Fiesta Nacional

Every country has its National Holiday, usually it is independence day or something very similar, but Spain decided to make its National Holiday, a day when Columbus "found" a different civilization and the fact that afterwords Spaniards decided to attack them, take their gold and silver, and change them according to the "European standards".
However today I am not going into all the historical drama. On 12th October 2011, this past Wednesday, I just wanted to indulge into typical Spanish things. So I did. Here is the photo report of my awesome day:

During the parade

Best part of the parade

Everyone wants to be in my picture:)

"Horsee" 

Beautiful horsee

Double bottoms

Napping in Colorful Retiro

Retiro Metro stop

Corrida people

The fighting is not only inside the ring. Colombian hat? 

Mexican torero.

"Animals were hurt during filming this movie"

Banderillero was very lucky

After the corrida there was a debate between me and Frauke (my new German friend) about the Catalunya banning the corrida and the right of people to see it. Is it okay to ban it completely? Is it okay/too much to kill 6 bulls in one day? Do people who want to see it, have the right to see it? Is it that big part of the Spanish culture?

My concern was however a bit different. One of my goals while in Spain, is to understand what makes Spaniards so happy and cheerful in communication and in life? For sure it is not the economy and the government (they hate the present Prime Minister, you should hear how he was booed after the parade, and unemployment rate is above 20%) and the answer that it is the sun and all the sunlight, is just too simple for me to settle with.

Could it be a celebration of life? Someone told me that corrida is an old fashioned proof of the supremacy of a man over an animal. But could it be an intentional creation of a great fear and danger, and afterwords if/when you survive, you feel life boldly, fresher and simply are happy to be alive. After a bull almost hit a torero in the first 5 minutes of the Wednesday corrida, people were so happy to see that torero was okay that everybody was on their feet cheering. . . cheering for life?