I am, I think most of my friends would agree, a gentle sort of a yoke. An eschewer of anything violent, be that a war film, a rugby match or the pursuit of the fox.
When I was about 14, roughly 45 years ago, I discovered a chink in this gentle facade- I discovered a total fascination for the bullfight.

On a holiday in Sitges (when it was respectable) in the early sixties, I went to a bullfight in Barcelona, to my amazement I was absolutely captivated by the experience and went another time before I went home.

This little known streak of blood lust has remained dormant since then, until yesterday.

The part of the Languedoc we live in, due to geographical proximity, Charlemange granting land to 11th century Spaniards fleeing the Moors, and a renewed settlement at the time of the civil war in Spain, is very Spanish.
The chief festival of the summer is the Feria in Beziers in mid August.
This is a completely Spanish festival with Flamenco Singers, Flamenco Dancers, displays of Spanish horse riding skills and, above all, a week of bullfights in the Bullring in Beziers. It may surprise that there are bullrings outside Spain but bullfighting is huge here. There are also bullrings in Nimes and Ales and I suspect tens, if not hundreds of other locations in the Midi.
I was at a dinner party here last week when one of the guests, a secondary school teacher from Kanturk, announced that having long loved Hemmingway’s The Sun also Rises he was determined to go to a bullfight in Beziers this week. I immediately offered to join him and then, to my surprise, Ano, my daughter Deirdre’s gentle vegetarian boyfriend decided to join us too.
(One of his friends unkindly suggested that if it was an aubergine that was being ritually slaughtered he wouldn’t have been so keen)

Last night the three of us attended the Corrida in Les Arenes in Beziers- it was an amazing experience.

A bullfight is part ballet, part opera, part pop concert, part boxing match with a strong dollop of the Roman circus.
Three handsome young men, dressed in costumes which made tights look baggy, displayed incredible bravery and skill by dancing with six bulls.
They strutted and postured, turned their backs and walked fearlessly away from an animal which was trying very hard to kill them, and then finally and inevitably they killed them.
They crowd was on the whole on the side of the bull.
A messy kill or signs that the matador was toying with his prey and the ring rang with whistles and boos and loud mocking choruses of Viva Espana

We had three bullfighters, their CVs, consist mainly of the amount of ears offered per bullfight. This is the sign that the crowd, and the judge, think that the fight has been bravely fought.
Below are a few photographs from last night.

This was the crowd outside the bullring, my guess was that there was about 7 thousand there, I could well be way out.

This is a pass performed by Miguel Perera (all of 24 years old), the crowd’s favourite, who was awarded an ear for both of his fights. The object of the pass is to get the bull to charge as close to the body as life permits. This frequently left the matador’s suit of lights covered in blood as the horns passed within inches of their vitals.

This is the moment of death performed by El Juli.
At this moment the matador must line up his sword and sever the spinal cord.
If this action was not clean and successful (as in two of last night’s fights) the bull fighter was not granted an ear and was heckled by the crowd.

Perera, doing a walkabout after his second successful fight, casually throws the ear into the crowd. This was faught over and is reckoned a great prize.