The city of Seville experiences days when the calendar seems written by the city's own memory. The Corpus Christi festival transforms the streets with rushes, rosemary, and ephemeral altars, setting a rhythm that smells of wax and incense. Like a happy, ingrained custom, the afternoon of Corpus Christi has become the natural continuation of this celebration, moving the morning's devotion to the anticipation of the bullring at La Maestranza.

For years, the Baratillo arena hosted the great figures of bullfighting on the day the Custodia processes through the streets. From masters of the 18th and 19th centuries to icons of the 20th, the Corpus bullfight was an event of significant category, a date marked in red for fans and bullfighters alike. This year, the tradition has once again flourished, albeit with a different sensation.

While the Corpus procession, with its Seises dance, maintains its character as a unique ceremony and a hallmark of Sevillian identity, the subsequent bullfight at the Baratillo arena featured a lineup with Morante de la Puebla, Juan Ortega, and Pablo Aguado. The bullfighters faced a bull collection from García Jiménez and Garcigrande which, according to the report, lacked the appropriate presentation for the occasion and for Seville.

Despite the quality of the bulls, the three matadors demonstrated spirit and skill, understanding the importance of the afternoon. Their capes flew with poise, compensating for the bulls' lack of engagement with veronicas, trincherazos, and other bullfighting passes. Pablo Aguado showed grit and eagerness, while Juan Ortega seeks to consolidate his powerful style, and Morante de la Puebla, unfazed by a previous goring, displayed his courage and composure.

Morante was the standout performer, earning three ears thanks to his quality and the execution of perfect sword thrusts, demonstrating he is in "another dimension" of bullfighting. However, the report hints at a certain melancholy, comparing the current bullfight to the historical grandeur of the date, when simply saying "it's Corpus" evoked the bullfight as an intrinsic part of the celebration.

Nostalgia arises when recalling when the festival stood on its own, without the need for embellishments or parallel activities. The phrase "…and on Corpus Christi day, bulls in Seville" echoes a tradition that, while remaining alive, evokes past times of greater splendor and intrinsic meaning.