A barbarous sport, of great antiquity, in which men torment, and fight with, a bull or bulls in an arena, for public amusement, still popular in Spain
{i} traditional spectacle in which a matador and his assistants fight and generally kill a bull (common in Spain, Portugal, and Latin America)
A sport popular in Spain and Mexico in which a matador taunts and ultimately kills a bull at close range
Bullfighting is the public entertainment in which people try to kill bulls in bullfights. Spanish corrida de toros Spectacle, popular in Spain, Portugal, and Latin America, in which matadors ceremonially taunt, and usually kill, bulls in an arena. Spectacles with bulls were common in ancient Crete, Thessaly, and Rome. In the modern era, Roman amphitheatres were rebuilt and embellished for use as bullrings. The largest are in Madrid, Barcelona, and Mexico City. The corrida, which usually involves six individual fights, begins with a procession of matadors and their entourages. At the beginning of each fight an assistant (banderillero) performs a preliminary maneuver to allow the matador to assess the animal's behaviour. The matador then performs his capework, drawing the bull as close to him as possible without being gored. This is followed by the entrance of the picadors, horsemen who jab the bull with lances to weaken its neck and shoulder muscles. The matador then ritually slays the bull using a sword. In the Portuguese version of the ritual, the bull is fought from horseback and is not killed in the arena. Bullfighting has been banned in many countries