A historic but undoubtedly controversial symbol of Portugal is the corrida, in Portuguese tourada. It differs essentially from the Spanish bullfight in that the bull is not killed in the arena, and in the central role of the horse and the forcados. It is not a tradition everyone loves, however: the wounds inflicted on the animal have always sparked debate across the country.
How it works
The tourada opens with a parade of the participants in costume. The first part belongs to the cavaleiro, the horseman who faces the bull riding a Lusitano horse. The bull's horns are covered with leather padding, or trimmed and capped, to protect the horse. The rider must get the bull to chase him, dodge its charges with great skill and, as it attacks, plant farpas, banderillas, long shafts with a metal point, in its back. This is the most spectacular part and also the most contested, because the banderillas wound the animal.
When the bull is tired, the eight forcados come on, young men who face it bare-handed, without weapons. The group leader provokes the bull, calling and challenging it until it charges; at the moment of impact the forcado throws himself onto the animal's head, between the horns, and his companions rush in to hold it still, while the last one, the rabejador, grabs its tail. This manoeuvre, the pega de caras, is the most characteristic part of the tourada and also the most dangerous: forcados are often injured. Finally the bull is led out of the arena among a group of tame oxen.
The bull does not die in the arena
Killing the bull in the arena was banned in the first half of the nineteenth century and the ban was made definitive by a law of 1928. That does not mean the animal is spared: after the show the wounded bull is usually slaughtered, and only rarely are the best animals treated and kept for breeding. The only exception to the ban is the town of Barrancos, in the Alentejo on the Spanish border, where since 2002 the law allows the bull to be killed during the late-August festivities, in the name of an unbroken tradition.
Where and when
The season runs from April to October. Bullfights are concentrated in the Ribatejo, the land of bulls and horses, in towns such as Santarém, Vila Franca de Xira and Salvaterra de Magos, in the Alentejo and in the Azores, while they are rare in the north. In Lisbon they take place in the historic neo-Moorish Campo Pequeno arena, which also hosts concerts and events. In Vila Franca de Xira, during the Colete Encarnado festival in July, bulls run through the streets, as they also do in the Azores' touradas à corda, where the bull is held on a long rope.
An open debate
The tourada divides the country. For supporters it is an art and a centuries-old tradition, tied to bull and horse breeding and the identity of many rural communities. For opponents it is a cruel spectacle with no place in a modern country. In recent years several municipalities, such as Viana do Castelo, have declared themselves anti-bullfighting, the minimum age to attend has been raised to 16, and the issue regularly returns to Parliament and to public debate on televising bullfights and VAT on tickets. Audiences are falling, but part of the population remains strongly attached to this tradition, which, with all its good and bad sides, has given Portuguese bullfighting a character of its own. For other traditions see the page on Portuguese traditions.