Carlos Alonso Pascual: Trade mark inspired by those used in the Villa de Bilbao since ancient times, particularly for wool sacks, deeds and charters.
Header: La desgraciada muerte de Pepe Illo en la Plaza de Madrid, Francisco de Goya y Lucientes, Tauromaquia, 1814-1816.
Bajo la negra flor de la montera
Pablo García Baena, La Reverte.
nace la trenza en lazos de claveles
y el toro abraza con sus cuernos fieles
la cintura de nardo o de palmera.
A montera is the hat traditionally worn by bullfighters. It was introduced to the event in 1835 by Francisco Montes Reina, better known as 'Paquiro'. Since then, the montera has been the most emblematic accessory of bullfighting culture.
Osborne Bull
Manolo Prieto, 1956.
There is no conclusive evidence regarding the origin and evolution of the montera before it became part of bullfighting attire. According to some specialists, it may have originated from the wild hat, fitted to resist strong winds and featuring two flaps to protect the ears. However, other studies suggest that it could be a synthesis of two hats: the traditional hunting headpiece and the two-cornered military hat, highly coveted during the Napoleonic period and widely spread.
Probably the most fascinating genealogy connects the montera with the animal-like masks found in the ritual ceremonies of many cultures. According to several specialists, the montera indicates a symbolic will: whoever wears this headdress adopts the attributes of the animal represented, transforms into a bull and identifies with the rest of the living organisms that inhabit the ecosystem. The human metamorphoses into a bull by means of the chrysalis represented by the montera.
Inspired by this traditional hat, Carlos Alonso Pascual has designed Montera caladanensis, a new cultural artefact to recognise our interdependence with the Earth's ecosystems, regenerate and restore the natural environment and promote an active and symbiotic collaboration with nature.
Pasiphaë gave birth to Asterius, who was called the Minotaur. He had the face of a bull, but the rest of him was human; and Minos, in compliance with certain oracles, shut him up and guarded him in the Labyrinth.
Apollodorus, Bibliotheca, 3.1.4.
The story of Theseus guided by Ariadne's thread through the labyrinth of the Minotaur is one of the most fascinating stories in Greek mythology. The Minotaur, also called Asterius or Asterion, was a mythical creature with the head of a bull and the body of a man.
Jorge Luis Borges showed the essence of the Minotaur in the short story "The House of Asterion". The creature takes the floor and expresses his conviction that humans are the monsters. Our cultural trajectory has led us to a fragmented way of seeing the world that reinforces the categorical separation between humans and nature. And from that vision we have assumed that humans are superior to the rest of the species and have the right to plunder the planet as we please.
Linear thinking, the idea of unlimited growth, the emphasis on utility, the fascination with control and the absolute primacy of economic performance are only the corollaries of this ecocidal vision that is endangering life.
This planet is an interdependent and interconnected system: the felling of one tree not only deprives us of its cooling shade, it disrupts a much wider and richer ecosystem of relationships. We need the mask of Asterius to guide our behaviour and provide inspiration to all generations, but especially to the young.
Montera caladanensis is an oxymoron: a bullfighting emblem to combat climate change and regenerate the planet.
El más antiguo toro cruzó el día,
Pablo Neruda, El toro, 1961.
sus patas escarbaban el planeta.
Siguió, siguió hasta donde vive el mar.
Llegó a la orilla el más antiguo toro
a la orilla del tiempo, del océano.
Cerró los ojos, lo cubrió la hierba.
Respiró toda la distancia verde.
Y lo demás lo construyó el silencio.
The epithet caladanensis is a reference to Caladan, a fictional planet in the universe created by Frank Herbert in his 1965 novel Dune.
Caladan is a lush world with wide seas, rocky cliffs, gentle meadows and dense forests. This planet, which in many ways resembles the Mediterranean basin, is the ancestral fief of the powerful House Atreides, a family descended from the sons of Atreus, king of Mycenae. Duke Paulus Atreides, usually called the "Old Duke" in the novel, regularly participated in bullfights, until he was killed by a drugged bull from the planet Salusa Secundus.
Dune is a story of initiation. Many Homeric references are drawn in the novel and many stories are interwoven: restorative versus extractive power, the fascination of water, the practice of walking on sand, indigenous technologies, false mysticism, the blinding light of the desert and many other arguments. Montera caladanensis is, like the mask of the Minotaur, a call to transformation.
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