Cambodia's 'magic' oxen predict bumper harvest

The oxen ate nearly all the rice - a good sign

Cambodian soothsayers have determined that the country will reap an abundant harvest and suffer no flooding this year, after studying sacred oxen at the annual ploughing ceremony.

Next year our rice, maize and bean yield will be bountiful

Palace priest Kong Ken

Offered rice, corn, sesame, grass, beans, water and alcohol, the oxen ate almost all the rice, beans and maize - an auspicious choice.

The oxen did not drink from the bowl of alcohol, which would have signified war or turmoil in the royal kingdom.

"The royal oxen ate 95% of the rice, 90% of the maize and 75% of the beans. Next year our rice, maize and bean yield will be bountiful," palace priest Kong Ken declared during the ceremony, outside Phnom Penh's National Museum.

King Norodom Sihanouk's son, Prince Norodom Yuvaneath, dressed in the traditional robes of the royal court, then drove a team of oxen around a ceremonial plot of land next to the Royal Palace.

The oxen marked a symbolic furrow to mark the beginning of the crop planting season.

Sacred souvenirs

Onlookers rushed to collect the leftovers from the sacred crops and splashed their faces with the untouched water.

"The oxen are magic, so whatever is left from them is magic too," said Oum Kim, a 68-year-old farmer from southwest Kampot province who said she made annual trips to the capital city for the ceremony.

The ancient ploughing ritual was abandoned during Cambodia's civil war, but was reinstated by King Sihanouk in 1994.

But Prime Minister Hun Sen refused to attend this year's ceremony. He has renounced it, complaining that royal astrologers were inaccurate after they failed to predict last year's floods which killed 56 people.