Alternate Uses
The primary purpose of the ring is bullfighting, but it is usually limited to some festival weeks in the year. In other times, it may be used as a concert venue as in the Rock en el ruedo tour of Miguel Ríos or the live record Diamonds & Rust in the Bullring, featuring a Joan Baez concert in the Bilbao plaza.
Before the diffusion of modern sports premises, bull rings were used in the Basque Country for challenges of resistance running. The public made bets on the number of laps the runner could make. No bulls were involved.
After the battle of Badajoz (1936) of the Spanish Civil War, the Badajoz ring was used as a confinement camp for supporters of the republic and many thousands were executed there by the Nationalist forces who had just occupied the town.
Read more about this topic: Bullring
Famous quotes containing the word alternate:
“I alternate treading water
and deadman’s float.”
—Anne Sexton (1928–1974)
“Germany is a queer country: one can’t regard it dispassionately. I alternate between hating it thoroughly, stick, stock and stone, and yearning over it fit to break my heart. I can’t help feeling it a young and adorable country—adolescent—with the faults of adolescence.”
—D.H. (David Herbert)