Crowds gather for annual battle of moustaches

A great festival which focuses on the moustache holds annually for 5 days in India.

These remarkable photos show a moustache growing competition so revered, its participants spend years growing facial hair long enough to be swung through the air like rope.

Contestants for the Pushkar Fair’s annual competition - an event hugely popular with locals and tourists - took center stage recently to show off their incredible moustaches.

Many contestants arrived with hair curled into buns on the sides of their faces but once released, were revealed to be meters long and touching the ground.

Hundreds of herders descend upon Pushkar in the state of Rajasthan for the five-day annual camel and livestock fair.

The Pushkar Fair, also known as the Pushkar ka Mela, is held on the banks of Pushkar Lake every November at the time of the Kartik Purnima full moon. The epic spectacle attracts 300,000 people and up to 20,000 camels, cattle and horses.

The event, which sees tough bartering over livestock, has also become a major tourist attraction in recent years with a fair football match held between the locals and visitors.

A camel race starts off the festival followed by music performances and tough competitions such as the longest moustache competition and a ‘bridal competition’.

While the herders deal livestock, many shoppers attend to visit the stalls of clothes and textiles.

Culled from Daily Mail