The story
Royal Ploughing Ceremony in Bangkok
The Royal Ploughing Ceremony, held annually at Sanam Luang in Bangkok in May, marks the traditional start of Thailand's rice-growing season. Royal officials plough a ceremonial furrow and interpret the sacred oxen's food choices as predictions for the coming agricultural year, rainfall and harvest yield.
The Royal Ploughing Ceremony belongs to a family of ancient agricultural rites shared across several Asian royal traditions, with roots tracing back through Hindu mythology, in which Sita, heroine of the Ramayana, is said to have emerged from the earth as a baby when King Janaka ploughed a ceremonial furrow, an image that underlies versions of the ceremony still performed today in Thailand and Cambodia.