Pacu jawi

The pacu jawi (Minangkabau pronunciation: [ˈpatʃu ˈdʒawi]) is a traditional bull race in Tanah Datar, West Sumatra, Indonesia. In the race, a jockey stands on a wooden plough loosely tied to a pair of bulls and holds them by their tails while the bulls cover about 60–250 metres (200–820 ft) of muddy track in a rice field. Although the name means a "bull race", the bulls do not directly compete against each other, and no formal winner is declared. Instead, spectators judge the bulls by their performance (mostly their speed and their ability to run straight), and have the ability to buy well-performing bulls, albeit at well above usual price. The people of Tanah Datar—especially the nagaris (villages) in four of its districts—have been conducting this tradition for centuries to celebrate the end of the rice harvest. The race is held concurrently with a village festival of culture called alek pacu jawi. Recently it has become a tourist attraction supported by the government and the subject of multiple award-winning photographs.