The Royal Ploughing Ceremony is an ancient rite that marks the beginning of the rice growing season in many Asian countries. In Cambodia it is celebrated on the 4th day of the 6th lunar month’s waning moon. The Royal Ploughing Ceremony, or ‘Bon Chroat Preah Nongkoal’ in the Khmer language, is solemnly celebrated at the beginning of the sowing and planting season.

The Royal Ploughing Ceremony is one of the most important Khmer royal ceremonies in Cambodia; a country with a deep connection with the earth and farming. There is a firm astrological belief that royal oxen known in Khmer as Usapheak Reach, have an instrumental role in determining the fate of the agricultural harvest each year.

The ceremony has a dual origin – Hindu and Buddhist. At some point in history, two similar ceremonies merged into a single event. During the ceremony, two sacred oxen are hitched to a plough. Then the oxen plough a furrow in a ceremonial rice field, while rice is sowed.

Traditionally, an appointed representative of the king of Cambodia, the Sdach Meak, ploughs the field whilst another appointee, the Preah Mehuo, sows seeds from behind.

The field is ceremoniously ploughed three times around the compound. Afterward, the oxen are relieved of their harnesses and offered a variety of foods: rice, sesame seeds, corn, fresh-cut grass, beans, water and wine. Cambodian farmers predict the weather, farming conditions and harvest depending on what the royal oxen choose to eat.

People believe these predictions and almost everyone across the nation is eager to know what the royal oxen would choose. The ceremony is typically overseen by the King and the Prime Minister.