“At school, we used to have fun grabbing our legs as if they were horns”: they are 14, 15 and 16 years old and rub shoulders with the bulls

Paul Bouet (in purple on the head), 14, stops a bull from the Levant manade, in Mauguio, on August 17. Mathias Tuduri

Jonathan Bouard, 16, got his T-shirt dirty after catching a bull in Mauguio on August 17. Mathias Tuduri

Paul Bouet (en violet à la tête) et Nathan Cerda Borja (avec une casquette) ont arrêté un taureau ensemble. Mathias Tuduri

On the abrivado and bandido course, many miners take on the role of trapaïre and let themselves be carried away by the adrenaline to rub shoulders with the Camargue bulls.

Paul Bouet is having trouble catching his breath. The 14-year-old teenager, who belongs to the Los Bromistas gang, has just stopped a bull from the Levant manade with his bare hands during the abrivado, Saturday, August 17, on Gaston-Baissette Avenue. He was not alone in achieving this feat since his friend Nathan Cerda Borja, 15, was on the other side of the bull's head to stop it in its tracks. The two former classmates at the college were strategic and tried "at the right time" to achieve their goals.

To avoid the crowd at the famous bend of the bar Le Mistral, they left from the roundabout at the bottom of the avenue like dozens of other teenagers and children who run after the bulls. Some are too young, others do not yet dare to take the step of climbing to the head of the horned beasts but for Paul and Nathan, all it took was for the guardians to give the green light to take action. "It's thanks to Nathan that I started catching, we were in the same class at school and we had fun grabbing our legs as if they were horns", says Paul who has just caught his third bull since the beginning of the festival while Nathan has more experience since he caught his first last summer.

"I'll be scared when I get mal"

Jonathan Bouard, 16, has also been catching bulls for a year now. Like every generation, "I learned by watching the big guys do it, you copy them, you wrap your right arm then your left arm and you collapse", he explains about how to go about it. This passion for bullfighting traditions is not a coincidence: Paul has an uncle who was a bullfighter for a while between the ages of 14 and 20, Nathan has a cousin in the Los Aficionados gang who has been a bullfighter for a long time and Jonathan has his parents who were also in his shoes in the past. “We've been into this since we were little, it's the tradition to try to catch”, justifies the latter.

Despite the danger of being around horses and bulls often going at high speed, they are unanimous in saying that the adrenaline generated is unique and it is one of the reasons that pushes them to act. “It gives sensations, it's beautiful to catch and people like it, Nathan expresses. We can be idols for the little ones." "With adrenaline, I don't think about accidents, I just think about not hurting myself. I'll be scared when I hurt myself and for now it hasn't happened to me", Jonathan says in turn.

"Fear is mostly horses"

For Paul, "Fear is mostly horses. If you get kicked, you can lose an eye or an ear, whereas as soon as you are at the head of a bull, there is practically no risk". A finding shared by Nathan who remembers a serious accident that occurred last November and which slowed him down in his desire to catch before resuming last month in Calvisson: “A colleague got kicked in the spleen at the Lansargues festival, it exploded and he nearly died. He spent several months in hospital”. “One time, a horse charged at me, I fell but I came out of it okay because I didn't hit my head”, Jonathan remembers.

These miners, for whom the passion is too strong, are the pride of their parents who still fear for their health. “My parents aren't too keen [on catching], but they encourage me when I catch a bull in front of them”, Paul says. “My father punished me a bit when I showed him my action in Calvisson, but after that he got used to it”, Nathan adds. “My parents trust me for now as long as I don't hurt myself, Jonathan notes. Yesterday my mother saw me catch for the first time, she told me she was scared but it was also a source of pride for her.

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