عربي English Türkçe اردو فارسى
Logo
Latest News
Culture

2nd Edition of AlUla Camel Cup Announced by RCU

This year's competition falls in the "Year of the Camel" - SPA
This year's competition falls in the "Year of the Camel" - SPA
TT
TT

2nd Edition of AlUla Camel Cup Announced by RCU

This year's competition falls in the "Year of the Camel" - SPA
This year's competition falls in the "Year of the Camel" - SPA

The Royal Commission for AlUla (RCU) said that the second edition of AlUla Camel Cup will be held in collaboration with the Saudi Camel Federation in the Old Oasis from April 24 to 27, 2024.
This year's competition falls in the "Year of the Camel", which the Kingdom declared in recognition of the significant cultural value of the camel and its enduring link to Saudi Arabian heritage.
According to SPA, significant cash prizes and trophies will be awarded to winners, encourage participation and raise the level of the competition.
RCU Chief Sports Officer Ziad Alsuhaibani said that AlUla Camel Cup is a prominent event in the global camel competitions, and that it strengthens the Kingdom's position as a premier global hub for heritage sports.
RCU's Vice President of Destination Management and Marketing Rami AlMoallim said that AlUla Camel Cup resonates with the passion of Saudi society, and has a deep cultural significance as it reflects the Kingdom's enduring heritage and traditions.
The success of the inaugural tournament last year emphasized the importance of camels in Arab culture, seamlessly connecting the past with the present.

Most Viewed

 
 
Culture

Thousands Greet the Winter Solstice at the Ancient Stonehenge Monument

A person holds up a smart phone as they wait for sunrise during the winter Solstice celebrations at Stonehenge, England, Saturday, Dec. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Anthony Upton)
A person holds up a smart phone as they wait for sunrise during the winter Solstice celebrations at Stonehenge, England, Saturday, Dec. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Anthony Upton)
TT
TT

Thousands Greet the Winter Solstice at the Ancient Stonehenge Monument

A person holds up a smart phone as they wait for sunrise during the winter Solstice celebrations at Stonehenge, England, Saturday, Dec. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Anthony Upton)
A person holds up a smart phone as they wait for sunrise during the winter Solstice celebrations at Stonehenge, England, Saturday, Dec. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Anthony Upton)

Thousands of tourists, pagans, druids and people simply yearning for the promise of spring marked the dawn of the shortest day of the year at the ancient Stonehenge monument on Saturday.

Revelers cheered and beat drums as the sun rose at 8:09 a.m. (0809 GMT) over the giant standing stones on the winter solstice — the shortest day and the longest night in the Northern Hemisphere. No one could see the sun through the low winter cloud, but that did not deter a flurry of drumming, chanting and singing as dawn broke.

There will be less than eight hours of daylight in England on Saturday — but after that, the days get longer until the summer solstice in June.

The solstices are the only occasions when visitors can go right up to the stones at Stonehenge, and thousands are willing to rise before dawn to soak up the atmosphere.

The stone circle, whose giant pillars each took 1,000 people to move, was erected starting about 5,000 years ago by a sun-worshiping Neolithic culture, according to The AP. Its full purpose is still debated: Was it a temple, a solar calculator, a cemetery, or some combination of all three?

In a paper published in the journal Archaeology International, researchers from University College London and Aberystwyth University said the site on Salisbury Plain, about 128 kilometers (80 miles) southwest of London, may have had political as well as spiritual significance.

That follows from the recent discovery that one of Stonehenge’s stones — the unique stone lying flat at the center of the monument, dubbed the “altar stone” — originated in Scotland, hundreds of miles north of the site. Some of the other stones were brought from the Preseli Hills in southwest Wales, nearly 240 kilometers (150 miles) to the west,

Lead author Mike Parker Pearson from UCL’s Institute of Archaeology said the geographical diversity suggests Stonehenge may have served as a “monument of unification for the peoples of Britain, celebrating their eternal links with their ancestors and the cosmos.”