July 29, 2021/ Socotra Online
Reporting and Photography: Arif Abdo
The competition (sheep decoration) was launched yesterday as part of the activities of the Sheikh Zayed Heritage Festival, which was being hosted by Zayed City 1 with the aim of encouraging interest in and acquisition of local livestock, as well as taking care of them and preserving them in a sound and healthy manner commensurate with the conditions of public safety. The competition included many general conditions, including “one round for the prettiest stallion, one run for the prettiest goat, one run for the most milk”.
These conditions aimed to familiarize everyone, especially the participants, with how to take care of sheep, and this competition gave them the opportunity to compete and win and motivated them to exert more efforts in protecting this category of livestock. History is the support of the present and a bridge to the future, and this competition is a living testimony about the past eras from the history of Socotra in the dependence of the ancestors on it to obtain their daily sustenance.
In a special statement to the Socotra Online, Sheikh Yahya Muhammad Abdullah Badabeh made it clear that the sheep decoration competition included three rounds, one for the most beautiful stallion, one for the most beautiful sheep, and one for the milkiest. The sheep were shown on the stage of the Sheikh Zayed Heritage Festival theater in front of the audience according to the conditions, and ten winners were selected in each run, noting that the competition aimed in general to introduce the Socotrites with their heritage. Their history and the authenticity of their civilization as a living witness to the fact that the people of Socotra, since ancient times, had a clear interest in sheep due to their great dependence on them in their lives, until it became a subject of pride among them. Therefore, it is no longer strange for them to participate in such a competition, which was organized with the support and sponsorship of the United Arab Emirates.
