Buffalo fighting festivals need to be stopped nationwide.

The buffalo fighting festival takes place with a "life and death" battle scene and ends quite bloody when all the "competitors", whether they win or lose, are slaughtered and sold at a high price.

The incident involving the out-of-control state of fighting buffalo No. 17 at the Hai Luu Buffalo Fighting Festival (Vinh Phuc) a few days ago led to rumors that the buffalo was "electrocuted to death on the fighting field", not only causing concern for public safety but also causing pity for the fate of the animals.

Many people said they did not feel joy when thinking about buffaloes being provoked to fight each other aggressively, then being controlled by force and ending in death.

Buffalo fighting is a folk festival that has existed since ancient times, and is a part of the spiritual and cultural life of people in many localities, with the meaning of sacrifice, gratitude to the gods, or reenacting the legends of our ancestors (like the festival in Do Son, continuing the tradition from the time when Quan He Nguyen Huu Cau revolted, holding a buffalo fighting festival to cheer and encourage the soldiers' spirit)...

However, nowadays, the original meanings seem to have gradually faded. Apart from watching the buffalo fights, the most impressive impression of the festival is the hustle and bustle of the "buffalo meat market" afterwards, giving the impression that the event is organized as a way to trade buffalo meat at sky-high prices of millions of dong per kilogram.

Some distorted and scandalous phenomena that have occurred somewhere, such as betting, giving buffaloes stimulants, sharpening buffalo horns, etc., have also ruined the beauty of the traditional festival.

These deviant manifestations can be controlled by regulations, but I think that even so, we should stop buffalo fighting festivals because they are no longer appropriate. The more civilized the society, the more violent acts are gradually boycotted. Encouraging gentle animals to fight each other to the death is also an expression of promoting violence.

In modern society, animal protection is increasingly emphasized, with compassion and empathy for their pain. The contrast between the scene of buffaloes - friends of farmers - being cared for and loved, and the scene of them being forced to fight each other until their horns are broken, their stomachs are punctured and all end in death makes many people not feel the entertainment but only feel the cruelty.

For hundreds of years, these festivals have played an important role in the cultural and spiritual life of the people; but people create traditions, and can also change traditions to suit the environment, thoughts, and emotions of the times.

In previous years, we stopped holding some ancient festivals such as pig slaughtering, buffalo stabbing, etc. for the same reason. Next, we should stop buffalo fighting; we can replace it with buffalo racing, for example, to both preserve the competitive spirit and the identity of an agricultural country, and eliminate violence and bloodshed.

Around the world, many countries have also made adjustments to make traditional festivals more suitable to the times.

In Spain, in May 2024, the government decided to abolish the annual national bullfighting tournament because more and more people believed that such an animal-abusing festival should not be maintained.

In France, a 2022 survey found that 75% of people supported banning bullfighting to stop the animals from being killed or injured. The government is also considering banning the nearly 300-year-old tradition.

Whether in the East or the West, customs, festivals, and cultural activities all change over time. Stubbornly and without selection, keeping the old will make you backward and uncivilized.