Feature: Donkey race highlights traditional Serbian Shepherds' Day

Donkeys are stubborn and hard to control, but people in the Serbian village of Sakule are famous for engaging in unusual riding on these slow and highly unreliable animals, and such a race was held here on Saturday for the 20th time.

Once a year in the beginning of spring, sheep breeders from the Serbian village of Sakule, 50 km northeast of Belgrade, gather to remind themselves on the old shepherd traditions at the "Shepherds' Day" annual festival, where the key event is the Donkey Race, accompanied by sheep exhibition, cultural programs, mutton stew cooking competition, and a piglet chase.

Hundreds of visitors from Sakule and neighboring villages from the Banat region of Serbian northern Vojvodina province rounded up this year at an improvised racing field to watch as participants struggle to calm down their donkeys on the start line.

For them it is more of a popular amusement, than a real race, but many are also passionately cheering for their favorites. The track is some 100 meters long but for a donkey race it is a lot, as these animals are hard to control, slow and easily wander off from the course.

"Can we whip them?" a boy asks the judge prior to the first race.

"Yes, but only a little bit in the beginning," the judge warns.

As the few existing rules are being explained to racers their disobedient animals are not eager to sit still, so participants have to hold them firmly with help of assistants.

As they start, some cannot be even persuaded to take first several steps along the race track and people laugh as they just stand silently, watching others carrying their jockeys towards the victory.

The audience is amused as racers shout and whip their donkeys who gave up somewhere along the track, and refused to move on towards the finish line. They cheer, whistle and applaud to those who stay in the race.

Winner of the race in the senior category Milan Vojinov had a great lead from the very beginning of the race, but as he approached to the finish line, his donkey was first distracted by audience and cameras, and then ran into one of the donkeys who refused to start.

Vojinov finished the race first despite these obstacles. He revealed to Xinhua that the sport requires some skill and training, but also requires love towards these animals.

"I am the oldest among the senior racers, and the key is in the riding skill. Everything depends on the rider. For a race like this one needs a certain amount of training," Vojinov said.

He explained that he does not see donkeys as stubborn and stupid animals, and finds this to be, perhaps, the key of his success on Saturday, as well as two races that he won in previous years.

"Donkeys are not so stubborn, they are intelligent animals, and useful too," he says, describing how donkeys can lead a herd of sheep, carry equipment, necessities, food and clothes of a shepherd.

Donkey races are a part of the traditional "Shepherds' Day" festival held here in Sakule every last Saturday in March, before the farmers start their work on their fields and before shepherds start taking sheep to pastures.

With this event, according to Vojkan Prlev from the local association of sheep-breeders, farmers welcome the new season, beginning of springtime, and grab a chance to "show-off with their cattle".

"Visitors of the festival are usually the citizens of Banat and other parts of Serbia. Lots of people come here, especially on nice weather like today. Those are people who like cattle and folklore. This year we have more than 400 performers of Serbian folklore dance and music," he told Xinhua, explaining that the festival is organized by the association of some 40 local sheep-breeders.

"Donkey Race takes place for the 20th time. It's a jubilee. It started among shepherds. Friends gathered and founded an association of some 40 members, and started organizing a small exhibition of sheep and cows, with the race of the donkeys as the main event," Prlev told Xinhua.

Sheep exhibition at this year's Shepherds' Day included more than a hundred sheep of various types from local sheep-breeders, whose qualities were accessed by an expert team from the local agricultural institute.

Member of the jury at the sheep exhibition, Nikola Stoisavljevic from the agricultural institute "Tamis" of the City of Pancevo, said that Shepherds' Day opens the exhibition season for Serbian sheep-breeders, and takes place in a period when sheep have already calved and the winter is finished, marking the beginning of the season of pastures.

"This started 20 years ago with an idea to have some kind of Shepherds' Ball, where people who breed sheep can get together at a manifestation and contribute to this day together, every year in the end of March," he said.

Besides donkey races and sheep exhibition, festival includes a cultural program on a stage in the courtyard of the 19th century church in the village, where visitors listen to Serbian folklore music accompanied by traditional dances.

Villagers and visitors walk along the open market set in front of the church where salesmen offer toys, souvenirs, homemade honey and rakija brandy and specialties from the local cuisine.

One of the highlights is also the mutton stew competition with some 30 competitors applying this year. The stew is prepared in a traditional shepherd way, and ought to have a sharp recognizable aroma which made it famous in this region.

Jozef Gregus, president of the jury of the mutton stew competition, said that with so many competitors the choice is hard to make.

"The stew must be prepared in a traditional shepherd style. It must be white with no additions such as peppers or tomatoes. Shepherds of old time did not have those. It is important that the meat is overcooked, and it has to be plenty of grease in it, because it gives the meal its specific aroma," he explained.

"This manifestation is a wonderful occasion. One of the most beautiful events in Banat (region of Vojvodina province), and one of most important when it comes to sheep-breeding", Gregus adds.

The final event of the Shepherds' Day and one of the most eagerly awaited among the young generation of locals is the Piglet Chase, where numerous youngsters round up on around the village football field, waiting for the piglet to be released from the cage placed in the centre, and then rush to catch it and claim it as a prize. Endit