A real pageant

Tonight I watched a really interesting documentary on PBS about the Miss Navajo Pageant (official site). One of the few requirements is that the contestants should know how to speak Navajo language, be over 18 and not married.
The pageant followed a very interesting schedule:
Day 1: they were asked about the Navajo government and council etc.
Day 2: they had to butcher a live sheep, clean it and cook it. Then they were tested on their grasp of the Navajo language
Day 3: they showcase their traditional skills
Day 4: The coronation

The women were beautiful, not in the glamorous Hollywood sense, rather in their smooth, tanned skins and high cheekbones and straight black hair. They seemed so sweet and so simple and so removed from the beauty pageants that are run these days where the women look so fake and decadent.