Always a big show in Texas: Rodeo
Photo: picture alliance/dpa | Richard Ulreich
Howdy from Texas, dear readers,
The relationship between the neighboring Texas cities of Dallas and Fort Worth is sometimes similar to that of Hamburg and Bremen. Okay, there is neither a train to commute (“The best thing about Bremen is the train to Hamburg,” say Joy) nor rival soccer teams (“Only the HSV,” says my husband) that would be worth mentioning.
Talke talks
News from the Far West: Jana Talke lives in Texas and writes about the American and Americanized way of life.
Otherwise, the competition is similar: Dallas is bigger and, like Hamburg, has “Clout”, i.e. it is better known globally and has more Instagram-friendly restaurants. Like Bremen, Fort Worth is an underdog, but has more historical sights to offer (I can already hear the blood of my Hamburg readers boiling when I write something about Werder Bremen). Sorry, but Bremen has a nicer city center than Hamburg! These rivalry parallels between my old and new home occurred to me when I recently went to the rodeo in Fort Worth, which my friends from Dallas find too “country”, i.e. too backwards and provincial.
As we quickly notice, the rodeo is not only provincial, but also quite pathetic. Prayers should be held after the US anthem. “You have to take off your hat,” my husband admonishes me, still seeming to forget where we live. Sometimes it helps that I have Russian roots, which make me much more Texan than my Northern European equal husband. I shake my head covered with my new chic cowgirl hat and prove myself right: “Gentlemen, bare your heads,” comes the microphone. Conservative US men pray hatlessly, collect weapons, open doors for women – but only literally, not metaphorically – and go into politics instead of retirement homes. The women remain protected, are prevented from having abortions and wear bright lipstick and real fur all the way to the retirement home: There are more parallels between Texas and Russia than the USA would like. I didn’t expect that a visit to the rodeo like this would stir up my whole past!
“Dear God,” the speaker pleads into the microphone, “protect the animals! And also our police and fire departments. Exactly how these are connected, I’m not entirely sure. But the Mustang competition we’re watching is highly entertaining. The wild animals were not only captured and trained by cowboys and girls, but also decorated with glitter in their manes and spray tattoos on their asses. Teenagers perform stunts on Mustangs. Toddlers ride sheep. In Germany, both animal protection and child protection would be alerted after such an event.
As with so many popular phenomena in the United States (Christianity, measles, sugar, guns), rodeo’s roots lie in colonialism. The Spanish once brought their technology and their livestock to what is now Mexico, and these enjoyed great popularity in North and Latin America. The cattle herder “Vaquero” reinvented himself in the USA as a Marlboro-smoking, jeans-wearing Protestant cowboy. The first rodeo competition was held in Pecos, a small Texas town, in 1883. The oldest annual rodeo in the world has been taking place in Fort Worth since 1896; parts of the current rodeo grounds were built in 1936 in the Art Deco style. This is a far cry from Bremen, which is adorned with medieval splendor and UNESCO World Heritage status, but by Texas standards it is certainly historic.
The rodeo in Fort Worth lasts a month. The best riders in the country compete to collect prize money totaling over a million dollars. Despite the conservative attitude, some diversity is visible: rodeos for cowgirls, African-American and Latino cowboys. Outside the arenas, livestock is exhibited and auctioned, there is a petting zoo, live music, furs to buy, and disgusting stuff to eat. After my praises, my friends from Dallas confess that they would now also like to go to the rodeo, even though for them the best thing about Fort Worth is the car ride to Dallas.
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