Peña News
Taurine Clubs are the Soul of La Fiesta Brava
by Octavio A. Roman
When I was 9 years old my Dad took me to my first corrida at Rancho del Charro's old plaza in my native town of Morelia, Michoacán, México. I felt the powerful weight of taurine afición (fervor). Two things caught my attention. One was the crowd's contagious passion as bullfighters executed different stages of the lidia (performance) infront of infuriated and enormous bulls. The other was an anticipated fright during the development of the lidea due to the unpredictable relationship between a torero (bullfighter) and a bull
It did not take me long to understand that to become an aficionado (fan) is a process which involves devotion and knowledge of all facets in the evolution of La Fiesta Brava (bullfighting). This endless scientific earning is acquired through literature, music, paintings, plastic arts, poetry, and above all by observing every detail of the lidia at corridas (bullfights) and listening to experts' commentaries which, little by little, shapes the criteria of an aficionado.
Soon I discovered the existence of peñas and taurine clubs in practically all parts of the world in which corridas are celebrated. All are generally autonomous and bounded by a governing board and bylaws. La Peña Taurina de Morelia (Morelia's Bullfighting Club) was made up of bullfighters, local aspirants and matadors (main protagonists) with cuadrillas (team assisting a bullfighter) that came to perform in town. Included were "hueso colorado aficionados," those that attend all events of La Fiesta. Every night from 8 to 10 we gathered at Hotel Morelos which has a bar decorated with taurine memorabilia and where once in a while one could hear tunes of flamenco guitars. It is here where through shared memoirs of knowledgeable experts one spontaneously configures essential fundamentals for the formation of a taurine aficionado.
During my trips to México, Spain, France, Portugal and Colombia, I visited many of these organizations and found many pleasant surprises in management of their events and collection of taurine treasures--historical pictures, famous toreros' traje de luces (suit of lights, sequenced outfits), bulls' heads, swords, banderillas, cartel decorated walls. Never absent was beautiful taurine music, red wine with aroma of cigar smoke and tauromaquia conversations. All these arouse an insatiable thirst for an aficiónado.
One of my greatest impressions was my recent trip to Bilbao, Spain where NATC (National Association of Taurine Clubs) Convention members were invited to Club Cocherito, the oldest taurine club in the world. This club honors a Bilbaino Torero, Castor Jaureguibeitia Ybarra, "Cocherito de Bilbao" who was born in 1876. He took his alternativa (became a bullfighting professional) on September 16, 1904 from Antonio Fuentes in the presence of "Bombita" and "Machaquito". He performed 132 novilladas--as an amateur--(1897--1904) and 483 corridas as matador (1904-1919). The club has its own building with receiving rooms, a taurine library a bar & restaurant with big windows. It hosts a great number of outfits which belonged to Cocherito and other famous Matadors, antique paintings, swords, capotes, bulls heads and sculptures. Club Cocherito has over 1,000 members including their junior members. It organizes an annual novillada (amateur bullfight) to encourage growth in toreo (bullfighting), giving an opportunity to young sobresalientes (understudies) who wish to become toreros (bullfighters). The association also organizes events such as concerts, plays, tientas (test of mettle), and activities related to tauromaquia, The current President, Leopoldo Sanchez Gil, conducts Taurine Colloquiums at the Carlton Hotel during "Semana Grande"--Bilbao's Annual Fair. At these colloquiums taurine personalities gather to discuss and analyze current issues in toreo (bullfighting).
Thus, membership in a taurine organization gives one the opportunity to not only educate oneself as an aficionado but also get to know deeply the gravity of the most beautiful of all the fiestas, La Fiesta Brava. Being a member of a club or peña not only opens tauromaquia's door of knowledge, but also feeds and maintains alive afición, creating passion, shaping and moving one's soul with toreo's artistic beauty.
