Royal Ploughing Ceremony Marks the Rice Planting Season | Jack Kurtz: Photojournalist & Travel Photographer

RoyalPloughingCeremony

13 MAY 2013 - BANGKOK, THAILAND: A man sifts through the sand looking for rice seeds blessed by Brahmin priests at the Royal Ploughing Ceremony. After the ceremony, thousands of Thais, mostly family formers, rush onto the ploughed ground to gather up the blessed rice seeds sown by the Brahmin priests. The Royal Plowing Ceremony is held Thailand to mark the traditional beginning of the rice-growing season. The date is usually in May, but is determined by court astrologers and varies year to year. During the ceremony, two sacred oxen are hitched to a wooden plough and plough a small field on Sanam Luang (across from the Grand Palace), while rice seed is sown by court Brahmins. After the ploughing, the oxen are offered plates of food, including rice, corn, green beans, sesame, fresh-cut grass, water and rice whisky. Depending on what the oxen eat, court astrologers and Brahmins make a prediction on whether the coming growing season will be bountiful or not. The ceremony is rooted in Brahman belief, and is held to ensure a good harvest. A similar ceremony is held in Cambodia. PHOTO BY JACK KURTZ

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Filename: RoyalPloughingCeremony019.jpg
Image Size: 5760x3840 / 12.4MB; 051313 Agriculture Bangkok Brahmin Buddhism Culture Farmers Religion Rice Royal Ploughing Ceremony Sanam Luang Thailand Tradition
Contained in galleries: Thailand (All)

13 MAY 2013 - BANGKOK, THAILAND: A man sifts through the sand looking for rice seeds blessed by Brahmin priests at the Royal Ploughing Ceremony. After the ceremony, thousands of Thais, mostly family formers, rush onto the ploughed ground to gather up the blessed rice seeds sown by the Brahmin priests. The Royal Plowing Ceremony is held Thailand to mark the traditional beginning of the rice-growing season. The date is usually in May, but is determined by court astrologers and varies year to year. During the ceremony, two sacred oxen are hitched to a wooden plough and plough a small field on Sanam Luang (across from the Grand Palace), while rice seed is sown by court Brahmins. After the ploughing, the oxen are offered plates of food, including rice, corn, green beans, sesame, fresh-cut grass, water and rice whisky. Depending on what the oxen eat, court astrologers and Brahmins make a prediction on whether the coming growing season will be bountiful or not. The ceremony is rooted in Brahman belief, and is held to ensure a good harvest. A similar ceremony is held in Cambodia. PHOTO BY JACK KURTZ