Royal cows predict abundant harvest in Cambodia

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PHNOM PENH (AFP) - Cambodia's royal cows have signalled bountiful harvests of rice, beans and corn this year in a traditional ceremony marking the start of the ploughing season.


King Norodom Sihamoni presided over the ceremony in front of Phnom Penh's national museum, where thousands of people gathered as royal astrologers watched what the cows ate to predict the coming year's rainfall and harvests.

The royal cows were led to seven dishes -- rice, corn, beans, sesame, grass, water and alcohol -- laid out on trays.

"The royal cows ate 90 percent of the rice offered to them, meaning the rice harvest this year will be good," chief astrologer Kang Ken declared before thousands of onlookers.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/cambodiaagricultureweather