page_title: Cockfight
section_title: Mexico
hierarchical_section_title: Cockfight / Legal status / Mexico
caption_attribution_description: English: A cockfight in Mexico, 1913
context_page_description: A cockfight is a blood sport between two cocks, or gamecocks, held in a ring called a cockpit. The history of raising fowl for fighting goes back 6,000 years. The first documented use of the word gamecock, denoting use of the cock as to a "game", a sport, pastime or entertainment, was recorded in 1634, after the term "cock of the game" used by George Wilson, in the earliest known book on the sport of cockfighting in The Commendation of Cocks and Cock Fighting in 1607. But it was during Magellan's voyage of discovery of the Philippines in 1521 when modern cockfighting was first witnessed and documented by Antonio Pigafetta, Magellan's chronicler, in the kingdom of Taytay.
  The combatants, referred to as gamecocks, are specially bred and conditioned for increased stamina and strength. Male and female chickens of such a breed are referred to as game fowl. Cocks possess congenital aggression toward all males of the same species. Wagers are often made on the outcome of the match.
  Cockfighting is a blood sport due in some part to the physical trauma the cocks inflict on each other, which is sometimes increased by attaching metal spurs to the cocks' natural spurs.
context_section_description: Cockfighting is not banned in Mexico, and practiced in the Mexican states of Michoacán, Aguascalientes, Jalisco, Sinaloa, and Veracruz, mostly during regional fairs and other celebrations. Cockfights are performed in palenques (pits). Cockfighting remains legal in the municipality of Ixmiquilpan and throughout Mexico.
  In Mexico, cockfighting is part of the culture and traditions of most states, the two parties to the bird fights are distinguished through the colors red and green, so it is common to see a scarf or allusive badge hanging on the belt to these colors, in addition to being a business activity where the rooster show and musical shows are both combined. Almost all of the fairs and regional festivals of the country's municipalities are held in venues called "palenques" of roosters. These consist of a ring made of wood whose center is full of compacted earth for the best performance of the roosters. In the center, a box 4 meters per side and lines that cross from center to center each side are marked with lime. Finally, the last square, measuring 40 cm on each side, is marked in the center of the arena, where the roosters are taken the third time they are released. The Mexican states where cockfighting is most common are Michoacán, Aguascalientes, Jalisco, Sinaloa and Veracruz. There are only cockfight bans in the country's capital, Mexico City, and in the states of Sonora and Coahuila since September 11, 2012, and in Veracruz since November 6, 2018
caption: A cockfight in Mexico, ca. 1913
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