Cambodia observes traditional royal ploughing ceremony in Southern province
KANDAL, Cambodia, May 17 (Xinhua) -- Cambodia celebrated
the traditional royal ploughing ceremony here on Saturday to mark the
annual start of farming season in this Southeast Asian nation.
Nation's King Norodom Sihamoni, along with Cambodian officials
and foreign diplomats, took part in the ceremony which was held in
Kandal province's Takhmao town, just 10 km south of Phnom Penh, the
capital of Cambodia. The event also attracted hundreds of local and
foreign visitors.
Since ancient times, royal oxen were used to plough and predict agricultural yields and weather in the year.
The designated King ploughed the rice field by using royal oxen
and the appointed Queen sowed seeds on the furrow as the symbol of
planting.
After three rounds of ploughing across the field, the oxen were
offered 7 plates of food: rice, corn, green beans, sesame, water,
fresh-cut grass, and wine.
Customarily, if the oxen eat a lot of agricultural items, it is
believed that agricultural crops will give good output in the year, but
if they eat little, it is thought that the yields will be low.
If the oxen eat grass and wine, it will be predicted that cattle
will be plagued by epidemics, and if they drink a lot of water, floods
will be expected.
At the event, the oxen ate green bean, corn and rice. A court
soothsayer predicted that the three types of crops would give fairly
good yields this year. "This is just a prediction based on the custom of
the royal ploughing ceremony in old times," Kang Keng, chief of the
soothsayers at the Royal Palace, announced. "This event is to notify
farmers that agricultural season has come."
Cambodia is an agrarian country with over 80 percent of the population being farmers.
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