First Canadian Bullfight Analysis

The First Canadian Bullfight

When I was looking through photo albums trying to find a picture that meant a lot to my family I saw this one and didn’t even have to look at what it was about, of course I knew what it was about. It’s the bullfights something I grew up with something that has always been an option for me to see with my grandparents on a summer weekend. But then I questioned how it started. How did bullfights come from Portugal to Canada? It’s two very different places, and it took a lot of effort and hard work to bring this culture to my family’s new home. The beautiful girl with the red hat on, is my mother. The girl in the Black shirt with a man’s arm around her is my cousin Shelley. And the girl in the white with a man’s

First off he had to build a bullring in his yard. He had to raise bulls and so on and so forth, but that was the easiest of all his struggles. Once he got everything set up he needed actual people to participate in the bullfights, so he paid people to come from California, Boston, and even Portugal. Now that was tricky but then it got worse. Word got around in Listowel and neighbouring towns and cities that this was happening which caused some mixed emotions from different people. Many people were excited that some more culture was coming to the area, but many people were also terrified because of what bullfights actually entail. In bullfights the ‘picadors,’ the men on the back of horses, have to impale the bull with a ‘pica’ (a spear like object). This is what set off many people, so shortly after word got around the humane society was involved and try to shut my great uncle Joe Borges down. He had to improvise fast because he already payed for the picadores, matadores, bull catchers and entertainers to come to Perth county. He would be a great loss, spending all of this money. So he came up with the idea to put a velcro pad on the bull’s back and velcro at the end of the picas. This idea was basically flawless… flawless enough to go to court and tell them about it and still be able to successfully have his bullfights. This bullfight was so successful that over 3,000 people showed up from all around, including Toronto, New York, Cambridge, and so many