There is an annual festival in the western region of Abu Dhabi (Al Gharbia), which hosts excitements such as a date packaging contest (?!), Arab traditional arts and crafts, camel auctions and beauty contests! Going back to their Bedouin routes, camels are a most revered creature in these parts. So such beauty contest are taken very seriously. Unfortunately I struggle to take them quiet so seriously, especially when camels are described in terms such as having....
"A long, slender neck, full lips, a well-shaped nose and long legs....long, curly lashes, a full hump and even spacing between her toes"
....as one is in the newspaper article below!
I think some of those camels better keep a close eye out behind themselves! Some of these people need to get out more.
During the auctions, however, the best camels can sell for over a million Dirhams (GBP160k+). So for that kind of money I think I could pamper a camel.......
Essam al Ghalib
- Last Updated: January 31. 2010 2:09AM UAE / January 30. 2010 10:09PM GMT
Hassan bin Edghan al Nuaimi proudly holds Ruwayda, the winner of a beauty pageant at the Al Dhafra Camel Festival yesterday. Jaime Puebla / The National
AL GHARBIA // A long, slender neck, full lips, a well-shaped nose and long legs – Ruwayda had all that, and then some.
Sporting long, curly lashes, a full hump and even spacing between her toes, the one-year-old purebred Omani Asayel finished first in the beauty pageant at the Al Dhafra Camel Festival which began yesterday.
“She was born on my farm,” said Hassan bin Edghan al Nuaimi, 55. “From the moment I laid eyes on her, I knew she was the one. I love her like a father loves his daughter.”
He entered two camels in the pageants. The other, Abraj, won fourth place in the pageant for Majahim camels. The winner was Thamina, a one-year-old owned by Masoud Saeed al Hajri.
Each day of the festival, two pageants are held for camels of different ages and colours.
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