Plentiful water, good harvest and abundant food production were predicted for the coming crop year by traditional soothsayers at the Royal Ploughing Ceremony at Sanam Luang near the Grand Palace on Wednesday.
On behalf of His Majesty the King, His Royal Highness Crown Prince Maha Vajiralongkorn, accompanied by Her Royal Highness Princess Bajrakitiyabha, presided over the ceremony, which marks the beginning of the rice cultivation season today.
Permanent secretary for agriculture and cooperatives Chawalit Chukhachorn was the Phraya Raek Na, or the Lord of the Ploughing Ceremony, for the third consecutive year.
Two pairs of four sacred oxen Phra Kho Fa, Phra Kho Lert, Phra Kho Perm and Phra Kho Poon took part in the ceremony.
The two main sacred oxen, Phra Kho Fa and Phra Kho Lert, were each offered seven bowls containing seven different foods, and their choices were used to make the predictions.
The seven dishes were paddy rice, maize, water, grass, soybean, sesame seeds and liquor.
The oxen ate grass, a forecast that the country will have plentiful water, abundant food production and a good harvest.
During the ceremony, Mr Chawalit picked a piece of cloth measuring four palms (a Thai unit of linear measure), giving a prediction that there would be more water this year. Paddy fields in upland areas would yield good harvests while those in low-lying areas would be slightly damaged.
Authorities prepared grain from 11 rice species totalling 2,520 kg for distribution to farmers and people participating in the annual ceremony.
In the Northeast, many Buri Ram farmers started preparing their farmland today as they consider the annual Royal Ploughing Ceremony is an auspicious time for sowing and planting rice.
Buarom Nualpring, 74, a farmer from Khok Tan village in Muang district, said it was a traditional belief among Thai farmers that they would give good harvests if they started ploughing their land on this auspicious day.