Long before Spain

Bulls have been hugely important in Spain since pagan times, long before Spain existed as a country. They were revered in many other ancient cultures as well. The oldest known bull-worship site, in what is now eastern Turkey, dates back to around 7000 BC. In Spain and France, prehistoric cave drawings of bulls have been found that are up to 20,000 years old.

Taurus, the Latin word for ‘bull’, became toro in Spanish, Catalan and Italian, taureau in French, and touro in Portuguese. Taurus is also one of the constellations of the zodiac in the northern celestial hemisphere. In that same hemisphere, but in Asia, the Ox is the second animal in the 12-year cycle of the Chinese zodiac. The last Chinese Year of the Ox ran from February 2021 to January 2022. The next one is in 2033.

In many Asian countries, eating beef was traditionally taboo and, in several places, still is. India’s sacred cows are the best-known example. In many states, it is forbidden to slaughter cattle at all, although in some regions, bulls and buffaloes can be slaughtered, not cows.

Across the Mediterranean and the Middle East, bulls feature frequently in ancient mythology, including Persian, Mesopotamian, Egyptian and Greek traditions. Bulls are also prominent in Celtic mythology. The Táin Bó Cúailnge, for example, is one of Ireland’s national epics. On this peninsula, Celtic, Celtiberian, and Iberian peoples revered the bull long before the Carthaginians arrived in the 3rd century BCE, and even before the Romans.

From ritual to arena

It is believed that the ancient Romans adopted forms of bull sport from Greece, Turkey and the Middle East, then adapted them into ‘human versus beast’ spectacles for gladiatorial arenas. In Hispania, as the Romans called the Iberian Peninsula, the bull was already a symbol of power, dominance and fertility. Since local peoples already practised ritual bull sacrifice or slaughter by combat, bulls in the arena, along with bears or lions, would not have seemed entirely alien.

Even after Christianity took hold in the Roman Empire and authorities tried to eradicate pagan customs, the local population resisted. Over time, the bull also came to symbolise freedom and independence, and older sacrificial traditions gradually evolved into events such as bullfighting and bull-running.

Bullfighting becomes a Spanish tradition

The Roman Empire came to an end, but bullfighting endured in Iberia long after the Romans had left. By the medieval period, the Spanish version had evolved into a nobleman on horseback, wielding a spear. It was very much an aristocratic sport, not for commoners.

During Muslim rule in parts of Iberia, bullfighting was officially prohibited because Islam forbids causing animals to suffer. That prohibition only strengthened its status as a symbol of status and resistance among some Christian nobles.

In 1567, Pope Pius V banned bullfighting again. By papal bull, Christians were prohibited, under pain of excommunication, from witnessing or taking part in bullfights, or even from giving a Christian burial to those who died in them. The ban was never properly enforced by King Felipe II, who also urged Pope Gregory XIII to relax the decree so that it applied only to the clergy.

In the 17th century, bullfighting became more formalised, with codes of conduct for bullfighters and bullfighting on horseback becoming the norm. Then, in 1704, King Felipe V, the first Bourbon king of Spain, banned it again as a sport unbecoming of the aristocracy. However, anti-French and anti-aristocratic sentiment helped push bullfighting further into popular culture, and later attempts by the next two Bourbon kings to outlaw it were unsuccessful.

In 1808, Joseph Bonaparte, placed on the Spanish throne by his brother Napoleon, lifted the ban and even held a bullfight at his coronation to win support. He ruled for only five years, but bullfighting endured. It continued through the 19th and 20th centuries and was sometimes used for fundraising, including during the Spanish Civil War and by organisations such as the Red Cross.

The last decades of the 20th century were its period of greatest commercial boom. With the turn of the millennium, public opinion began to shift.

Across Latin America

During the era of the Spanish Empire, Spanish traditions travelled to the ‘New World’. Bullfighting still takes place in some Latin American countries, including Mexico, Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru, although some places have versions in which the bull is neither killed nor injured.

The Portuguese style

Portugal has its own version, closer to the older Spanish style on horseback. A mounted bullfighter attempts to spear the bull three or four times, after which eight unarmed men subdue the animal and herd it from the arena. The bull may then be slaughtered by a butcher. If its performance is considered worthy, it may be treated and allowed to live out its days in a pasture.

Southern France and the Camargue tradition

Across the Pyrenees, Spanish-style bullfighting still takes place in certain départements in southern France. One of the most distinctive regional traditions, however, is the course camarguaise, named after the Camargue wetland region between Montpellier and Marseille, where many of the bulls are raised.

In Roman amphitheatres still in use today in cities such as Nîmes and Arles, a different contest takes place. A dozen or so raseteurs attempt to snatch a ribbon from between the bull’s horns, relying only on speed and agility. They repeatedly leap over the fencing and into the bleachers to escape the charging bull. Prizes go to whoever captures the ribbon, and the bull leaves the arena alive, its horns held high.

These bulls are not killed, and many return to the ring again and again, with ‘careers’ lasting up to a decade.

Where bullfighting is banned

In Latin America, countries such as Cuba, Chile, Argentina and Uruguay banned the sport more than a century ago. Even in Mexico, where it remains popular, bullfighting has been banned in several states. The largest bullring in the world is in Mexico, and the second largest is in Venezuela.

In Spain, there have been no bullfights in the Canary Islands since 1984. In 1991, the regional government passed a law protecting bulls against abuse in bullfights or fiestas. The wording is somewhat vague, but the reality is simple: transporting bulls to the islands is difficult, and there is little local appetite for the tradition, so it does not happen. As a curious aside, while bullfighting is effectively absent there, cock fighting is not.

Catalunya and the legal twist

Bull-related traditions date back to ancient times across the Mediterranean, but today bullfighting survives mainly in Spain, Portugal and parts of southern France. In Catalunya, it is often described as illegal, but the legal reality is more complicated.

Tossa de Mar, on La Costa Brava, became the first city in Spain to declare itself anti-bullfighting in 1990. In 2004, Barcelona followed suit, as did Calonge and other Catalan municipalities. In July 2010, the Catalan parliament passed a law banning bullfighting across Catalunya, which came into effect in January 2012. The final bullfight in Catalunya took place in September 2011 at La Monumental arena in Barcelona.

In October 2016, the Spanish Constitutional Court overturned the Catalan ban, ruling that while an autonomous region may regulate bullfighting, it cannot fully prohibit an activity considered part of Spain’s shared cultural heritage.

Technically, that means bullfighting is not fully banned in Catalunya under the law. In practice, bullfights still do not take place here. A court can overturn a law, but it cannot force a region to stage bullfights.

The next chapter

In 2017, the Balearic Islands passed a law regulating bullfighting, which prohibited the killing of bulls in the ring and barred minors from attending, among other measures. The law stopped short of a full ban to avoid a legal challenge similar to that in Catalunya. It was still referred to the Constitutional Court by the Partido Popular and was ruled unconstitutional on several grounds. Bullfighting returned to Mallorca in 2019. The other Balearic Islands have no bullrings.

Although bullfighting remains popular in Madrid and parts of southern Spain, interest is waning elsewhere. In many places, spectators are increasingly tourists rather than Spaniards, and younger generations outside Andalucía and Madrid are often strongly opposed to it. Surveys of tourists after their first bullfight have suggested that many would not attend another.

What became of the arenas

Even for those who dislike bullfighting, the arenas themselves are often striking buildings. In Catalunya, some have been repurposed rather than left abandoned.

Les Arenes

The most famous example is Les Arenes de Barcelona on Plaça d’Espanya, now a shopping centre. It is still worth visiting for the structure itself and the views from above, especially if you time it with the Magic Fountain.

Designed by Catalan architect August Font i Carreras, Les Arenes opened in 1900 and once held nearly 15,000 spectators. Over the years, it also hosted cycling and boxing events, circuses and concerts, and served as a barracks for the Republican side during the Spanish Civil War. Bullfighting became increasingly associated with Castilian power among many Catalans, and its popularity declined. The last bullfight there took place in 1977.

The building closed in 1990 and remained largely abandoned until redevelopment began in 2007. It reopened as a shopping centre in 2011. The interior was removed, but the circular façade was preserved. The bullring structure was raised by hydraulic jacks to approximately four metres above its original height. The architectural style is Neo-Mudéjar, a 19th-century revival linked to Mudéjar traditions.

La Monumental

On the other side of the city, another notable example of neo-Mudéjar design can be seen at the Arc de Triomf and, a short distance away, La Monumental – the smaller arena that hosted Catalunya’s final bullfight. It remains in excellent condition and is now used for concerts, shows and cultural events.

Bull-running

Bull-running is a different tradition from bullfighting, though the two are historically connected. It is often said to have begun when bulls were driven from fields outside a town into an arena for an upcoming fight. Young men began running among the bulls, and over time, this bravado evolved into competitive displays of speed and daring.

Most people have heard of San Fermín in Pamplona, Spain’s best-known bull-running festival, but similar events take place across the country, including in Catalunya.

Bull-running takes different forms in different regions and goes by different names. In Catalan, bous al carrer, correbou and correbous are commonly used terms. Events are especially associated with Terres de l’Ebre in Catalunya, Fornalutx in Mallorca, and multiple locations across Valencia.

These festivities are often organised by young people and are sometimes regarded as initiation rites. The combination of adrenaline with alcohol or drugs can result in fatal accidents. The issue has also become politicised, with left-wing parties more likely to call for abolition, while the right more often defends bullfighting and related traditions.

The Osborne bull

Bulls have been important in this part of the world since ancient times, but the most iconic modern bull symbol associated with Spain is surprisingly recent. The black silhouette known as the Osborne bull originated in a 1956 advertising campaign for Bodegas Osborne brandy, founded in Cádiz in 1772. It was designed by the Andalusian artist Manolo Prieto for roadside billboards.

The original sign read ‘Veterano Osborne’. Early billboards were four metres tall and made of wood. By 1961, new seven-metre bulls were produced in sheet metal. In 1962, laws requiring billboards to be set further back from roads led to larger billboards of around 14 metres.

Later restrictions on alcohol advertising led to the text being removed altogether, leaving only the silhouette. By then, the shape was so recognisable that the brand name had become secondary.

In 1994, a crackdown on roadside billboards threatened to remove the bulls. Public pressure led the government to make an exception, recognising them as cultural heritage. As a result, the symbol effectively entered the public domain. In 2005, when the Osborne Group took legal action against souvenir manufacturers using the silhouette, the court ruled that the symbol had become national property and could be used without the company’s permission.

Approximately 90 of the original bulls are said to remain on Spanish hillsides today, with only two in Cádiz still bearing the Osborne name.

The Catalan Donkey

Given how strongly the Osborne bull is associated with Spain, it is not surprising that there are no bulls still standing in Catalunya. Incidents of vandalism against the bull have been recorded, including by Catalan and Basque separatists. In 2003, two Catalan friends created an alternative, satirical response to the bull car stickers seen across much of Spain: the Catalan donkey.

The symbol spread quickly and became a national symbol. It began with a small production run, but demand grew rapidly. Not everyone appreciates the satire. Some see the donkey as a weaker symbol than the bull. Others see it as a deliberate critique of machismo and the bull’s cultural baggage.

The Catalan donkey is also a recognised breed. It is a native species found only in the region, typically dark in colour with a lighter circle around the eyes and a pale nose and belly. It is known for being sturdy, agile and stubborn, traits that supporters often associate with Catalan identity and persistence.

The breed once played a major role in Catalan agriculture, industry and daily life, but declined with modernisation and mechanisation. Estimates suggest the population fell sharply over time.

Protecting a Living Symbol

Today, several organisations work to protect the Catalan donkey and ensure its survival as a unique native breed. The best-known is Fuives, near Olvan, which serves as the World Centre of the Catalan Donkey and runs a long-standing sponsorship programme.

Other centres, such as Rucs de la Serralada in Tiana and Rucimon in Dosrius, also offer ways to support or sponsor donkeys locally, helping to keep this distinctive part of Catalan heritage alive.

AFRAC, the Association for the Promotion of the Catalan Donkey Breed, was founded in 1978 to protect the breed. A crowdfunding initiative, ‘Apadrina un Ruc’ (‘Adopt a Catalan Donkey’), allows people to contribute to the donkeys’ upkeep, reducing the burden on local farmers.

More Than Just Animals

In the Basque Country, vandalised bull billboards were once replaced by Basque sheep. A quiet reminder that symbolism is rarely just about animals.