The subconscious Spanish tradition of bullfighting is under fire in Barcelona and its region of Catalonia, where the regional parliament will vote on Wednesday whether to prohibit the fights.If approved, Catalonia would become the first region in mainland Spain to ban bullfighting, and some see it as a hit in the face to the rest of the country.
Enrique Guillen, 24, laments that he might be the last Barcelona-born bullfighter to take the "alternativa," or ceremonial fight in the ring against the biggest bulls to become a experienced matador, which he did last year at Barcelona's only remaining bullring, the Monumental.
Guillen's father worked at the bullring, opening the doors for bulls to charge in to face matadors and their death.
"My father brought me to see the bullfights when I still had a bribe," Guillen said. "It would be trying not to be able to give to my children what my parents gave to me."
But militant Aida Gascon, of the Anti-Bullfighting Party, known as PACMA, looks ahead of the tradition and sees animal cruelty.
She says she's attended just one bullfight in her life, and that was only to get a sense of the bull's affliction, which she depicted in a painting that hangs in her living room.
"Bullfighting is part of Spanish culture," Gascon said. "But that should change. Many customs disappear as the society advances."
The number of bullfights across Spain has dropped by one-third in recent years, due mostly to budget constraints of local governments, which often fund the spectacles.
In Catalonia, there are now just over a dozen fights a year and the Monumental bullring in Barcelona is about the only place in the region that still holds fights.
But Luis Corrales and his pro-bullfight group, known as PPDF, released a study predicting big economic losses for Catalonia if bullfighting is banned. This would mainly result, he says, because the Catalan government would have to pay damages to the bullfighting industry, which holds long-term operating licenses.
"When the Catalan government and the conflict are working hard to trim the budget, how could they validate making big indemnity payments to the bullfighting industry, when it's not necessary," Corrales said.
But critics disagree, saying the economic impact would be negligible, given the small number of fights still in custody in Catalonia.
Either way, the Catalan legislative body bullfight vote is being watched not only in Spain, but abroad, where many have a fascination with bullfighting.
The scheme to ban bullfighting started as a popular idea in Catalonia and was acknowledged for consideration by legislative body last year by a lean margin of votes. Since then, there has been an ever-intensifying debate, with bullfighting proponents and opponents gathering support from across Spain, even from abroad.
Most analysts predict that the vote on Wednesday will be very close. The two largest parties in parliament, the ruling Socialists and the opposition Catalan nationalists, or CiU, have given their members of parliament freedom to vote their scruples.
Some smaller parties on the left are expected to vote for the ban while the unadventurous Popular Party is probable to support continuing the tradition.
The ban, if approved, would take effect in January 2012 and would not end bullfighting in the rest of Spain. It still has a strong following in Madrid and in the south around Seville.
Spain's Canary Islands in the Atlantic Ocean already does not allow bullfighting, but a ban in Catalonia would be considered a bigger blow to the tradition.
Some analysts say that Catalan autonomy, including the desire by some in the Barcelona area for independence from Spain, also is playing a role in the vote, as well as the upcoming regional elections for parliament later this year.
But the main bullfighting proponents and opponents say the root problem is a clear line in the sand: tradition vs. protection of animals.
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