BULL FIGHTING

 

I have decided to place my Bull Fighting postcards here under a sub-tab under the main CENSORED tab. This is because I do understand that bull fighting is a contentious subject and activity. I do not want to cause offence to all those who are so against the event, and those who protest-against it.

 

I am against animal cruelty, and I have never been to a bull-fight and I doubt very-much that I ever will, but I do collect the related postcards. This seems a strange thing to do when I fully understand the reasoning behind the campaign to prevent the activity. Some explanation would seem to be appropriate, so here it is.

When I was young, around 8yrs to 14yrs old, my grandparents regularly, yearly in fact, holidayed in Spain. It was the in thing to do back in those years. They would obviously bring back presents for me and my brother. One of things they brought back for me was a lovely toy model of a bull, one which was heavily based on a fighting bull in a ring, it even had a couple of things they stab into the bull, not that I knew what these were at that age, I just liked the vitality and shape of the bull toy. Another year they brought back a poster. This was a bull-fighting poster upon which appeared both mine and my brother’s names. The poster was bright and colourful, the costume worn by the painted matador, named as me, was resplendent in golds and reds. I loved that poster, but I loved it without the knowledge of what the poster represented. I knew it was bull fighting, but I did not really know what eventually happened to the bull. I did not know the full story, what young child living a whole world away from the fights would back then, before the world of the internet. I fell in love with the costumes, the poster, the festival style of representation of those involved.

I now know different, I know what happens to the bulls and I can not condone it, but I still love those costumes, those amazing poster designs and the childhood memories of my grandparents and their holidays (my Grandmother hated the bull-fighting itself and after just one visit left the stadium early and never returned, but still brought me the related material!). This is the reason why I collect these postcards. I do feel guilty about doing so, but I like them. Would I vote for the bull fighting to be stopped? Definitely. Would I visit a bull fight if one was on when I was in any area still doing them? I really hope I wouldn’t.  

If you would like to see my bull fighting postcards please do click on the above tab(s) to view them.     

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© Mark Routh