Bullring v. bullfight: Differing but decaying traditions

Come Palm Sunday, the day of the bullfight, one imagines that Inca Police and the Guardia Civil will have more on their hands than just traffic and religious celebrations. Bullfights are occasions for protests and counter-protests, the latter predicated on a distant tradition - 176 years ago in the case of Miura. Mallorca cherishes its traditions and their return, but there are traditions worthy of cherishing and those which are not.

Public opinion is not in favour of the bullfight, but it continues because of constitutional protection, efforts at prohibition in both the Balearics and Catalonia having run up against the Constitutional Court in Madrid and a declaration, courtesy of a Partido Popular government (Mariano Rajoy’s), of the bullfight as a protected national fiesta.

Much tradition can appear anachronistic, archaic, but it is also endearing and curious, be it cossier, demon or ximbomba. The curiosity with bullfighting is its survival in the face of altered attitudes, which certain political elements - let’s call them mainly Vox - are determined to rebuff. A minority interest has been bolstered by the opportunism of desired gain from a minority government of inherent weakness. President Prohens stated her personal disapproval of bullfighting, but was forced to “respect” agreements in order to facilitate far more important political agendas. Children under the age of sixteen are allowed back into the bullrings, so long as they are accompanied by adults. They had been banned, albeit that the ban was flouted.

Inca Town Hall wants nothing to do with the bullfight, but it is powerless to prevent an event at a venue it doesn’t own and which complies with regulations. In April last year, the Swiss-based Franz Weber Foundation, committed to the protection of animals, proposed the public purchase of Inca’s Plaça de Toros, utilising funds made available each year by Spain’s culture ministry for specific projects. The foundation envisaged the conversion of the arena into a place for cultural uses. Nothing came of this, or has come of it yet.

Last month, the foundation registered a complaint with the town hall in respect of what it said were the “irregular” placement of promotional posters for the Palm Sunday event. It also denounced the bullring’s website to Spain’s Data Protection Agency for alleged non-compliance related to data protection and telecommunications services law.

For all this, the Palm Sunday event will doubtless go ahead at an arena which, like the other surviving bullrings in Mallorca, provides its own curiosity value. Architecturally and in terms of heritage, they are preserved, even if their preservation is a financial drain, utilisation can be limited, and the maintenance is not always as it should be. Palma’s Plaça de Toros has been the target of scrutiny because of its maintenance, the use, save for an August bullfight, typically being for music events that are consistently denounced by residents.

These long-suffering neighbours won’t be looking forward to this Saturday’s first event of the new season at what has been dubbed Es Coliseu Cultural Centre. Coliseum is the arena’s name, one in line with others, such as Muro’s Monumental, where the return of the bullfight for last summer’s fiestas didn’t proceed because a tender for the arena’s management was void. Unlike Inca and Palma, the town hall owns the bullring. Alcudia owns its, the current administration, despite the involvement of Vox, having refused to bring back bullfighting.

These structures are old, Alcudia’s being the oldest (from 1892), Palma’s original bullring having opened in 1865. There was one in Felanitx from 1891, its replacement - La Macarena - having been rotting for years. They are from a different era, as were those that disappeared, such as those in Pollensa and Puerto Pollensa. Time caught up with those forgotten arenas, as time has also caught up with those that survive, but more importantly with what they represent. They are oddities of a splendour, even if it can be decaying, that is held in reverence for its appearance if not for its purpose. A tradition, that of architectural heritage, is thus ensured, if in Inca they seek reminders of bulls from 97 years ago.