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They are part Spanish bullfight, part Roman circus. On the northern coast of Colombia, it's the season of bull festivals called Corralejas. Fans come looking for rousing action, and they are rarely disappointed. Bulls are released into vast rings filled with young men. Participants are gored and sometimes even killed.
Nonetheless, as NPR's Juan Forero reports, Corralejas are embedded in the culture.
JUAN FORERO: At 2 p.m. sharp, thousands fill the rickety, wooden stands here in Sincelejo, the hottest part of the day in this honky-tonk town.
(Soundbite of trumpet)
FORERO: When the brass bands begin to warm up, it's a signal. Everyone knows the action is about to begin.
(Soundbite of music)
FORERO: Suddenly, a 900-pound bull charges into the ring, scattering hundreds of men.
Unidentified Man #1: (Foreign language spoken)
(Soundbite of applause)
Unidentified Man #1: (Foreign language spoken)
FORERO: Jose Antonio Gomez(ph) of RCN Radio narrates the action.
Mr. JOSE ANTONIO GOMEZ (RCN Radio): (Foreign language spoken)
FORERO: What an outsider sees is sheer chaos. Men taunt the bull with capes. Others wield sticks. Still, others try to rope it. Twenty horsemen also chase after the bull, stabbing it with long wooden pikes. The bull fights back, sometimes killing horses.
The bull is quickly spent, bleeding, exhausted. It's lassoed and led out. Some bulls die; others live to fight another day. Some of the men also leave the arena quite battered.
Mr. JORGE LUIS VILLEGAS: (Foreign language spoken)
FORERO: That's Jorge Luis Villegas describing how he's been gored six times, broken his rib and collarbone. On this day, he's back for more, along with his cape.
Mr. VILLEGAS: (Foreign language spoken)
FORERO: Bullfighting, he says, means money and no bosses. The money comes directly from the stands, from the wealthy cattlemen who come ready to give cash to those below.
Some of the bravest walk away with a few hundred dollars after the weeklong festival.
The spectacle reflects the rigid hierarchy of rural Colombia: the rich enjoying themselves in the stands; the poor risking their lives.
But Inis Amador defends the rituals. He's a lawyer and historian who helped revive the Corralejas after a rough patch in the '80s.
Mr. INIS AMADOR (Lawyer and Historian): (Foreign language spoken)
FORERO: He says the rituals were begun by the workers, the farmhands, even the slaves. They took time off from backbreaking work by putting together makeshift bullfights.
There's not much difference between then and now.
(Soundbite of cheering)
FORERO: Among those here is Carlos Cumplido Oviedo. He's a cattleman, and 20 of his bulls fight on this day.
Mr. CARLOS CUMPLIDO OVIEDO (Cattleman): (Foreign language spoken)
FORERO: What he wants is to breed ferocious bulls, he says, and to see the matadors fight them off.
By day's end, 40 bulls had come and gone, lots of alcohol had been consumed, and organizers tallied up the wounded from the week's festivities: Nine people gored. Two so seriously, they were hospitalized. But no fatalities, not this time around.
Unidentified Man #2: Ole.
FORERO: Juan Forero, NPR News.