7/12/2006: Chinese horse fighting

[Undertoad]

xoB finds this shot of a horse competition in China, apparently part of their Xinhe Festival in Rongshui Miao Autonomous Region.

A little Googling shows that xenhi is the Chinese word for newly-planted crops, that the Miao is an ethnic group, and that the festival includes many less cruel activities as well. The link shows shots of "catching fish in the fields", which appears to be a happily ironic festival activity, a fertility practice, not some sort of schizophrenia.

As usual, we observe the gentle difficulty of highlighting such practices without necessarily enjoying them.