The tradition dates back to the Khmer Empire and was adopted by the Thai royal court more than 700 years ago.
The Royal Ploughing Ceremony is a piece of history that has been cemented into tradition — a spring ritual of considerable importance to Thailand’s working population.
After all, whoever doesn’t work doesn’t eat.
The proverb works on every continent. What exactly the lazy person doesn’t get to eat, however, depends on which grain happens to dominate the local landscape.
In Thailand, that grain is much more likely to be rice than corn.
No surprise, then, that the Kingdom remains one of the world’s top three rice exporters, trailing India in volume and sharing second place with Cambodia.
In Thailand, in other words, rice is the boss.
And, as the traditional logic goes, the harvest affects practically every corner of Thai society and economy.
The exact date of the May ceremony is determined each year by court Brahmins based on astrological observations and announced by the Bureau of the Royal Household.
This year, the stars have spoken: the Royal Ploughing Ceremony will take place on May 9.
As in previous years, it will be a public holiday.
Bangkok Goes Farming
The royal ploughing ceremony has two parts.
The first is a blessing for abundance, held the day before at the Temple of the Emerald Buddha.
The second is the main event: a symbolic sowing of rice in a specially designated field in the middle of Bangkok, on the sprawling Sanam Luang ceremonial grounds.
The cast is suitably mythological.
The Lord of the Ploughing, usually a senior government official, plays the role of both farmer and fortune-teller.
Then there are two women — there used to be four — who traditionally represent the goddesses of fertility. They carry rice seeds, gold and silver, scattering them around the ceremonial field.
In real life, these women must be Thai, considered to possess impeccable moral character and hold a government position.
But the undisputed stars of the show are two sacred oxen.
These symbolic beasts have a fairly straightforward job: plough the first furrow.
They also have a considerably more glamorous secondary career.
Fortune-telling.
Thousands of farmers travel to Bangkok for the ceremony, most of all to collect the rice grains scattered by the fertility goddesses during the ritual.
Being there as a spectator is considered an honor — and a good-luck move — because the ceremony is conducted, according to royal protocol, in the presence of Their Majesties the King and Queen.
The Ritual Has a Script
First, the Lord of the Ploughing gets his turn at divination.
He randomly selects one of three possible lengths of pha raek, the so-called “lucky cloth”: short, medium or long.
The pieces are rolled into tubes and hidden inside a special container, so their actual length remains a mystery until the chosen one is pulled out and unrolled.
If the Lord of the Ploughing draws the short one-meter cloth, expect plenty of rain.
Good news for the rice.
Potentially bad news for everyone else, because excessive rainfall also means a risk of flooding.
The medium 1.25-meter cloth predicts moderate rainfall — precisely the sort of weather farmers dream about when they dream about weather.
This is considered the most favorable omen.
Then there is the long, 1.5-meter cloth.
That one is bad news. It predicts drought and the possible destruction of crops.
So, essentially:
Too little is bad. Too much is bad. Somewhere in the middle is perfect. A genuinely Eastern ritual, in other words.
But the real suspense belongs to the sacred oxen.
They are presented with a selection of food and drink, and whatever they choose is interpreted as a forecast for the coming agricultural season.
The bulls get seven options:
rice,
corn,
mung beans,
sesame,
fresh grass,
water,
and rice whisky.
Depending on the oxen’s sacred preferences, abundance is forecast in different areas — from grain and fruit production to water and food supplies, smooth logistics and overall economic growth.
Yes.
Thailand’s economic outlook can, at least ceremonially, depend on what two cows feel like eating.
Last Year, the Bulls Had Opinions
Last year, the sacred oxen chose fresh grass and water.
This was interpreted as a sign that the Kingdom would enjoy abundant food and water supplies.
The bulls also took a liking to rice whisky, thereby delivering an auspicious prediction for the growth of Thailand’s economy as a whole.
It is worth noting that this is not the first year in which the oxen have shown a preference for the same triumvirate:
fresh grass, water and alcohol.
Frankly, one can hardly blame them.
The Bottom Line
The Royal Ploughing Ceremony is, of course, a symbolic ritual.
But symbolism has a funny way of acquiring real weight.
The results of the divination are reported by the media, taken seriously by the public and treated as a kind of annual barometer of Thailand’s agricultural and economic prospects.
No one is seriously suggesting that two oxen possess privileged access to the Bank of Thailand’s economic forecasts.
But then again, the ancient world had its oracles, its priests and its sacred animals.
We have algorithms, economists and spreadsheets.
At least the oxen get to eat.
The Royal Ploughing Ceremony is a piece of history that has been cemented into tradition — a spring ritual of considerable importance to Thailand’s working population.
After all, whoever doesn’t work doesn’t eat.
The proverb works on every continent. What exactly the lazy person doesn’t get to eat, however, depends on which grain happens to dominate the local landscape.
In Thailand, that grain is much more likely to be rice than corn.
No surprise, then, that the Kingdom remains one of the world’s top three rice exporters, trailing India in volume and sharing second place with Cambodia.
In Thailand, in other words, rice is the boss.
And, as the traditional logic goes, the harvest affects practically every corner of Thai society and economy.
The exact date of the May ceremony is determined each year by court Brahmins based on astrological observations and announced by the Bureau of the Royal Household.
This year, the stars have spoken: the Royal Ploughing Ceremony will take place on May 9.
As in previous years, it will be a public holiday.
Bangkok Goes Farming
The royal ploughing ceremony has two parts.
The first is a blessing for abundance, held the day before at the Temple of the Emerald Buddha.
The second is the main event: a symbolic sowing of rice in a specially designated field in the middle of Bangkok, on the sprawling Sanam Luang ceremonial grounds.
The cast is suitably mythological.
The Lord of the Ploughing, usually a senior government official, plays the role of both farmer and fortune-teller.
Then there are two women — there used to be four — who traditionally represent the goddesses of fertility. They carry rice seeds, gold and silver, scattering them around the ceremonial field.
In real life, these women must be Thai, considered to possess impeccable moral character and hold a government position.
But the undisputed stars of the show are two sacred oxen.
These symbolic beasts have a fairly straightforward job: plough the first furrow.
They also have a considerably more glamorous secondary career.
Fortune-telling.
Thousands of farmers travel to Bangkok for the ceremony, most of all to collect the rice grains scattered by the fertility goddesses during the ritual.
Being there as a spectator is considered an honor — and a good-luck move — because the ceremony is conducted, according to royal protocol, in the presence of Their Majesties the King and Queen.
The Ritual Has a Script
First, the Lord of the Ploughing gets his turn at divination.
He randomly selects one of three possible lengths of pha raek, the so-called “lucky cloth”: short, medium or long.
The pieces are rolled into tubes and hidden inside a special container, so their actual length remains a mystery until the chosen one is pulled out and unrolled.
If the Lord of the Ploughing draws the short one-meter cloth, expect plenty of rain.
Good news for the rice.
Potentially bad news for everyone else, because excessive rainfall also means a risk of flooding.
The medium 1.25-meter cloth predicts moderate rainfall — precisely the sort of weather farmers dream about when they dream about weather.
This is considered the most favorable omen.
Then there is the long, 1.5-meter cloth.
That one is bad news. It predicts drought and the possible destruction of crops.
So, essentially:
Too little is bad. Too much is bad. Somewhere in the middle is perfect. A genuinely Eastern ritual, in other words.
But the real suspense belongs to the sacred oxen.
They are presented with a selection of food and drink, and whatever they choose is interpreted as a forecast for the coming agricultural season.
The bulls get seven options:
rice,
corn,
mung beans,
sesame,
fresh grass,
water,
and rice whisky.
Depending on the oxen’s sacred preferences, abundance is forecast in different areas — from grain and fruit production to water and food supplies, smooth logistics and overall economic growth.
Yes.
Thailand’s economic outlook can, at least ceremonially, depend on what two cows feel like eating.
Last Year, the Bulls Had Opinions
Last year, the sacred oxen chose fresh grass and water.
This was interpreted as a sign that the Kingdom would enjoy abundant food and water supplies.
The bulls also took a liking to rice whisky, thereby delivering an auspicious prediction for the growth of Thailand’s economy as a whole.
It is worth noting that this is not the first year in which the oxen have shown a preference for the same triumvirate:
fresh grass, water and alcohol.
Frankly, one can hardly blame them.
The Bottom Line
The Royal Ploughing Ceremony is, of course, a symbolic ritual.
But symbolism has a funny way of acquiring real weight.
The results of the divination are reported by the media, taken seriously by the public and treated as a kind of annual barometer of Thailand’s agricultural and economic prospects.
No one is seriously suggesting that two oxen possess privileged access to the Bank of Thailand’s economic forecasts.
But then again, the ancient world had its oracles, its priests and its sacred animals.
We have algorithms, economists and spreadsheets.
At least the oxen get to eat.