"Miss Buffalo Beauty Contest" or "Wing Kwai" festival is reportedly held in Chonburi Thailand, few miles away from Bangkok.
The Buffalo Beauty Pageant is held at the end of the 11th lunar month, celebrating the beginning of the harvest season, which typically falls in October every year.
Adorned in vibrant, colourful accessories and props, beautiful, stunning buffaloes were seen flaunting their beauty at the ‘Water Buffalo Festival’ in Thailand on October 6, 2025.
As reported by AP, the ‘Wing Kwai’ festival began with a parade followed by students performing traditional Thai dances with buffaloes as the main attraction of the event.
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Many of the beautiful buffaloes were seen with beaded "flower crowns" on their heads and garlanded with flower strings that featured hanging bells.
Few among them can be seen pulling traditional wooden carriages, 2 meters tall, carrying their owners and women dressed in traditional "Thai garb".
In addition to that, the festival also included a race, where jockeys were riding these animals on a 100-meter track.
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Water buffaloes have been essential to Thai agriculture throughout history. Traditionally they were used for ploughing and harvesting the farms, carrying heavy loads, and then are gradually shifted from farm work to show animals.
The humble animals that once played a significant role in Thailand’s booming agriculture somewhat lost their status after machinery, such as tractors, replaced them.
While modern machinery has largely replaced them in farming, they remain culturally important and are celebrated through events like the Buffalo Racing Festival or Buffalo beauty pageants.
Moreover, Beauty pageants like these in Thailand are helping these hardworking individuals find their lost identity and boost their social status.
According to estimates, the buffalo festival is an almost 150-year-old tradition in Thailand.
The first informal buffalo race in Thailand was held in Chonburi province in the 1870s.
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Moreover, the event originated from rivalries between farmers showing off their buffalo’s best capabilities after the rice harvest.
It grew into a regular activity, which later evolved into an annual social tradition, now known as ‘Buffalo Racing Festival’, also named “Wing Kwai."
Additionally, Thailand believes that these beauty pageants and races can keep this humble farm animal from being wiped out in the modern technological era.
For conservation of these animals, Thailand’s government also introduced a "Thai Buffalo Conservation Day" in 2017.
