If this is Thursday it must be postcards, 364

It has been difficult to choose which one of the several postcards sent by son and his wife from their trip to Portugal and Spain earlier this summer. About a month ago I shared another of these art posters that had been made into a postcard.  That one was advertising Holy Week and a Spring festival in Seville, Spain.  As mentioned in that post, most of the posters carried religious themes, holidays and festivals, or bullfighting. 

The card above is advertising a bullfight.  Thanks to Google Translate, the text reads something like:  “Monumental bullring, monumental bullfight with 6 beautiful and brave bulls of the cattle ranch of d. Alvaro Deomecq de Jerez de la Frontera, for the famous swords:  J.A. Ruis Espartaco, Enrique Ponce, M. Diaz the cordobes with corresponding gangs.  A brilliant band of music will enlighten the show Sunday, June 9, at 5:30.”   The artist’s name, A. Vestar or A. Lestar, is found on the left side of the card just under the charging bull.  It is a more modern style of artwork but retains the bright colors and romantic feeling of the older posters.

Spanish bullfighting is a fight in which the bull is almost always killed.  Only on rare occasions has a very strong, valiant bull been pardoned by the president and audience to be sent into peaceful retirement.  The fight is highly ritualized and held in the same format each time, the only difference being in the performance of the matadors, the assistants and bulls.  In the bullfights there are three matadors or toreros, each fighting two bulls. 

The bulls must be at least 4 years old and weigh up to 1,300 lbs. or 600 kg., and no less than 1,010 lbs or 460 kg.  Each matador has 6 assistants, 2 mounted on horseback, picadores or lancers; three flagmen, banderilleros; plus a sword servant, mozo de espada.  There is a parade as the participants enter the arena with band music followed by three stages to the fight, each announced by a trumpet.  It is fatal to the bull and dangerous to the matador.  The three famous matadors named on the poster have each suffered serious goring during their careers. 

For additional information, see:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish_style_bullfighting