Royal Ploughing Ceremony
Encyclopedia
Cambodia
Cambodia , officially known as the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country located in the southern portion of the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia...
and Thailand
Thailand
Thailand , officially the Kingdom of Thailand , formerly known as Siam , is a country located at the centre of the Indochina peninsula and Southeast Asia. It is bordered to the north by Burma and Laos, to the east by Laos and Cambodia, to the south by the Gulf of Thailand and Malaysia, and to the...
to mark the traditional beginning of the rice
Rice
Rice is the seed of the monocot plants Oryza sativa or Oryza glaberrima . As a cereal grain, it is the most important staple food for a large part of the world's human population, especially in East Asia, Southeast Asia, South Asia, the Middle East, and the West Indies...
-growing season. In the Khmer language
Khmer language
Khmer , or Cambodian, is the language of the Khmer people and the official language of Cambodia. It is the second most widely spoken Austroasiatic language , with speakers in the tens of millions. Khmer has been considerably influenced by Sanskrit and Pali, especially in the royal and religious...
, it is called "Preah Reach Pithi Chrot Preah Neangkol" (Khmer:ព្រះរាជពិធីបុណ្យច្រត់ព្រះនង្គ័ល), and in (Kan Phuetchamongkhon); in full (Phra Ratchaphithi Phuetchamonkhon Charot Phra Nangkhan Raek Na Khwan; also observed as Farmer's Day.)
The royal ploughing ceremony was also practiced in pre-colonial Burma, before the abolishment of the monarchy
Konbaung dynasty
The Konbaung Dynasty was the last dynasty that ruled Burma from 1752 to 1885. The dynasty created the second largest empire in Burmese history, and continued the administrative reforms begun by the Toungoo dynasty, laying the foundations of modern state of Burma...
, where it was called (lɛ̀tʰʊ́ɴ mɪ̀ɴɡəlà), before the beginning of the Buddhist lent
Vassa
Vassa , also called Rains Retreat, or Buddhist Lent, is the three-month annual retreat observed by Theravada practitioners...
in the Burmese month
Traditional Burmese calendar
The traditional Burmese calendar is a lunisolar calendar based on both the phases of the moon and the motion of the sun. Within each month of the Burmese calendar, a major festival, often Burmese Buddhist in nature, is held...
of Waso (June to July).
In 2009, the ceremony was held on May 11 in Thailand and on May 12 in Cambodia. The date is usually in May, but varies as it is determined by Hora (astrology)
Hora (astrology)
Horā is a branch of the traditional Indian system of astrology known as . It deals with the finer points of predictive methods, as distinct from Siddhānta and ....
(Khmer:ហោរាសាស្រ្ត (hourasastr)).
In the ceremony, two sacred ox
Ox
An ox , also known as a bullock in Australia, New Zealand and India, is a bovine trained as a draft animal. Oxen are commonly castrated adult male cattle; castration makes the animals more tractable...
en are hitched to a wooden plough and they plough a furrow in some ceremonial ground, while rice seed is sown by court Brahmin
Brahmin
Brahmin Brahman, Brahma and Brahmin.Brahman, Brahmin and Brahma have different meanings. Brahman refers to the Supreme Self...
s. After the ploughing, the oxen are offered plates of food, including rice, corn
Maize
Maize known in many English-speaking countries as corn or mielie/mealie, is a grain domesticated by indigenous peoples in Mesoamerica in prehistoric times. The leafy stalk produces ears which contain seeds called kernels. Though technically a grain, maize kernels are used in cooking as a vegetable...
, green bean
Green bean
Green beans , also known as French beans , are the unripe fruit of any kind of bean, including the yardlong bean, the hyacinth bean, the winged bean, and especially the common bean , whose pods are also usually called string beans in the northeastern and western United States, but can also be...
s, sesame
Sesame
Sesame is a flowering plant in the genus Sesamum. Numerous wild relatives occur in Africa and a smaller number in India. It is widely naturalized in tropical regions around the world and is cultivated for its edible seeds, which grow in pods....
, fresh-cut grass
Grass
Grasses, or more technically graminoids, are monocotyledonous, usually herbaceous plants with narrow leaves growing from the base. They include the "true grasses", of the Poaceae family, as well as the sedges and the rushes . The true grasses include cereals, bamboo and the grasses of lawns ...
, water and rice whisky
Whisky
Whisky or whiskey is a type of distilled alcoholic beverage made from fermented grain mash. Different grains are used for different varieties, including barley, malted barley, rye, malted rye, wheat, and corn...
.
Depending on what the oxen eat, court soothsayer
Fortune-telling
Fortune-telling is the practice of predicting information about a person's life. The scope of fortune-telling is in principle identical with the practice of divination...
s make a prediction on whether the coming growing season will be bountiful or not. The ceremony is rooted in Brahman
Brahman
In Hinduism, Brahman is the one supreme, universal Spirit that is the origin and support of the phenomenal universe. Brahman is sometimes referred to as the Absolute or Godhead which is the Divine Ground of all being...
belief, and is held to ensure a good harvest.
In Thailand, the rite dates back to the Sukhothai Kingdom
Sukhothai kingdom
The Sukhothai Kingdom ) was an early kingdom in the area around the city Sukhothai, in north central Thailand. The Kingdom existed from 1238 till 1438...
(1238–1438). By the time of King Prajadhipok
Prajadhipok
Phra Bat Somdet Phra Poramintharamaha Prajadhipok Phra Pok Klao Chao Yu Hua , or Rama VII was the seventh monarch of Siam under the House of Chakri. He was the last absolute monarch and the first constitutional monarch of the country. His reign was a turbulent time for Siam due to huge political...
in the 1920s, the practice had been discontinued. It was revived in 1960 by King Bhumibol Adulyadej
Bhumibol Adulyadej
Bhumibol Adulyadej is the current King of Thailand. He is known as Rama IX...
.
In both Cambodia
Cambodia
Cambodia , officially known as the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country located in the southern portion of the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia...
and Thailand
Thailand
Thailand , officially the Kingdom of Thailand , formerly known as Siam , is a country located at the centre of the Indochina peninsula and Southeast Asia. It is bordered to the north by Burma and Laos, to the east by Laos and Cambodia, to the south by the Gulf of Thailand and Malaysia, and to the...
, the ceremony is typically presided over by the monarch, or an appointee. Sometimes the monarch himself has taken part in the ceremony and actually guided the plough behind the oxen.
In recent years in Thailand, Crown Prince
Crown Prince of Thailand
The Crown Prince of Thailand was a title held by the heir apparent to the Thai throne. First created by King Chulalongkorn in 1886, for his son Prince Maha Vajirunhis, the king's eldest son by a royal wife Princess Consort Savang Vadhana. Prior to this the Siamese throne did not have a law or...
Maha Vajiralongkorn
Maha Vajiralongkorn
Somdet Phra Boromma-orasathirat Chao Fa Maha Vajiralongkorn Sayammakutratchakuman is the only son of Bhumibol Adulyadej, the King of Thailand, and Queen Sirikit...
has presided over the ceremony, which is held at Sanam Luang
Sanam Luang
Sanam Luang is an open field and public square in front of Wat Phra Kaew and the Grand Palace, Bangkok, Thailand. Sanam Luang is located in the Phra Nakhon district, the historic center of Bangkok....
in Bangkok
Bangkok
Bangkok is the capital and largest urban area city in Thailand. It is known in Thai as Krung Thep Maha Nakhon or simply Krung Thep , meaning "city of angels." The full name of Bangkok is Krung Thep Mahanakhon Amon Rattanakosin Mahintharayutthaya Mahadilok Phop Noppharat Ratchathani Burirom...
. Rice grown on the Chitralada Palace
Chitralada Palace
Chitralada Palace is the Bangkok residence of King Bhumibol Adulyadej and Queen Sirikit. King Bhumibol was the first king in the Chakri dynasty to live in the Chitralda Palace. He moved there after the death of his older brother, King Rama VIII in the Grand Palace...
grounds, home of King Bhumibol Adulyadej
Bhumibol Adulyadej
Bhumibol Adulyadej is the current King of Thailand. He is known as Rama IX...
is sown in the ceremony, and afterward, onlookers swarm the field to gather the seed, which is believed to be auspicious. Farmers will often mix the grains with their own rice stock, or the grains might be kept as a good luck charm.
In Cambodia, both King Norodom Sihamoni
Norodom Sihamoni
Norodom Sihamoni is the current reigning King of Cambodia. He is the eldest son of Norodom Sihanouk and Norodom Monineath Sihanouk. Previously Cambodia's ambassador to UNESCO, he was named by a nine-member throne council to become the next king after his father Norodom Sihanouk abdicated in 2004...
and Prime Minister Hun Sen
Hun Sen
Hun Sen is the current Prime Minister of Cambodia.He has been the sole leader of the Cambodian People's Party , which has governed Cambodia since the Vietnamese-backed overthrow of the Khmer Rouge in 1979...
have overseen the rite.