Interesting Events In the World

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Goat Dragging Festival



Goat Dragging or Buzkashi is a popular Afghan sport played on horseback in central Asian countries such as Afghanistan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, northern Pakistan, India and Kazakhstan. Buzkashi can be compared to the game of Polo – there are two teams and players ride on horses, just like in Polo, but instead of the ball is used a carcass of a headless goat or calf.



The goal of the game is to grab the carcass and then get it clear of the other players and pitch it across a goal line or into a target circle. Competition is typically fierce, as other players may use any force short of tripping the horse in order to thwart scoring attempts. The riders will carry a whip, often in their teeth, to fend off opposing horses and riders.



Riders usually wear heavy clothing and head protection to protect themselves against other players' whips and boots. Games can last for several days, and the winning team receives a prize, not necessarily money, as a reward for their win.

The calf in a Buzkashi game is normally beheaded and disemboweled and has its limbs cut off at the knees. It is then soaked in cold water for 24 hours before play to toughen it. Occasionally sand is packed into the carcass to give it extra weight.

Serious Buzkashi players train intensively for years, and many of the masters (called chapandaz) are over forty years old. Playing well also requires specially trained horses that sell today for as much as US$10,000-15,000.


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Las Fallas, The Spanish Festival of Fire




Las Fallas is celebrated each year beginning the first Sunday of March in the Spanish city of Valencia to commemorate St. Joseph's Day, the Patron Saint of Carpenters. Las Fallas literally means "the fires" in Valencian. The focus of the fiesta is the creation and destruction of ninots (“puppetsâ€� or “dollsâ€�), which are huge cardboard, wood, paper-machè and plaster statues. The ninots are extremely lifelike and usually depict bawdy, satirical scenes and current events. A popular theme is poking fun at corrupt politicians and Spanish celebrities. The labor intensive ninots, often costing up to US$75,000, are crafted by neighborhood organizations and take almost the entire year to construct. Many ninots are several stories tall and need to be moved into their final location of over 350 key intersections and parks around the city with the aid of cranes on the day of la plantÃ* (the rising).




The ninots remain in place until March 19th, the day known as La Cremá (the burning). Starting in the early evening, young men with axes chop cleverly-hidden holes in the statues and stuff them with fireworks. The crowds start to chant, the streetlights are turned off, and all of the ninots are set on fire at exactly 12am midnight. Over the years, the local bomberos (firemen) have devised unique ways to protect the town's buildings from being accidentally set on fire by the ninots: such as neatly covering storefronts with fireproof tarps. Each year, one of the ninots is spared from destruction by popular vote. This ninot is called the ninot indultat (the pardoned puppet) and is exhibited in the local Museum of the Ninot along with the other favorites from years past.







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[Alice141]

If you're looking for especially debate-able, I'd go with some religious world event...like the birth of the Messiah, or the supposed prediction of the end of the world with the Mayan calendar.

There is always the World Wars...one event that interests me particularily in that time period was the prevalence of positive eugenics (the killing/sterilizing of the weak) before Nazism. It would be quite easy to find enough info to fill eight pages from that subject for certain. The emergence of it in America is what inspired Nazism, after all.

Hm...that's all I've got for the moment...

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Marathon des Sables 2011






The Marathon des Sables has been described as the toughest race on earth. The race consist of one long walk – 254 km - across one of the hottest regions on earth – the Sahara desert. The first Marathon des Sables was held in 1986. This year marks the 26th anniversary of the race.






A total of 849 competitors set off on this grueling six-day, 150 mile endurance race across the Sahara in Morocco on April 3, 2011.








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Watering Of The Girls: Oldest Wet T-shirt Contest?




In Hungary, there is an ancient Easter tradition called Húsvéti Locsolás. Literally, this translates to "Easter Watering". Specifically, it means "watering of the girls."



Each year around Easter, a handful of of Hungarians take part in this fertility ritual dating back to 2nd century AD where boys throw buckets of water at young girls running past them on the streets.



Traditionally, men and young boys used to go to the girls home, usually on Easter Monday, and douse or dunk them with water. In return the men or young boys get painted eggs, chocolates, candy, Hungarian pasteries, and perhaps a kiss.



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Pigeon Show





National Pigeon Association is an all-breeds pigeon club with an international membership founded in 1920 by humans. Encompassing all varieties of domesticated pigeons, the NPA promotes, educates, and acknowledges the efforts of fanciers and pigeon breeders in the continued development and care of our feathered friends.



The NPA holds one of the largest pigeon show in the United States – the Grand National - annually in alternating geographical areas of the country. Showcasing over 200 breeds of fancy, exhibition pigeons, the Grand National frequently attracts nearly 9,000 prized birds. Last year, the Grand National was held in Salt Lake City, Utah. A total of 3,721 entries representing 26 breeds of pigeon, from 271 exhibitors from every US State and Canada were exhibited.





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Thai New Year Celebration



The Thais are traditionally known to celebrate the Songkran festival as the traditional New Year's Day from 13 to 15 April by splashing water. The Songram festival coincides with the New Year of many calendars of South and Southeast Asia.



The most obvious celebration of Songkran is the throwing of water. Thais roam the streets with containers of water or water guns (sometimes mixed with mentholated talc), or post themselves at the side of roads with a garden hose and drench each other and passersby. This, however, was not always the main activity of this festival. Songkran was traditionally a time to visit and pay respects to elders, including family members, friends, neighbors, and monks.



The throwing of water originated as a way to pay respect to people, by capturing the water after it had been poured over the Buddhas for cleansing and then using this "blessed" water to give good fortune to elders and family by gently pouring it on the shoulder. Among young people the holiday evolved to include dousing strangers with water to relieve the heat, since April is the hottest month in Thailand (temperatures can rise to over 100°F or 40°C on some days). This has further evolved into water fights and splashing water over people riding in vehicles.



Nowadays, the emphasis is on fun and water-throwing rather than on the festival's spiritual and religious aspects, which sometimes prompts complaints from traditionalists. In recent years there have been calls to moderate the festival to lessen the many alcohol-related road accidents as well as injuries attributed to extreme behavior such as water being thrown in the faces of traveling motorcyclists.


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Prison Beauty Contests



Life behind the bars is bleak when you have to share the place with convicted murderers, thieves and drug dealers. Glamour is the last thing you would expect in a place like this. But inmates at a Siberian women’s correctional facility, Rio de Janeiro's Talavera Bruce prison, Carandiru women's detention center in Sao Paolo, El Buen Pastor women's prison in Bogota and numerous other prisons around the world have something to cheer about. These prisons have been staging beauty pageants for past several years to find the most beautiful woman behind bars. Winners often receive cash prize, but in some cases the winning prize is something far more precious: a ticket to early freedom.



Held under various titles such as Miss Penitentiary (Sao Paolo, Brazil), Miss Captivity (Lithuania), Miss Prisoner (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil) and Miss Spring (Siberia), prison beauty contest are gaining popularity around the world.



Participants are required to take part in the usual – swimsuit rounds and evening gown twinned with fur, black leather, including knee-high boots. Prisoners are also excused from work in the prison for up to a week to prepare for the contest, a welcome diversion from the monotony of life inside the jail.



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Kobe Luminarie: The Festival of Light - Japan




Kobe Luminarie is an extraordinary light festival that takes place every December, in commemoration of the Great Hanshin Earthquake of 1995.



The first edition Kobe Luminarie took place in December of 1995, as a memorial to the lives lost in the terrible earthquake of January 17. It was entitled “Dreams and Light� and was a message of hope that two and a half million people came to see, on the first day. Following the success of the first festival, Kobe Luminarie became a yearly event that celebrates Kobe’s remarkable recovery from disaster.





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Running of the Brides' in New York City



The Running of the Brides is a local tradition that has taken place since 1947 at Filene's Basement store in downtown Boston. On this day hundreds of brides-to-be and bridesmaids alike scramble for bargains at the one-day sale of wedding gowns. The sale is also held at Filene's once a year including Chicago, Cleveland, Atlanta, and Los Angeles.




Women run to find wedding dresses at the annual "Running of the Brides" sales event at Filene's Basement in New York on Friday, June 3. The annual sale is known for its long queues and frantic shopping among brides-to-be hoping to save hundreds or even thousands of dollars on designer wedding gowns.



The store stocks thousands of gowns for that day, and marks them down drastically. Prices vary from $250 to $700, marked down from retail prices as high as $9000. Prospective brides, and their hovering mothers, sisters and friends, line up the night before the doors open at 8:00am to join in the rush. Most wear the same color shirts, and have ways of communication amongst each other using whistles or bells in order to help locate one another. In the first few minutes, patrons run as fast as they can and take as many dresses off the racks as possible. The racks are emptied quickly, and immediately the trading begins. Most brides try them on in the aisles, or in front of mirrors, while their helpers run around trying to trade and barter. When a bride-to-be finds "The One" others clap for her.




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