In the ritualistic world of bullfighting, perhaps the most solemn ritual begins about 90 minutes before anyone confronts a bull, as the matadors and their teams begin to dress for the ring.
"The climate is mystic," said Fernando Galindo, a bullfighter in Madrid. "You are preparing to risk your life."
The clothes usually go on slowly, he said, often in front of a makeshift altar, a cross or an image of the Virgin Mary. Some bullfighters prefer solitude, he said, others conversation or the hushed company of friends. But nearly all are superstitious devotees of routine, dressing in the same way in the same place, over and over.
For many bullfighters in Madrid this year, however, sticking to routine will be impossible. The Hotel Reina Victoria, the traditional hub of Madrid's bullfighting culture and the place where Spain's great matadors have been dressing for more than 60 years, was shut down during the off-season to be transformed into something decidedly less Spanish.
It will reopen this summer as the Hard Rock Hotel Madrid, whose Web site promises "an atmosphere of pure, unadulterated rock and roll.
LOL @ homogenous modernity
LOL @ homogenous modernity
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/12/world ... r=homepage