What are the basic rules and traditional customs of bullfighting in Spain?

Spanish bullfighting originated in Spain from ancient religious activities (killing bulls to offer sacrifices to the gods), which began in the 13th century with King Alfonso X, and later evolved into bull-racing performances (the real bullfighting shows appeared in the mid-18th century). There are now more than 300 bullfighting rings in Spain (the largest is the Ventas bullring in Madrid, with a capacity of 25,000 people).

The Spanish bullfighting festival is held from March to November each year, some times every day, usually on Sundays and Thursdays.

Bullfighting, known as toreo, corrida de toros, or tauromaquia in Spanish and tourada, corrida de touros, or tauromaquia in Portuguese, is a sport in which a man fights a bull. Those who participate in bullfighting are called matadors, and it is mainly popular in Spain, Portugal and Latin America, and is the national sport of Spain. The history of bullfighting can be traced back to prehistoric bull worship and frescoes.

The origin of bullfighting in Spain:

Hunting is one of the oldest means of survival of mankind, and it was also an important recreational and social activity in the social life of the knights of the Middle Ages in Western Europe. Noble knights as professional soldiers, they are in the war to kill each other, the main pastime of the weekdays are also related to military skills training to meet their fighting instincts and dispersal of excess energy.

Because hunting has the practicality of military training, but also to meet the needs of the knights from the material to the spiritual many aspects, making them particularly keen. During the eight centuries of the Iberian Reconquest (711-1492 A.D.), Moorish and Christian knights alike targeted the wildlife of the Iberian lands in hunts.

Because deer and other tame herbivores were easy to hunt, the gallant warriors favored fierce and more challenging opponents. While a cornered bear or boar occasionally poses a threat to a hunter, such exciting experiences are rare, and in most cases these animals choose to flee rather than fight.

It was not until the riders met the bulls of the Iberian wild that they realized that this robust and majestic beast, with its unique nobility and bravery, preferred to fight rather than escape and never retreated until death.

The fight with the bulls is no longer a hunt for you to escape, but a frenzied wild collision and exchange, the purest expression of "the narrow way to meet the courage to win". Perhaps at first some creative nobles thought of capturing the bull to raise, to avoid their own hard work in the field running around searching, but also at any time to hunt, looking for thorns.