Rapa das Bestas (Shearing of the Beasts) festival in Sabucedo, Spain
While the running of the bulls in Pamplona is arguably one of Spain’s biggest attractions, on the Northwestern coast of the country, Galicians celebrate the lesser known tradition Rapa das Bestas, or shearing of the beasts. The tradition, which involves wrestling wild horses to the ground and trimming their manes and tails, is a 400 year old tradition in the region. Horses are corralled into a village where they face aloitadores or fighters in this man vs. animal challenge – minus weapons, just bare hands and hooves. While locals say its tradition and helps identify horses that are ill, animal rights groups say the tradition is barbaric and should be stopped.
Flip through the images below to see aloitadores aggressively shear horse manes in this four century year old tradition.
Comment now: Spain’s Rapa das Bestas – Wrestling tradition or animal cruelty?
-
- Wild horses are rounded up in the hills on the eve of the Rapa das Bestas, or the “shearing of the beasts,” festival on July 6, 2012 in Sabucedo, Spain. During the more than 400-year-old festival, that lasts three-days, wild horses are rounded up and wrestled to the ground by hand to have their manes and tails sheared. (Denis Doyle/Getty Images)
-
- Wild horses are rounded up in the hills on the eve of the Rapa das Bestas, or the “shearing of the beasts,” festival on July 6, 2012 in Sabucedo, Spain. (Denis Doyle/Getty Images)
-
- Horses gallop during the Rapa das Bestas traditional event in the Spanish northwestern village of Sabucedo July 6, 2012. On the first weekend of the month of July, hundreds of wild horses are rounded up, trimmed and groomed in different villages in the Spanish northwestern region of Galicia. (Miguel Vidal/Reuters)
-
- Horses gallop during the Rapa das Bestas traditional event in the Spanish northwestern village of Sabucedo July 6, 2012. (Miguel Vidal/Reuters)
-
- Horses are pictured during the Rapa das Bestas traditional event in the Spanish northwestern village of Sabucedo July 6, 2012. (Miguel Vidal/Reuters)
-
- A horse rears up after being rounded up in the hills on the eve of the Rapa das Bestas or “shearing of the beasts” festival on July 6, 2012 in Sabucedo, Spain. (Denis Doyle/Getty Images)
-
- Two horses fight during the Rapa das Bestas traditional event in the Spanish northwestern village of Sabucedo July 6, 2012. (Miguel Vidal/Reuters)
-
- A wild horse is seen during the Rapa das Bestas traditional event in the Spanish northwestern village of Sabucedo July 6, 2012. (Miguel Vidal/Reuters)
-
- A man runs in front of horses during the Rapa das Bestas traditional event in the Spanish northwestern village of Sabucedo July 6, 2012. (Miguel Vidal/Reuters)
-
- Wild horses are rounded up in the hills on the eve of the Rapa das Bestas, or the “shearing of the beasts,” festival on July 6, 2012 in Sabucedo, Spain (Denis Doyle/Getty Images)
-
- Wild horses are rounded up in the hills on the eve of the rapa das bestas, or the “shearing of the beasts,” festival on July 6, 2012 in Sabucedo, Spain. (Denis Doyle/Getty Images)
-
- Horses gallop during the Rapa das Bestas traditional event in the Spanish northwestern village of Sabucedo July 6, 2012. (Miguel Vidal/Reuters)
-
- Horses gallop during the Rapa das Bestas traditional event in the Spanish northwestern village of Sabucedo July 6, 2012. (Miguel Vidal/Reuters)
-
- Villagers round up wild horses on the hills of Sabucedo, some 40 kilometres from Santiago de Compostela, northwestern Spain, on July 6, 2012, during the 400-year-old horse festival called “Rapa das bestas” (Shearing of the Beasts) to be trimmed and marked. (Miguel Riopa/AFP/Getty Images)
-
- Horses gallop during the Rapa das Bestas traditional event in the Spanish northwestern village of Sabucedo July 6, 2012. (Miguel Vidal/Reuters)
-
- Wild horses are rounded up in the hills on the eve of the Rapa das Bestas, or the “shearing of the beasts,” festival on July 6, 2012 in Sabucedo, Spain. (Denis Doyle/Getty Images)
-
- A villager rounds up wild horses on the hills of Sabucedo, some 40 kilometres from Santiago de Compostela, northwestern Spain, on July 6, 2012. (Miguel Riopa/AFP/Getty Images)
-
- A participant cuts off the mane of a wild horse during the Rapa das Bestas traditional event in the Spanish northwestern village of Sabucedo July 6, 2012. (Miguel Vidal/Reuters)
-
- Wild horses are rounded up in the hills on the eve of the Rapa das Bestas, or the “shearing of the beasts,” festival on July 6, 2012 in Sabucedo, Spain. (Denis Doyle/Getty Images)
-
- Participants grab a wild horse during the Rapa das Bestas traditional event in the Spanish northwestern village of Sabucedo July 6, 2012. (Miguel Vidal/Reuters)
-
- Wild horses are seen gathered during the Rapa Das Bestas traditional event in the Spanish northwestern village of Sabucedo July 7, 2012. (Miguel Vidal/Reuters)
-
- A reveler tries to hold on to a wild horse during the Rapa Das Bestas traditional event in the Spanish northwestern village of Sabucedo July 7, 2012. (Miguel Vidal/Reuters)
-
- A reveler tries to hold on to a wild horse during the Rapa Das Bestas traditional event in the Spanish northwestern village of Sabucedo July 7, 2012. (Miguel Vidal/Reuters)
-
- A reveler tries to hold on to a wild horse during the Rapa Das Bestas traditional event in the Spanish northwestern village of Sabucedo July 7, 2012. (Miguel Vidal/Reuters)
-
- Aloitadores (fighters) tame wild horses during the Rapa das Bestas on July 7, 2012 in Sabucedo, Spain. (Denis Doyle/Getty Images)
-
- Aloitadores (fighters) tame wild horses during the Rapa das Bestas on July 7, 2012 in Sabucedo, Spain. (Denis Doyle/Getty Images)
-
- Wild horses wait to be tamed by aloitadores (fighters) during the Rapa das Bestas on July 7, 2012 in Sabucedo, Spain. (Denis Doyle/Getty Images)
-
- An Aloitadore (fighter) tames a wild horse during the Rapa das Bestas on July 7, 2012 in Sabucedo, Spain. (Denis Doyle/Getty Images)
-
- Aloitadores (fighters) tame wild horses during the Rapa das Bestas on July 7, 2012 in Sabucedo, Spain. (Denis Doyle/Getty Images)
-
- Aloitadores (fighters) tame wild horses during the Rapa das Bestas on July 7, 2012 in Sabucedo, Spain. (Denis Doyle/Getty Images)
-
- Aloitadores (fighters) tame wild horses during the Rapa das Bestas on July 7, 2012 in Sabucedo, Spain. (Denis Doyle/Getty Images)
-
- An injured Aloitadore (fighter) reacts during the Rapa das Bestas on July 7, 2012 in Sabucedo, Spain. (Denis Doyle/Getty Images)
-
- Aloitadores (fighters) tame a wild horse during the Rapa das Bestas on July 7, 2012 in Sabucedo, Spain. (Denis Doyle/Getty Images)
-
- Wild horses fight during the Rapa das Bestas on July 7, 2012 in Sabucedo, Spain. (Denis Doyle/Getty Images)
-
- Aloitadores (fighters) try to tame a wild horse during the Rapa das Bestas on July 7, 2012 in Sabucedo, Spain. (Denis Doyle/Getty Images)
-
- A reveler tries to hold on to a wild horse during the Rapa Das Bestas traditional event in the Spanish northwestern village of Sabucedo July 7, 2012. (Miguel Vidal/Reuters)
-
- Aloitadores (fighters) struggle with a wild horse during the 400-year-old horse festival called Rapa das bestas in Sabucedo, some 40 kms from Santiago de Compostela, on July 9, 2012. (Miguel Riopa/AFP/Getty Images)
-
- Aloitadores (fighters) struggle with wild horses during the 400-year-old horse festival called Rapa das Bestas in Sabucedo, some 40 kms from Santiago de Compostela, on July 9, 2012. (Miguel Riopa/AFP/Getty Images)
-
- Aloitadores (fighters) struggle with a wild horse during the 400-year-old horse festival called Rapa das Bestas in Sabucedo, some 40 kms from Santiago de Compostela, on July 9, 2012. (Miguel Riopa/AFP/Getty Images)
-
- Aloitadores (fighters) struggle with a wild horse during the 400-year-old horse festival called Rapa das Bestas in Sabucedo, some 40 kms from Santiago de Compostela, on July 9, 2012. (Miguel Riopa/AFP/Getty Images)
Baltimore neighborhoods
Baltimore street photographers
Year in review
Freddie Gray: protests, aftermath
24 hours with...
A. Aubrey Bodine
Viewing Baltimore from above
Ana Springfeldt
Sep 18, 2012 @ 10:49:00
Greetings from Hamburg, Germany!
I was there in Galicia for the German Horse Magazin CAVALLO and enjoyed this completely different world.
The rainy forrests full of the fragrance of eucalypt trees.
Wild horses and man changing to archaic heroes, when they do their traditional work.
I made fantastic picts and learned a lot about the north-west of spain.
The act is no fun for the horses and of course no good horsemanship.
In fact, no horse was injured, but they had to stand a lot of trouble.
Ana