Fierro and Sombra arrived in Caracas, which they look upon from El Ávila Mountain. They watched the Nuevo Circo— the bullfighting plaza, so large that when inaugurated, in 1919 by President Gómez, it could house a considerable share of Caracas’ inhabitants.

“Fierro, is there anything heavenly in bullfighting or is it plain butchery?” asked Sombra, with a half grin on his face as he idly looked into the Valley of Caracas's bullfighting arena.

“Now there, Sombra, who's the provocateur now?”

“Well, Fierro, what is bullfighting? A leftover of a savage pagan belief, or is there a contemporary meaning to it?”

“Sombra, bullfighting may not be Catholic, in that it is not part of the ritual any more than Rio de Janeiro's Carnival is, but like Carnival, bullfighting is defined by the Catholic calendar. It is the most Spanish of all fiestas.”

“So, it's a party, Fierro. A hell of a party for the bull!”

“Sombra, a fiesta it is. In Spain, bullfights can be staged after marriages— for it is a fertility rite— and always after Mass, never before, and always between Easter and the end of summer.”

“So, it is not religious, Fierro, but would it exist without religion?”

“Call it the fiesta brava, Sombra, in opposition to Mass, the fiesta mansa. The fiesta brava can be seen as a toning down of an excess of beatitude after the cleansing spirit of the sacrifice of the lamb. Too much meekness, as expressed by ‘turning the other cheek’ would lead to the wicked taking over.”

“For a fiesta it looks pretty wicked to me already, Fierro.”

“Sombra, bullfighting transforms the Catholic ritual diet into a festival of manliness.”

“I cannot see much manliness in an effeminate man slaughtering a tired and weakened bull, Fierro!”

“Sombra, you know many things but it shows that, in taking an aesthetically pleasing performance for effeminacy, you do not know much about manliness or bullfighting!”

“I am willing to learn, Fierro.”

“Bullfighting, like so many rituals, can serve many meanings, Sombra, yet over time one has been predominant: the celebration of virility.”