TURLOCK – Just like every other Portuguese bullfight, the elegant rider deftly guides his horse across the charging bull’s horns, earlier than bending right down to plant a bandarilha in its backbone. Except that no blood is spilled — the small spear is velcro-padded, and sticks to a cushion hooked up to the bull’s again — and a lot of the spectators’ cheers are in English.
The scene takes place in Turlock, a small city within the coronary heart of rural California, the place tens of 1000’s of Portuguese-Americans have lived for many years, preserving the traditions of their ancestral homeland alive, not least bullfighting.
But as a consequence of Californian legislation, there could be no bloodshed.
“The first time I came here in California, 15 years ago, it was like ‘woah, amazing’ because they have everything like Portugal,” mentioned Joao Soller Garcia, a “cavaleiro” or horse rider, who travelled from Lisbon to participate within the bullfight.
“Go to a bullfight in Portugal and it’s the same thing,” he mentioned shortly earlier than getting into the sector to be applauded by some 4,000 spectators. The majority of the group are of Portuguese descent — primarily immigrants from the Azores islands, who started to settle this agricultural space within the early twentieth century. The community has been rising ever since, with its personal newspapers, radio stations and associations. Some 350,000 Californians proudly declare Portuguese heritage, and infrequently stay fiercely hooked up to their tradition and language.
This is the case for Jose, 30, who got here to observe the bullfight with buddies. Born in California, he switches from English to Portuguese seemingly without noticing.
“It comes naturally to me. A lot of people here speak Portuguese in their daily life, even the younger ones, “ he said. “Sometimes it is easier for me to express my feelings or to joke in Portuguese. Portuguese is a very emotional language,” he added.
Above the sector, the Portuguese flag flies alongside the American flag, and the Portuguese nationwide anthem strikes up earlier than its US counterpart. The bullfight itself is organized by a spiritual group, led by Antonio Mendes, a cattle breeder in his 70s who revived the custom in 1993. “We’re Portuguese and that’s part of our lifestyle, especially the island that I’m from — it’s just rooted,” he mentioned. Portuguese bullfights differ from the Spanish type, in that the animal isn’t killed within the area.
But in conventional Portuguese occasions, the bull has been weakened by a number of bandarilha strikes by the point the “forcados” — eight males with no horses or safety — enter the sector to deal with the animal with their naked fingers. Because the bulls in Turlock usually are not harm, breeders like Mendes have created a bloodline which is simply as combative, however much less heavy.
“Here the bulls weigh about 900 to 1000 pounds, because it’s bloodless. In Portugal, they are 1300, 1400 pounds. Big bulls,” mentioned George Martins, a “forcado” captain. Teams like Martins’ are sometimes dubbed “suicide squads” for a motive — one in all them actually has the duty of grabbing the bull by the horns, struggling highly effective headbutts to the abdomen as his companions wrestle with the animal.
“It’s not just brute strength… it takes a lot of technique,” he mentioned.