Espaņa/Spain

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The festivals and celebrations in Spain are full of life. This statement may seem superfluous to some, but it has its importance. Until a few years ago, many of our most interesting celebrations were stagnating or simply lost. The ones meant are those that still preserve a purely local or, at the most, regional character, ie., the ones that really signify a break in the life cycle of its participants and mark the passing of time much more effectively than a simple date on the calendar. Those other festive occasions whose reputation has even gone beyond our national borders chose their destiny a long time ago and hardly anything will substantially change their development.

But there are hundreds of small celebrations with ancestral rites which have been preserved for centuries and even disappeared at some point. In the autonomous and officially multiform Spain, the lack of interest and appreciation of the roots changed to new recognition and awareness of all the different expressions that compound the existence, reason and essence of the group. It is not by chance that in the last fifteen years the number of celebrations has not shrunk, but on the contrary energetically grown by recovering customs and ceremonies that had already disappeared.

The next step in a hypothetical battle for preserving, as far as possible, that sense that gave them life would be to stick closely to the traditions, to what has always been like that, removing alien traces which, in the long run, are always negative. And with regard to the visitor, the inevitable --and why not?-- welcome stranger, we expect the necessary and indispensable respect for celebrations and festivals that, apart from serving as a vehicle of communication, show the more friendly and human side of a social group and are living examples of a culture, of customs and traditions that we should be loath to lose.

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http://kvaleberg.com/extensions/maps...8)_region:ES))

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گاو دوانی در اسپانيا

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Bullfighting

Bullfighting or tauromachy (Spanish toreo, corrida de toros or tauromaquia; Portuguese tourada, corrida de touros or tauromaquia) is a tradition that involves professional performers (in Spanish toreros or matadores, in Portuguese toureiros) who execute various formal moves with the goal of appearing graceful and confident, while masterful over the bull itself. Such manoeuvers are performed at close range, and conclude (in Spanish-style bullfighting) with the death of the bull by a well-placed sword thrust as the finale. In Portugal the finale consists of a tradition called the pega, where men (Forcados) are dressed in a traditional costume of damask or velvet, with long knit hats as worn by the famous Ribatejo campinos (bull headers).

Bullfighting generates heated controversy in many areas of the world, including Spain, where the "classic" bullfighting was born. Supporters of bullfighting argue that it is a culturally important tradition, while animal rights groups condemn it as a blood sport because of the suffering of the bull and horses during the bullfight.

Bullfighting traces its roots to prehistoric bull worship and sacrifice. The killing of the sacred bull (tauromachy) is the essential central iconic act of Mithras, which was commemorated in the mithraeum wherever Roman soldiers were stationed. Many of the oldest bullrings in Spain are located on the sites of, or adjacent to the locations of temples to Mithras.

Bullfighting is often linked to ancient Rome where, when many human-versus-animal events were held as a warm-up for gladiatorial sports. Alternatively, it may have been introduced into Hispania by the Moors in the 11th century, although there are theories that it was introduced into Hispania a millennium earlier by the Emperor Claudius when he instituted a short-lived ban on gladiatorial games, as a substitute for those combats. The latter theory was supported by Robert Graves. In its original Moorish and early Iberian form, the bull was fought from horseback using a javelin. (Picadors are the remnants of this tradition, but their role in the contest is now a relatively minor one limited to "preparing" the bull for the matador.) Bullfighting spread from Spain to its Central and South American colonies, and in the 19th century to France, where it developed into a distinctive form in its own right.

Plaza de Acho in Lima, Peru - the oldest bullring in South America, dating back to 1766 Another belief is that bullfighting as is in present times has its roots based largely in wars that occurred between Iberians and Moors. As history has it,[citation needed] a common war strategy of the Moors was to set fire to the tails of bulls which would cause the herd to stampede into opposing armies in a frenzy. This tactic on the part of the Moors created a need to devise a way of overcoming the oncoming stampede on the part of the Iberian peninsula's previous inhabitants. According to this theory,[citation needed] what we see today in modern bullfighting: swords, horses, Spanish style, muletas, facing the bull without weapons as is seen in Portugal's forcados, etc., was born from the necessity of survival in battles against the Moors.

French ethnologist Dominique Aubier considers according to an epistemological study that there is no relationship between the Spanish bullfight and either Greek sacrifice (a ritualistic agricultural celebration) or Roman gladiators. She sees the corrida as arising from a Paleolithic hunting tradition, and considers the theory of a so-called Arabic introduction of the corrida in Spain to be an 'extravagance'.

Mithras killing a bull.Bullfighting was practiced by nobility as a substitute and preparation of war, in the manner of hunting and jousting. Religious festivities, royal weddings were celebrated by fights in the local plaza, where noblemen would ride competing for royal favor and the populace enjoyed the excitement. In the 18th century, the Spanish introduced the practice of fighting on foot, Francisco Romero generally being regarded as having been the first to do this, about 1726.

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