The vaquejada is a sport typical to the

Nordeste The Northeast Region of Brazil ( pt, Região Nordeste do Brasil; ) is one of the five official and political regions of the country according to the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics. Of Brazil's twenty-six states, it comprises ni ...

region of Brazil, in which two cowboys ("vaqueiros") on horseback pursue a bull, seeking to pin it between the two horses and direct it to a goal (often consisting of chalk marks), where the animal is then knocked over. On October 6, 2016, the

Brazilian Supreme Court The Supreme Federal Court ( pt, Supremo Tribunal Federal, , abbreviated STF) is the supreme court (court of last resort) of Brazil, serving primarily as the Constitutional Court of the country. It is the highest court of law in Brazil for const ...

ruled that the vaquejada is illegal and against the

Brazilian Constitution The Constitution of the Federative Republic of Brazil ( pt, Constituição da República Federativa do Brasil) is the supreme law of Brazil. It is the foundation and source of the legal authority underlying the existence of Brazil and the feder ...

. The subject came into matter when the Government of the State of Ceará approved a state law regarding the practice. The General Attorney appealed against it to the Supreme Court, stating in the lawsuit that the animals where treated with cruelty. In its favor, the Government of Ceará sustained that it was a cultural event and represented an important part of local economy. According to the Government of Ceará, the vaquejada creates over 200 thousand jobs. The city with the largest vaquejada in the world is Serrinha, in

Bahia Bahia ( , , ; meaning "bay") is one of the 26 states of Brazil, located in the Northeast Region of the country. It is the fourth-largest Brazilian state by population (after São Paulo, Minas Gerais, and Rio de Janeiro) and the 5th-largest b ...

state. The Supreme Court's decision has national coverage.

References

Further reading