After this presentation, we headed out towards Plaza Mayor, which earlier I mistakenly said translated to the oldest plaza. The word mayor means older in contemporary Spanish, but in this situation it means biggest. The Plaza Mayor is the biggest plaza in Madrid. The plaza dates back to the 16th century and has a statue of Phillip III in it's center. In previous centuries, this plaza was used as place for executions. Some ways in which people were executed there ranged from fire, ax, and even a device similar to a guillotine. The execution style depended on the status of the criminal and the severity of the crime. I found it interesting that at other times, this plaza was used as a market place to buy and sell local goods.
We also went to Plaza de la Villa, which is next to Calle Mayor, or the oldest street. However, nowadays, it is not main street in Madrid anymore. In fact, it is just another commonly sized street. Within this plaza there are buildings from the 15th to the 19th century. One of which was a Moorish tower that showed signs of Muslim influence. Before the reconquest, the Muslims had control over much of common-day Spain including Madrid. Also in this plaza was the old City Hall. It has recently moved to a new location in the last few years, but is now a monument.
We also went to check out this tower. If you can see, in the middle of the tower there is an arched window, a classic sign of Muslim influence. This tower is quite tall and dates back to centuries ago.
This cathedral has Catholic ties. It is said that the soldier's would have their weddings here.
Our instructor told us a story that I thought was quite good. Since Madrid wasn't originally a Roman city like many Spanish cities were at one point, the plumbing was (and still is to some extent) very poor. The Romans were much more advanced than other societies during their years of control within Spain. Because of the plumbing situation, people used to bag up their feces and throw them off their balconies after warning those down below. If you can imagine, that made the city smell rather awful. One story went that there was a famous poet named Francisco Quevedo that had a favorite spot to urinate at in the street. This bothered another man to the point that he decided to put a cross in the location with a sign that said, "You do not pee where there is a cross." Quevedo, being the poet that he was, crossed out the sign and wrote, "You do not put a cross where I pee."
Finally, class ended in this little garden as we discussed plans for tomorrow's excursion to Toledo. I stuck around for a moment and took some photos of this beautiful garden. This city is built extremely close together and it's not often that you get to see this much greenery in one location.
After the market, we headed back to the apartment to do homework. This mural is across the street from our apartment and I had been meaning to take a picture of it for some time. I spent the rest of the day reading until it was time to head to a lecture about the Art of Bullfighting.
At the lecture, the Spanish instructor compared his time in America and his experience with the Super Bowl to our upcoming experience with Bull Fighting. This event is optional, because the program understands that some people may not be comfortable with the whole ordeal. According to the lecturer, bull fighting is not a sport. It is considered an art form. He made the comparison between a painter and his paint brush with a bull fighter and his flag, sword, or short darts.
In Spanish culture, the bull fighters, also known as "matadors", can become very prestigious people if they are successful with their craft. Also, due to their public display of bravery, many of the finest women pursue matadors. According to the lecturer, a matador takes over 15 minutes to get dressed and they cannot even do it on their own. He must get help with little screw-like pieces that keep his suit together.
The bulls that are in the fights are raised freely and given a solid 5 years of life before they face the matador. Novillos are 4 year old bulls that weigh around 450-550 kilograms. Toros are 5 year old bulls that weigh in at around 550-650 kilograms. Toros are the bulls that are brought to the bullfights. The lecturer made the comparison to American factory farms and how that seemed much more cruel than what the Spanish do with bull fighting. I thought this was a great way to show that the Spanish aren't as brutal as it may seem.
There are 3 stages within a bull fight. The stage of Varas is the stage in which the Matador's assistants stab the bull with a pike, or a long stick with a point. The second stage, the stage of Banderillas is one in which the matador begins to use his short darts to weaken the bull. Finally, the stage of Muleta, or the stage of beauty and art, is the stage in which the bull is killed using an iron sword.
Afterwords, the presidente judges the matadors performance and this is based on how efficient he was in killing the bull and how much suffering the bull went through. The less suffering makes for a better performance. A good performance is rewarded with one of the bull's ears. A great performance is rewarded with both of the ears. To get 2 ears in Madrid is a really prestigious accomplishment and establishes the matador within all of Spain. The next day after the bull fight, the bull's meat can be purchased outside of the stadium.
At the end of the lecture, the lecturer showed us a video and one of the people that was in attendance simply couldn't handle the brutality as she walked out in tears. I found that I was a little shocked initially, but after thinking back to last semester when I studied ethics, I realized that I should approach this situation with a sense of cultural relativism. Cultural relativism, put in simpler terms, means that different cultures have different ethical standards. I sat through the video and signed up and paid to attend the bull fight this upcoming Sunday. You can expect an upcoming post about my experience at the stadium.
Thanks for reading,
RCE
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