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King Norodom Sihamoni presided over the televised annual ritual
in which two oxen are given offerings after plowing a field,
marking the start of the rice-growing season in the Southeast
Asian country.
Dressed in ornate robes and colorful headdresses, the oxen ate
85% of the rice and beans on offer and 90% of the corn in
decorated bowls - indicating a bountiful harvest.
Palace astrologers make their predictions each year depending on
the oxen's choice of crops and the amount they eat.
"I pray ... for seasonal rain and regular weather," Korng Ken, a
Brahmin priest dressed in traditional white robes, said at the
ceremony in Takeo province.
He prayed that "Cambodia avoid any natural disasters that would
destroy the agriculture harvests which are the lives of the
people and country."
The good omen will be welcomed in Cambodia after the European
Union imposed tariffs in January on rice from Cambodia and
Myanmar in a bid to protect EU producers. Cambodia has since
seen a surge in rice exports to China.
Cambodia's ceremony mirrors similar traditions in nearby
Thailand and Myanmar in which oxen ceremonially plow the ground
and then choose between eating bowls of rice, beans, corn water,
grass, sesame seeds or alcohol.
Thailand's royal oxen predicted a good harvest at a plowing
ceremony this month presided over by newly crowned King Maha
Vajiralongkorn and his queen.
(Reporting by Prak Chan Thul; Editing by James Pearson and
Darren Schuettler)
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