Significance

• The reason red is used for the muleta is that by the bullfight's third act, the bull has been stabbed repeatedly and red is the color that best covers blood stains.
  
  

Misconceptions

• A widely perceived myth is the belief bulls are agitated by the color red, hence the term "seeing red," and charge at the cape because it is offensive to them. But bulls, like all cattle, are color blind.
  
  

Function

• Throughout the bullfight, the matador twists and swirls the capes, which irritate the bull and make him charge. The matador tries to pull the bull as close to him as possible, without getting mauled, so a lance and barbed sticks can be plunged into his neck muscles, weakening him for the final act.
  
  

Considerations

• Further evidence red has nothing to do with inciting the bull's ire is that in the first two acts, the matador uses a different cape, called a capote, which is larger and magenta on the outside, and yellow or blue on the inside. Like the muleta, it is the twirling of the capote that makes the bull charge the matador.
  
  

History

• According to the City of San Roque Bullfighting Museum, the use of the "Red Cape and Sword Technique" in bullfighting was started by the matador Manuel Ballón "El Africano" in Spain's Plaza de Armas Square in 1720.