Thailand’s Unusual Festival: Buffalo Beauty Pageant Turns Farm Animals into Celebrities

The Chonburi province on Thailand coasts hosts an annual water buffalo festival that has attracted international attention through a special event which is a buffalo beauty pageant. What was merely a local fair has grown to a viral spectacle with a blend of cultural heritage, entertainment, and animal pride.

The festival is held at the end of the harvest every year. The farmers take their finest buffaloes, washed and adorned with coloured fabrics, and ornaments and garlands of flowers. Animals are shown with huge masses of people and their horns are polished and hooves are shiny as they are evaluated by the judges depending on their power and posture and general look.

It is not all about appearance in this contest. It has buffalo race, parades and shows to celebrate the strong bond between the farmers and their animals. The beauty contest is now used to celebrate the buffaloes on their essential role in agricultural history in Thailand, in the light of mechanisation slowly supplanting their customary role in agriculture.

Farmers spend time and pains in getting their buffaloes ready to the occasion; whether it is feeding them special foods or taking them through daily baths and grooming. The price of the winners can be put down at very high rates, even in millions of baht, because they are very valuable signs of power and popularity.