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- 260 DAYS IN THE SUN
recognize the portraits of the large picture and vie
with each other in shouting the names of the great
artists. Children are raised over the shoulders of
others so that they may see; old women stand on their
toes and grind their jaws together,
A bullfight has the ineluctable power of the abso-
lute over a Spaniard; neither Papal bulls nor a modern
refinement of culture nor change of fashion lessen their
hold. It seems to be increasing not decreasing. These
fights in the arena are deeply rooted in the historical
consciousness of the nation; they are closely inter-
woven with its most primitive conceptions. The Span-
ish people have been brought up on bullfights, as it
were. A pregnant or nursing mother will attend the
bloody spectacle. The image of some celebrated
espada or other hovers before the eyes of the newly-
wedded, lost in their common dreams of the great fu-
ture awaiting their unborn sons. ‘The great bullfighter
has an altar in the heart of every single inhabitant, and
the sacrificial flame that burns in these hearts is never
extinguished. Children, as soon as they are able to
walk, may be seen playing bullfighter in the streets.
One boy holds a board to which two horns have been
nailed; he straps it about his forehead, while the other
boys anger him by waving their coats and finally slay
him with a wooden sword. The game is made as
realistic as possible; sometimes far too real.
One day when I was in Granada a crowd of boys
were playing bullfight and the boy who represented the
espada (the sword; the slayer) suddenly threw aside
his wooden sword and refused to play any more, “for
the bull must really be stuck in the neck so that he dies,
otherwise the whole thing is silly!” The boy who
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