This project attempts to document a secular tradition lived for several generations of people living in the border villages of Portugal and Spain.
The Capeia Arraiana is a bull run of native lands of Ribacôa (Portugal), villages "de raia".
Considered ethnographic heritage, the Capeia Arraiana is known to be a bullfight with unique features in the World.
It is a tradition with ancient roots, eagerly awaited by villagers borderer, having originated in Forcalhos or Lageosa Raia (Portugal).
The origin of Capeia Arraiana is not well determined in time, being known by oral tradition and the collective memory of the people
The Capeia probably had its origin in the "payment" that the cattle ranchers of the Spanish province of Salamanca (Spain) would annually to villages of Ribacôa (Portugal, yielding one day some bulls, to pay the damage caused by cattle crossing the streak, invading marshes and orchards. The word itself comes from the Spanish Capea , related Act of bullfighting with a hood.
The party starts in the morning when the inhabitants, make present in the slough where the bulls will be escorted to the square.
Once the "curros" door is open, the bull enters the arena, in a rage, and run in all directions in the expectation “cornear” some of the many people who try their luck in moving him to the front of the nose .
Then comes the time when the Forcão it is displayed. The bull reveals his “casta”, a few minutes are enough to show that all its vigor.
The Forcão is leaning against the wall of the arena, a few more minutes of revelry and the bull is returned to the “curros”.
The Forcão is an instrument to handle bulls used in Capeia Arraiana. Weighs about three hundred pounds and it takes about 30 men to lift it.
Two men - the "rabixadores” (rabejadores) - coordinate the movements of the whole group. They are preventing the bull around the Forcão and endanger those who take on the flanks. Men take greater agility ahead in the foreground, making the front bull only protected by a few galls tree artfully arranged on fork. It is at this precise moment that men and bull rival the courage and cunning to come out winners duel.
The bull is not bitten or knocked out and end the square without any visible wound or blood.
