Portuguese Bullfight

My last night in Nazaré I was able to attend my first tourada (bullfight) which also happened to my first bullfight ever.  The tourada started with the bull charging into the ring towards the a cavaleiro (a mounted horseman).  The first thing I noticed was that the bull had its horns capped with leather.  This was a direct result from the gory death of Count dos Arcos, a Portuguese nobleman, in 1799.

The bull is distracted and provoked by the backup team of peões de brega (footman) while the cavaleiro sizes him up.  As some might say, with incredible horsemanship, the cavaleiro gallops within inches of the bull's horns and plants several short, barbed bandarilha spears in the bull's neck.

Once the cavaleiro has had his glory, and stuck six bandarrilhas into the bull, the pega enter.  The pega is a team of eight young, volunteer forcados dressed in breeches, white stockings and short jackets.  The pega face the bull in a single line and the leader swaggers towards the bull from across the ring, provoking it to charge.  The bull charges and the leader bears the brunt of the attack by throwing himself onto the bulls head and grabbing the horns while the rest of the team rush in behind him to try and immobilize the beast, sometimes being tossed like rag dolls.  Their success marks the end of the contest and the bull is lead out of the ring among a herd of steers.  Since Portugal prohibits a public kill therefore the bull is taken away from the event and dispatched in private.

The bullring and a memento.

The three cavaleiros on the nights venue strutting around before the fight.

Here is one of the peões de brega flaunting his stuff before the cavaleiro.

You can see the bull's charge and the results of getting too close.

This cavaleiro has just started to charge the bull hoping to get a close and clean run while getting the direct jab of the spears.

Here the bull awaits the next phase of the fight.

The forcados in action.