Toros A La Tica On The
Internet
Can't make to Zapote for
the "Toros a la Tica?
Not to worry, local
television station
Teletica will be
broadcasting live the
event beginning at 9pm
on December 25.
The television station
will also make the
transmission available
on the internet for
those who cannot be in
Costa Rica for the
annual event.
The website will include
fotos and news of the
bullfighting that is a
Christmas tradition in
Costa Rica.
Toros a la tica are a
"unique" way of
bullfighting.
According to Wikipedia,
Bullfighting or
tauromachy (from Greek
ταυρομαχία - tauromachia,
"bull-fight"), is a
traditional spectacle of
Spain, Portugal, some
cities in southern
France, and several
Latin American
countries, in which one
or more live bulls are
ritually killed as a
public spectacle. The
tradition, as it is
practiced today,
involves professional
toreros (toureiros in
Portuguese; also
referred to as toreadors
in English), who execute
various formal moves
with the intent, during
various phases of the
fight, of distracting,
angering, or causing
injury to the bull
itself.
In Costa Rica, the bull
fights are quite
different. For one,
there are no
profressional toreros.
All the bullfighters are
"improvisados"
(amateurs) who run into
the bull ring to taunt
the bull with their
jeers, jests, hands,
etc., and then run like
hell to avoid being
horned by the bull.
In the Costa Rican
version of the
bullfight, it is the
torero that usually gets
injured.
And as such, this year
organizers have are
instructions that every
participant in the bull
ring "must" have
purchased an insurance
policy by the state
insurer or will not be
allowed to participate.
The Costa Rican bull
fights is the main event
not only at Zapote but
at most civic fairs
around the country
between January and
April, as each community
erects a "redondel"
(bull ring) as the
centre piece for the
local fair.
Zapote is the, by far,
the largest and most
publicized of the bull
events.
Here is what happens at
a Costa Rican bullfight:
A bunch of, well not so
smart folks - usually
young men with more
braun than brains - run
into the redondel, taunt
the bull by touching it,
poking it, pulling on
its horns, tail or
anything else in reach,
irritating the bull to
the point that the bull
decides to show who is
boss.
Once the bull decides it
has had enough it begins
its version of
touchy-feely, using its
horns to gore anything
in its way. Usually the
bull makes its point at
least one during any of
the multiple daily
performances.
In the Costa Rican
version of the
bullfighting, the bull
is the actual winner.
Always.
In addition to the
insurance policy, Zapote
organizers will make
sure that the toreros
are sober. Hard to
figure out, because why
would any one in
complete sobriety would
enter a ring and taunt a
1.500 Kg bull?
For all the Toros a la
Tica go to:
http://www.teletica.com/toros/ |
