Beauty Pageant For Buffalos! Thailand’s Unique Festival Causes Online Buzz | Viral

Enough with watching 'people' walk in those high heels and designer dresses and whatnot- that make them look like a literal fairy– it’s now time to watch some buffalo flaunt their beauty! Sounds weird? Well, it won't much, IF you are someone from Thailand, because the country- believe it or not- hosts beauty pageants for buffaloes! Buffaloes- the humble animals who once played a major role in booming Thai agriculture, somewhat lost their status after machinery like tractors replaced them– only to later witness another boom in their status symbol, all thanks to these beauty pageants and festivals! The latest annual water buffalo racing festival ended on Monday, October 06, in Chonburi, as per Associated Press. Chonburi is a ‘city about an hour's

drive from Bangkok’.The festival is reportedly held at the ‘end of the 11th lunar month’, where it basically celebrates the ‘beginning of the harvest season’. The festival, throwing the limelight at these ‘humble draft animals’, also honour water buffaloes for the importance they played years back, for the country's agricultural sector and growth.The festival began with a parade, which was done by some students who were also performing traditional Thai dance, as per the Associated Press. With buffaloes as the main attraction, many of these furry ones were seen with ‘flower crowns’ on their heads– pulling ‘traditional wooden carriages with wheels 2 meters (6.5 feet) tall, carrying their owners and women dressed in traditional Thai garb’. The festival also included a race, where these animals were being ridden by jockeys on a ‘100-meter (328-foot) track’.ALSO READ: Another Selfie Proved Fatal! Hiker Falls To Death While Climbing Mount Nama In China | ViralWith such limelight, it's understandable that a water buffalo’s status symbol has only increased with time in the country, where the government too is trying hard to restore the animal’s population. In 2017, the Thai government also introduced a Thai Buffalo Conservation Day.ALSO READ: Mid-Flight Chaos! Plane Does Emergency Landing After Flyer Screams About ‘Gay People’ Giving Him ‘Cancer’The festival, as per an ‘assistant to the chief of a village near a livestock center’, is only growing larger every year in Chonburi. “Each year it has become bigger and bigger,” the assistant- Papada Srisophon- was quoted as saying to Associated Press. Srisophon also spoke on farmers raising these animals, “Without this activity, they won’t know what to do with their buffaloes, and they won’t be motivated to keep their buffaloes.”