In Camargue, the so-called "Bouvine" ( celebration and passion for
bulls) celebrates bulls and horses in arenas but also in the street.
"L'Abrivado" (abriva
= to speed up in provençal language) consists in bringing the bulls
from their pastures to the arenas. The cattle are flanked by cowherds
riding their white horses in order to avoid "attrapaires" (young lads
from the village) who manage to let the bulls escape. The group of
horses and bulls trots through the streets of the village and the crowd
is cheering.
The "Bandido" consists in bringing
back the bulls to the pastures at the end of the bull run. Bulls are
pushed by the cowherds galloping in the streets.
The "Cabestria" (
less frequent) is similar to the "abrivado" but black bulls are
replaced by "cabestros" ( Spanish ox that are not aggressive at all).
The "Roussataïo" ( "rosso" means
horses used for farming and not for riding) is a herd of brood mares
going through the streets between cowherds riding their horses.
Nowadays, brood mares are only used for reproduction but they were used
to thresh corn and were passed from one village to another.