English: The Goddess of the Earth. This bronze figure, which stands in a shelter especially built for it, is in Mong Nai, the capital of the premier state west of the Salween

Identifier: mythologyofall12gray (find matches)
Title: The Mythology of all races ..
Year: 1918 (1910s)
Authors: Gray, Louis Herbert, 1875- ed Moore, George Foot, 1851-1931, joint ed MacCulloch, J. A. (John Arnott), 1868-1950. joint ed
Subjects: Mythology
Publisher: Boston, Marshall Jones company
Contributing Library: Princeton Theological Seminary Library
Digitizing Sponsor: MSN

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Text Appearing Before Image:
and the Minister alights tovisit the shed and offer up a prayer before the deities on thealtar. Then come a pair of oxen harnessed with red velvetropes wrapped round with gold thread, and these are yokedto a plough resplendent with gilt mirror mosaic work. Thefront of the plough, curving up like a gondola, ends in afigure-head which may represent the benignant mother of thetilth. When all is ready, the Minister leaves the altar shed andtakes the handles of the plough. He is dressed like the ancientkings of Siam, with robes of cloth of gold jewelled all over andwearing the high conical crown which the Sawbwas of theShan States use to the present day on ceremonial occasions.First of all he prostrates himself before the King, and thenthe men in charge of the oxen lead them round the field. In PLATE XIV The Goddess of the Tilth This bronze figure, which stands in a shelter espe-cially built for it, is in Mong Nai, the capital of thepremier state west of the Salween. Its history isunknown.
Text Appearing After Image:
THE FESTIVALS OF THE INDO-CHINESE 331 recognition of the inexperience and the age of the Minister,the ploughshare does not cut a furrow, but merely makes ascratch on the ground. The importance of the ploughing,however, is not so much the actual turning of the soil as theway in which the Minister of Agriculture comes out of it. Hisrobes are very heavy, and the waist-cloth is kept secure onlyby a hitch in front. Consequently he is in frequent embarrass-ment with it, and with feverish interest the crowd watcheshim and his efforts to keep it properly adjusted. If he lets ithang too low, the rains, on which the rice harvest depends, willbe scanty. If he girds it up too high, there will be floods whichwill ruin the hopes of the cultivators. The field is always encircled in the direction of the sun, andthree circuits are made. When these have been completed,two old women bring baskets of seed rice and accompany theMinister as he takes handfuls of the paddy, scattering the seedover the plough

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