was released and the more professional matador took him on. He uses the cape like a Spanish matador with a sword appearing weapon inside of it. Unlike the Spanish matador though, he uses it to give structure to the cape. He got the bull to take passes at him and, although many of the passes looked great, on several occasions he dropped the cape and ran from the bull. The others would come out as soon as this started to happen and try to distract the bull. After about 10 minutes the door to the ramp to the bull truck opened and the bull was happy to run into it.
The next performance was by the oldest, fattest, local matador. His bull entered and he did a face off with him. The matador made a very menacing facial expression that reminded me of the New Zealand Maori warrior. As the bull charged this matador actually was quite graceful and performed well. At one point however, he got into trouble and the bull attacked him from the rear. Fortunately these bulls have the protector balls on their horns and so the matador was not gored. He regained confidence and continued with his performance.
The third matador was also much better than I had expected based upon his stature. His bull had probably the most aggressive of the bunch and it was pretty frightening to watch. Suzette pointed out to me that this matador’s wife was standing by the official’s stand with her several children but had her back turned so that she wasn’t watching. She was obviously scared to death and I felt bad for her – victim of her husband’s matchismo. In the end he did very well and received a standing ovation, and lots of carnations, from the crowd.
Another bull was released into the ring and he was bigger and much more aggressive than the other 3. No one took him on and he went back to the truck.
A much smaller bull was released and the “apprentice” took a couple minor passes with him holding the cape in both hands and without the sword inside. Then they released a “petite bull for the children” and few of the more accomplished Toro Piscine graduates ran around with it.
At the conclusion all the matadors and the bull’s handlers took their bows in the ring and the crowd enthusiastically cheered. Everyone seemed to find the bullfight to be a huge success. And then we had lunch……
Lunch was a lot of fun. It required a reservation. We were seated at tables. The conversation for me of course was a bit difficult but usually I had some idea about what they were talking about. The crowd was really the local people – I didn’t see any ex-pats there that I recognized. Language was a mix of French and Spanish. As you could see from the Feria – the culture here is a real mix of Catalan, Spanish, and French. Everyone was very friendly to me even though I was the only one at the table not from this area (other than a German man who was with a woman from Beziers and he spoke many languages). Lunch consisted of melon with sweet wine inside of the hollow, prosciutto, Carmargue bull/potato stew (which was actually delicious), and dessert of a packaged ice cream one. There was of course plenty of local wine included.
Then we took a couple of hour break – went home to rest etc. and then we all returned at 7 pm. We just “hung out” and later ate really good mussels and frites. The mussels were cooked over an open fire and sauced with tomatoes and sausage. They were great.
Afterwards a pretty good band played and everybody danced. It was a very, very, fun and interesting day.
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