Tercio de banderillas

 

It was a great invention by the founders of the art of bullfighting. The goal of this stage of the lidia is to ‘revive’ the bull, who normally tends to slow down after the tercio de varas. When the harpoons are driven into his loin, the courage and brave character of the bull will anger him and force him to gore again when he is provoked. This can be a very spectacular and risky performance, which requires talent, dexterity and agility from the bullfighters.
 

This stage of the lidia implies a lot of movements and different techniques. The situation of both the bull and the bullfighter at the beginning of the cite (provocation) will give different names to the performance. If the bullfighter has already began to run towards the bull when the animal begins to gallop, it is said that the banderillas (harpoons) are put de poder a poder (in a power balanced situation). If the bull is close to the barrera (wooden fence) and the bullfighter is aligned with him and has to run to the center of the bullring, then the banderillas are driven al sesgo (tilted). Banderillas can also be driven de fuera a dentro (from the outside to the inside), de dentro a fuera (from the inside to the outside), al cuarteo (dribbling in a circle), al cambio (dribbling statically), al quiebro (dribbling laterally), de frente (dribbling frontally) and a topacarnero (not dribbling).
 

A strict order is necessary to perform this stage successfully. Normally, the matador who is in charge of killing and fighting that bull will wait close to the burladero and let his subalternos harpoon the bull. Despite this is the normal behavior, occasionally the matador would help the secondary bullfighters or even put the banderillas himself. During the tercio de banderillas, one bullfighter called lidiador will be in charge of conducting the bull and placing him correctly, so that his colleagues can harpoon the animal properly. Two banderilleros will harpoon each bull. One will put two pairs of harpoons and the second only one. At the beginning of the tercio de banderillas, they stand in the medios (central point of the bullring) and provoke the bull. While they perform, the matador and the members of other cuadrillas will distribute along the ruedo in order to be able to act if an accident occurs.
 

The banderilla (little harpoon)

Rounded dowel wrapped in colored paper, with a harpoon shaped steel point. The prog of the harpoon is articulated allowing the banderillas to hang during the faena the muleta in order to avoid possible accidents.