Designing for Camels: The Art of Dressing Up Your Desert Beasts
by jeannie on May 15, 2012
Rajasthan, the largest state in India, is mostly made of up desert, and the largest city in that desert, Bikaner, hosts a yearly Camel Festival every January which features the familiar desert beast. There is camel racing, camel parades, and even camel contests, and the best part of all this is the way the native Rajputs have decked out their camels with elaborate draping, buckles, saddles, and more.
The Rajputs are so serious about their camel decor that contests for camel design are held– this doesn’t mean just judging the mirrored trappings on the camels, but the actual patterns that have been carefully shaved, trimmed, dyed, and styled in the camel’s coat. I’ve sourced the photos below from two different Flickr accounts, and they each do a great job succinctly describing the festival and its camels. From Flickr user Osakabe Yasuo:
The job takes about 3 years to make an engraved tatoo for an individual camels. First 2 years, there is just growing the hair and starts trimming. Inhabitant of desert does not use the iron engraved for the camels. They just cut and dye the camel hair. I have never seen such a beautiful works in the world.
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http://www.jeanniejeannie.com/2012/05/designing-for-camels-the-art-of-dressing-up-your-desert-beasts/
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