Consistent cow flock is not easy. But much more difficult and more dangerous to enter into direct martial arts with an angry bull. It is not by chance that the victory over such a powerful opponent was perceived not only as a manifestation of male valor, but also as a real duel with death, a symbol of curling by a man of wild natural strength and power over it.
Such plots were so common in the culture that they even came up with a special term - "Tavromachiya" (ancient Greek. "Fighting by bulls").
For example, God Mitra, who was very popular in the Roman Empire, often depict the killing bull (after which the cerebral grain grapes grows from the brain, and grapes from the blood).
About the duel with a bull tells and the Sumerian "Song of Gilgamesh". One day her hero - Gilgamesh - rejected the sexual harassment of the Goddess Ishtar itself. For that the angry goddess was on him a huge heavenly bull.
Unable to dear such "insult", Hilgamesh, together with another Enkida Bull, was killed, and even, apparently, cut off his male dignity and abandoned it right to Ishtar.
Ishtar climbed onto the wall of the fenced Uruk, spread out, threw a damn: "Mount Hilgameshu! He was disgraced, killing a bull! " Spear Eneckida these speeches Ishtar, pulled the root of the bull, threw her face: "And with you, only to get, - how would I do with him, wrapped it on you!" The Ishtar of Ladurinee, Bludnits and Girls convened, the root of the bull to mourn steel ...
The current center of bovine cult and Tavromakhi was an ancient Crete. On the frescoes of the Poala Palace, you can see how slender young men are played with bulls whole acrobatic ideas - they grab them for the horns and are made through the backs of animals real alders.
What to talk about the ancient Greek myths! For example, in the list of Herculecial feats under No. 8, there is a taming of the Cretan Bull. Hercules not only told him, but also saddled. After that, overwhelmed the shed between Crete and the pelopones. True, the bull for stupidity was released, and he began to rush in Greece, learning pogroms and riots, until he was bombed by another hero - Teshen. Killed sacrificed, and he moved to the sky, becoming the zodiacal constellation of the Taurus. Remember, Vysotsky: "And his star sign - Taurus - a cold Milky Way lacqual ..."?
However, according to another version, the constellation symbolized another bull - the one in which Zeus turned into, kidding Europe (but about the tricks of Zeus - later).
No less known myth and other Cretan messenger - Minotaur, Mix of a bull and man, locked by Misos in a maze. Interestingly, in the Middle Ages it was believed that Minotaurus looks like the Egyptian sphinx - that is, with the face of man and the body of the beast. However, when they found the ancient Greek images of the monster, it turned out that everything is exactly the opposite ...
Perhaps the Minotaur would have died in the maze of his death, do not even decide to the King Minos to punish the inhabitants of Athens for the murder of the Son. As a redemption of guilt, they had to send the seven Athenian young men and seven Athenian girls to the rejection of Minotaur. So it lasted until the next batch of unfortunate was not focused on the test above. As a result, Minotaurus he killed, and even fascinated daughter Minos - Ariadna, who gave him a tangle, helped to get out of the labyrinth ...
HL Borges "Book of fictional creatures": the idea to build a house so that people in it cannot find exit is perhaps even more strange than a person with a bullish head, but both fiction are successfully combined, and the image of the maze harmonizes the minotaur image . It is quite natural that the monster must dwell in the center of the monstrous house.
The scene of the Tavromakhi is also found in the myth about the search for the Golden Rune. One of the tests of the leader of the Argonauts - Jason - was the taming of the coupling of bulls. Moreover, he had to not kill them, but to harze and plow the field. Which then sowed dragon teeth, from which the army has grown, etc. in the plot ...
Tavromachiya was extremely attractive and survived to this day - in the form of cowboy Rodeo and Spanish Corrida.
When the tradition was originated in Spain to arrange a whole show from battle with bulls, it is still really unknown. But it is known that after the rest of Spain, the Arabs are local to know very loved this bloody entertainment. At first, the Corrid was arranged mainly feudal feudalles, including such famous personalities as LED Campaador (hero epos "song about Mr. Side") and Karl V. Therefore, the chief participant was a knight - riding a horse and with a peak in his hand.
However, at the beginning of the XVIII century, the Tradition of the Corrida changes greatly - it becomes the darling of the lower estates. Some believe that the King-French Philip V, which this entertainment did not like this entertainment. Francisco Romero is considered the founder of the new tradition. It is thanks to him the central participant of the Corrida is not a rider, but a hiking matador.
Matador (he is also Toreador) is the man in an extended gold suit, which seals the passes, waving a red or pink cloak (hood) in front of the bull face, deftly dodges and eventually puts the final mortal blow (usually right in the bullie heart).
It must be said here that the problem is about the fact that the bull is annoying a red color, there is no reason. Flower bulls do not distinguish, but people with a tribune hood bright color is better visible. By the way, this cloak is pretty heavy, so it not only serves as distracted maneuver, but also creates a certain barrier between the bull and Matador.
Federico Garcia Lorca "Plach for Ignacio Sanchez Mexias":
... There was no more beautiful Prince in Seville, nor the sword sword was like that, nor the heart of this. With the river of the Lionin Reva, his power could compare, his foresight was drawn by marble torso ...However, the picadora riders from the corrida also did not share anywhere. Only now they began to fulfill the role of Matador's assistants. At the beginning of the presentation of Picadors, the bull with peaks in the camp, as if weakening the animal and helping the Matador, it is better to appreciate the enemy. This is also a rather dangerous profession - it happens that the bulls plow the horse and overturn along with the rider.
Other Matador Assistants are Bandyrillero. It is they who stick a couple of short decorated copies of the bull in the withers - Bandyrily. Bandyrilies must "cheer" the animal (yes, they are called "pleasure"), that is, to give him the martial spirit, but at the same time to preserve forces.
For a long time, the Corrida remained a national symbol of Spain (the peak of its popularity falls on the 1910-1920s). Among the fans of this spectacle were such celebrities as artists Francisco Goya and Pablo Picasso, Poet Federico Garcia Lorca and even American writer Ernest Hemingway. All of them in one voice claimed that this was not a bloody slaughter, but a high art.
Federico Garcia Lorca:
... Battle of bulls is, maybe the biggest, the most vital and poetic wealth of Spain ... This is a true drama, looking at which the Spaniard sheds its most sincere tears and is experiencing the deepest sorrow.This opinion was divided not all. Jack London wrote annoyed that "only miserable panties are capable of attacking one stupid bull - only miserable pants." And Vladimir Mayakovsky and left at all the idea, not wanting to see the final. He stated that he regret only "that the machine guns cannot be installed on bovine horses and cannot be extended to shoot it."
Even Hemingway, admiringly describing the Corrid and wondering that this spectacle does not cause him disgust, was forced to note in his story "death after noon":
Bull fight is not sport in the Anglo-Saxon sense of the word; In other words, this is not a contest equal and not even sweating on it as part of the rivalry of the bull and man. Rather, it is a tragedy about the death of a bull that is played - more or less artistic - by a bull and man, and where there is a danger to a person, but for the animal in any case, everything ends with death.
Protests against Corrida became especially massive at the end of the 20th century, when the struggle for the "rights" of animals intensified. I did not accidentally take this word in quotes, because in fact there are no animals and there can be no right. Right is a purely human concept implied and responsible.
On the other hand, turning the murder in the spectacle is unworthy of a modern person (it is modern, the people of past centuries were different and perceived everything somewhat differently). But this question should be addressed by the Spaniards itself - they also have rights. For example, in Barcelona, the Corrida was still banned.
In addition to the corrida there are other, no less dangerous, entertainment with the participation of bulls. For example, so-called. Spanish Embsierro, when bulls drive through the fenced streets of the city, and the residents flee away from them. It is not easy to run away. Especially bloody came Eriberro 1924 - with 13 dead and 200 wounded ...
Another - this time by American - sports is Rodeo, where the cowboys are trying to keep not only on unnecessable horses, but also on the challenges. For example, a bull record holder on nicknamed Red Rock managed to reset as much as 312 riders, while in 1988 it was still not saddled champion Lake Frost.
To be continued…
Author - Sergey Kuriy
Source - Springzhizni.ru.