For over 7,000 years,
rice has been the most important crop in the lives of Southeast Asian
peoples. For this reason, most of the ceremonies, festivals and art
forms of this region of the world have something to do with rice.
The Royal Plowing ceremony in Thailand is just one example of this.
The Royal Plowing Ceremony takes place after the first rains of the year, usually during the month of May or June. This signals the start of the rice-planting season and the new agricultural year. In this ceremony, the King is given three folded lengths of cloth to choose from. If the King chooses the shortest piece, it means that the rainfall during this season will be low. If the King chooses the longest piece, it means that the rainfall for the season will be high.
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The King then leads the oxen and the slough around the field three times, while his wife, the Queen, scatters rice seeds across the newly plowed earth. Then the oxen are led to a Hindu shrine that is erected in honor of Lord Vishnu. . After asking the Hindu gods for a plentiful harvest, the oxen are bathed with holy water and asked to choose between seven different plates as a way to foretell what the season's harvest will bring. The plates contain corn, sesame grass, rice, beans, alcohol and water. |
If the oxen choose to drink the water, then the rains will be abundant this year. If the oxen choose to eat the grain, then the harvest will be good. If they choose alcohol, however, then the lands will be overrun by thieves. Once the ceremony has finished, thousands of spectators scramble around in the field in order to gather one or two of the seeds for good luck with their own crops. .
