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The
International Year of Rice 2004
"Rice is Life" is the motto of the
"International Year of Rice (2004)".
In 2002, the government of the Philippines along
with those of 43 other countries, out of their
expectations of increasing hunger, malnutrition
and poverty in the coming decades, formally proposed
that the UN General Assembly declare 2004 the
International Year of Rice (IYR). |
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HM the Queen
harvesting rice crops during a visit to the
SUPPORT Foundation project. Photo by royal courtesy.
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The
IYR's Mission Statement indicates that it is aimed
at promoting "improved production and access
to this vital food crop, which feeds more than
half the world's population while providing income
for millions of rice producers, processors and
traders. Development of sustainable rice based
systems will reduce hunger and poverty, and contribute
to environmental conservation and a better life
for present and future generations".
"As a global food, it has a large influence
on human nutrition. In Asia alone, more than 2
billion people obtain 60 to 70 percent of their
caloric intake from rice and its derived products,"
said Dr. Jacques Diouf, Director-General of FAO
on 31 October 2003, on the launching occasion
of the IYR. |
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Farmers at work
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Rice
in Thai Life
Thailand is one of the Asian countries whose
people chiefly consume rice. And the lives of
the Thais have been closely bound to khao
or rice since ancient times. In the past, most
Thai people, especially those in the rural areas
did rice farming to earn their living. The Thais
have an old saying that in water, there is fish;
in the field, there is rice. This indicates
the abundance of foods gained from rice and
fish in this land. For the Thais, rice is not
only important as the main food that they eat
at every meal, but it also has cultural significance.
They have related it to other aspects of their
lives both consciously and unconsciously. They
have several beliefs, customs and ceremonies
that show how important rice is to them.
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A rice field
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The
Thai people, especially farmers, believe that
there is a goddess of rice or "Mae Phosop"
who guards the rice plants and make them grow
fine. The farmers thus hold ceremonies to worship
the Goddess at different stages of rice planting.
The worship is believed to make Mae Phosop bless
the farmers with a good harvest.
When the rice plants are forming into ears,
which the Thais call tang thong (pregnant),
the farmers will prepare fruits that pregnant
women like to eat, including bananas, tamarinds
and sugarcane, to be put in a bamboo basket together
with face powder, perfume oil and a comb and placed
at an auspicious spot in a field. Some blades
of rice plants are applied with the powder and
fragrance and touched with the comb. |
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Harvested
rice plants
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| These
are done as it is believed that at that moment
Mae Phosop and the rice are becoming pregnant.
After that a chaleo, a multiangular
figure made of strips of bamboo, is attached to
a stick and planted in the field as a sign indicating
that the rice plants are forming ears and that
no one should let cows or buffaloes enter the
area for they may tread on the plants. |
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Ms Amelia Vega, Miss Universe
2003, harvesting rice crops at the "World
Jasmine Rice" fair, Roi Et province. Photos
by courtesy of Agriculture Information Division.
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When
harvest time comes, a reaping bee (long khaek
in Thai) will be formed and the group will rotate
to help one another until the harvest season ends.
While they are reaping, folk songs are sung to
entertain themselves during the work. Mostly,
they sing in antiphonal style between a male and
a female. And this becomes a recreational folk
entertainment.
Apart from the ceremonies that the farmers perform
which are different from place to place, there
is an ancient royal ceremony that has been performed
annually in the country at the beginning of the
farming season almost uninterruptedly for over
700 years. It is held not only to mark the beginning
of the farming season, but also to bless all farmers
with fertility for the year.
Buffaloes and Rice
In the old days, water buffaloes played an important
role in almost every step of rice planting. Buffaloes
and Thai farmers' lives were closely related in
the sense that they lived together. That is to
say, when there was work, they worked together.
When the owner prospered, the buffalo prospered
along and became plump and full. |
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when a drought or flood befell, the difficult
times were shared by the owner and the animal.
Some buffaloes grew up with the children and they
became close friends. They were helpful in various
kinds of labour, from ploughing, harrowing, threshing
to husking rice before tractors were introduced
to farmers in later generations. |
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Rice and Discipline
Rice usually appears on the table at every meal.
The Thais consider a meal incomplete when there
are exquisite Thai dishes on the table but without
some nice hot rice. Many people prefer steamed
rice to boiled rice. Decades ago, before electric
rice cookers were introduced to Thai society,
aluminium pots had been used. However, at present,
poor people in remote areas still use aluminium
pots. And before the era of aluminium pots,
earthenware pots were used.
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A dish of nice hot rice and
a side dish
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During
the steaming process in the aluminium pots era,
mai khat mo or a rather thick wooden stick,
was used to lift the hot pot from the fire to
drain off the water before the pot of rice was
put back on the fire to be rotated quickly back
and forth to dry it.
And this mai khat mo was a perfect spanking
rod for every mother to teach her children discipline.
This was based on the saying "Spare the rod
and spoil the child". Children who hid the
mai khat mo so that their mother couldn't
use it to spank them got especially hard swats
because if she couldn't find it when she needed
it, it meant trouble; rice wouldn't be well cooked. |
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Rice
As An Instrument To Express Kindness
Rice is used in Thai society as an instrument
to express kindness among the people. In the old
days, most farmers harvested a lot of rice. The
amount was beyond their need. Instead of keeping
the surplus rice unused, they cooked rice to be
presented to monks as a form of merit making.
They always found a chance to celebrate any good
or small lucky events by inviting their friends
and neighbours to have lunch or dinner at their
houses.
And even without any special occasions, the Thais
sometimes expressed their kindness by this kind
of invitation. Also, when a house owner was visited
by a guest near or at meal time, the owner would
say, "Ma kin khao kin pla kan kon"
or "Come to have rice and fish with us first."
This was said with sincerity.
These customs still exist today and khao seems
to be an instrument in Thai society to fasten
relationship among them. Even in greeting, when
the Thais run into each other, they say, "Pai
nai ma?, kin khao rue yang?" or "Where
have you been? Have you eaten rice yet?"
The asker does not need any answer but just wants
to show regard for that person. |
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Rice
In Thai Sayings
The Thais also related the matter of rice
to the measurement of time. Because in former
times, people had no clock to use. They thus estimated
time by observing their environment. When they
wanted to indicate that an action or incident
took a short time, they compared it to the period
of time used in rice cooking |
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Several kinds of rice
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This was said in a saying chua
(the period of time) mo-khao duat (for
a pot of rice to boil). Although this way of
time measurement was not precise, at least it
gave a rough idea of the length of time.
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Harvested rice plants
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And
when the Thais had to wait for something without
knowing definitely whether what they want would
be fulfilled, they said it was like the rice in
a field waiting for rain in drought.
There are several Thai sayings that mention rice.
Rice is regarded as a sign of prosperity. Khao
(rice) lua (leftover) klua (salt)
im (full) is a saying used to tell that
a country is wealthy and that it has abundant
rice and salt for all the people to cook and eat
until they are full. When people face the difficulty
of an exceedingly high cost of living, they call
it a period of khao yak mak phaeng or "rare
rice and expensive betel nuts." While the
former has always been the staple food for the
Thais, the latter was popularly chewed like gum
by the Thais of former times. Nu (rat)
tok (fall) thang khao san
(a bucket of rice) is used to refer to a lucky
poor man who got married to a rich woman, enabling
him to have a life of luxury. |
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An earthenware rice cooker
in a
traditional Thai kitchen.
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Rice is used in sayings to warn and teach as well.
Kin khao tom krajom klang or "start
eating rice congee from the centre of the bowl
(instead of from its rim)". Since the rice
congee in the centre is hotter than at the rim,
the person who does so is considered careless.
The saying then is used to criticize this kind
of person. Hung khao (cooking rice) prachot
(to spite) ma (a dog), ping pla
(to roast a fish) prachot (to spite) maeo
(a cat) is used to teach that one who spites the
other by doing or giving the things they like
will be disadvantageous to oneself. Taking the
dog and cat case as an example, if you spite them
by cooking rice and roasting fish and give the
food to them, they will be very satisfied and
not get annoyed at all.
A Thai saying khao daeng (unpolished rice*)
kaeng ron (hot curry), meaning bunkhun
or gratefulness is used to remind a person to
be grateful to his benefactors. And if he is not,
he will be condemned as forgetting khao daeng
kaeng ron.
There are many other idioms and sayings relating
to rice. Also, Thai classical dances and folk
ballads telling the stories of rice or rice farming
can still be seen and heard these days. As long
as rice is still the staple of the Thais, it will
always have a lasting influence over their way
of life and culture.
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*The Thai people ate brown
rice in the old days when there was no modern
ricemill in the country.
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