On Friday afternoons through the cool season, bulls are walked down to a sand arena beside the Fujairah corniche and set head to head in pairs. The contest is a pushing match: it lasts a few minutes, ends when one bull turns away, and — this is the point most accounts get wrong — nothing is killed and the animals are rarely injured. The bulls are Brahman, valuable, and kept as prized animals by local families.
No attendance figure is published.
The tradition is said to have Portuguese origins on this coast, though the evidence is thin and locals give several accounts.
It is free, there is no programme, and it happens most Fridays from October to April from late afternoon. That makes it almost invisible to a calendar built on dated events, which is precisely why it is worth a record.
PlanningFriday afternoons through the cool season rather than a dated festival — turn up, no ticket.
Dates
Season
Computed from the recurrence rule we record for this entry, not copied from a listing. A date marked ~ comes from a calendar conversion and the observance may fall a day or two either side.