The brightly coloured cloth used by bullfighters during the fight is called a capote de brega. But why is it pink and yellow? In the knightly festivals of the Middle Ages, the cape of the nobleman’s usual attire was used as an instrument to evade the charge of the bull. Later, in the 16th and 17th centuries, the cape was established as the common tool of the laborers who helped the knights. Already at that time, there was the expression “to throw the cape to someone” when helping a companion in a difficult situation. However, the colours used were not the same as those used today: the capes of the common people were brown or dyed dark. With the evolution of bullfighting, the bullfighting cape was gradually separated from the dress cape, although it did retain its shape. In fact, today capes are still designed with a cape, collar and wide flare.
The current colour of the front is pink or fuchsia, while the back is usually yellow, although some bullfighters, out of superstition, have taken up the old tradition of using dark colours, such as blue or green. Traditionally, pink is associated with good luck and yellow with bad luck. Both colours dye the bullfighters’ capes, like a dichotomy inherent to the world of bullfighting: good fortune and bad fortune, triumph and failure, sun and shadow, life and death.
