16 articles
Afternoons of Solitude
Afternoons of Solitude is a 2024 Spanish-French-Portuguese documentary directed by Albert Serra, following star matador Andrés Roca Rey through Spanish bullfights; it won the Golden Shell at San Sebastián.
Audaryspak
Audaryspak (аударыспақ, also er enish, Oodarysh) is Kazakh horseback wrestling: two riders try to throw each other from the saddle. Weight classes, 5-minute bouts, World Horseback Wrestling Federation since 2023.
Bear-baiting
Bear-baiting: blood sport setting dogs on a bear tethered to a stake, popular in England from the 11th century, centered on Bankside bear gardens, declined under Puritan and welfare criticism, outlawed in the 19th century, persists in Pakistan.
Blood sport
Blood sport: entertainment involving killing or injuring animals, including bullfighting, cockfighting, dogfighting, and hunting; divided into human-versus-human, human-versus-animal, and animal-versus-animal forms, increasingly banned by law.
Bull-baiting
Bull-baiting: English blood sport in which dogs attacked a chained bull, tied to butchery beliefs and market-town law; sanctioned for centuries, ruled unprotected in 1828, abolished by the Cruelty to Animals Act 1835, and origin of the bulldog.
Bullfighter
Bullfighter: performer who fights and kills bulls in the Spanish corrida, led by the matador in the traje de luces; three tercios, six bulls, three matadors; now legal in only seven countries.
Bullfighting
Bullfighting: ritual human-bull combat in an arena (corrida, tourada, course camarguaise), six-bull Spanish format with matadors, picadors, banderilleros; legal in seven countries, heritage-protected in Spain and France, contested on animal-welfare grounds.
Buzkashi (بزکشی)
Buzkashi (بزکشی, goat pulling), also kok boru, kokpar, kupkari, is a Central Asian horseback sport where riders compete for a goat or calf carcass; Afghanistan's national game, banned under the 1990s Taliban, revived since 2021.
Charro
Charro: Mexican skilled horseman of charrería, the national equestrian sport; originally a land and cattle owner of high status, distinct from the working vaquero; word documented in Mexico since the early 19th century.
Cheongdo Bullfighting Stadium
Cheongdo Bullfighting Stadium (청도소싸움경기장), South Korea's first permanent bullfighting arena, an 11,845-seat openable dome in Cheongdo County opened in 2011, hosting weekend bull-versus-bull matches with legal ugwon betting and ongoing animal-welfare controversy.
Fox hunting
Fox hunting: mounted sport hunting of red foxes with hound packs. Banned in Scotland (2002) and England and Wales (Hunting Act 2004); trail hunting, drag hunting, and exemptions remain, with a UK trail hunting ban proposed in 2026.
Jallikattu
Jallikattu, also called Yeruthazhuvuthal, is a Tamil Nadu bull-taming sport held during Pongal in January, described in Sangam-era Kalithogai, banned by India's Supreme Court in 2014 and revived by 2017 state legislation after mass protests.
Man versus Horse Marathon
Man versus Horse Marathon: annual human-vs-horse race since June 1980 at Llanwrtyd Wells, Wales, over ~22 miles of rough terrain; horses won the first 24 years, humans five times since 2004, first Huw Lobb.
Running of the bulls
Running of the bulls (encierro), the daily 8 a.m. bull run of Pamplona's San Fermín festival, July 7–14: six bulls and steers over an 848.6–875 m route, rules, history, Hemingway, and 2025 impact.
Spanish-style bullfighting
Spanish-style bullfighting, also called Spanish bullfighting or corrida de toros, is a ritualized spectacle where a matador fights a specially bred bull, usually ending in the bull's death.
Yabusame (流鏑馬)
Yabusame (流鏑馬) is Japanese mounted archery performed as a Shinto ritual: a galloping archer shoots kaburaya arrows at three left-side targets. Distinct from kasagake and inu-ou-mono; revived under Tokugawa Yoshimune.