Threshing the Rice
During the period preceding the harvest, the old men who remain at home guarding the house prepare a ground for threshing the rice. (Threshing is the process of causing the rice grains to come loose from the straw.) They flatten the space to be used as a threshing ground until it is perfectly smooth and the earth is hard and firm. Then they take fresh ox and buffalo manure and dissolve it in water, mixing in wood bark that contains gum, or this may also be omitted, and smear this all over the threshing ground, covering the earth completely. If they can smear it thick, all the better. Even if a heavy rain falls the ground is not spoiled, because the water does not soak through to the soil; the water stands on the surface, and before long evaporates by itself. Rain that falls at this period is called rain that cleanses the threshing ground. Smearing the threshing ground with ox and buffalo manure is done in order to protect the rice while threshing; the rice does not get mingled with dirt and sand. When the people in the fields carry the rice up to the threshing ground, it is the duty of the old people to arrange a prism of rice on one side, keeping the varieties of rice separate. The prism is made in a shape like a triangular pillow; the size depends upon the amount of rice. They say that stacking the rice in this shape protects it from the rain. Even if it rains hard it does not matter much; only the rice on the outside is wet by the rain, and the rice inside does not get wet because the rain water runs off the surface of the triangular stack, which serves as a roof. If the threshing ground is located far from the house, they build a roof over it, and old people sleep there to guard it. There are both large threshing grounds to be used collectively by the entire village, and small threshing grounds for threshing rice belonging to one household.

When they have finished harvesting the rice and carrying it to the threshing ground, in some places they set up a flag on the stack of seed rice. This flag may be made of cloth or anything else; they generally use white or red cloth, of a single color or two colors. I have been unable to find out why they set up this flag. When they have threshed the rice and carried it up into the barn, they take this flag or a new one and set it up on the stack of seed rice in the same way. After setting it up, when the work is finished they throw it away, taking no further interest in it. Why did they set up the flag? If one were to guess, he would have to say that it is a marker to indicate that the rice in the stack is to be saved for seed; if this is stacked with other kinds of rice in one place they might forget, and a mix-up might occur. The original use of flags was as markers and indicators, before they came to be used as decorative banners as well; also, flags were first used in religion, so that setting up flags has a sacred air, making them better than other things for markers.

After carrying the rice to the threshing ground, they go out to gather scattered fallen rice heads in the fields. There are not many. They gather them up, of whatever variety, in sufficient quantity to suffice as a gesture. This is called inviting the Rice Goddess. When they are going to gather this rice they speak the words, "O Rice Goddess, come you up into the rice barn. Do not go astray in the meadows and fields for mice to bite you and birds to take you in their beaks." If they do not know the invocation, they speak whatever they can think of that seems appropriated. Then they gather the rice of all kinds that has fallen and put it in a cloth wrapper or in a basket, and put it away in a suitable place in the threshing space.

This rice that is gleaned is called the rice of the Rice Goddess, which is regarded as the life or the spirit (khwan) of the rice. When they have finished performing the ceremony of making merit at the threshing ground, they mingle straw with these heads of rice and tie them together as a figure of the Rice Goddess,

In the province of Ayutthaya they have a ceremony of invoking the rice khwan to the threshing ground. At the time of harvesting the rice and carrying it to the threshing ground, when they have carried in almost all the rice, they prepare to perform a ceremony of inviting the khwan of rice or the khwan of the Rice Goddess to the threshing ground and the house. They prepare ceremonial food, including one banana-leaf holder of red boiled cakes, one banana leaf holder of white boiled cakes, one banana-leaf holder of "elephant's ear" cakes (made of glutinous rice flour molded into a triangular shape, boiled till done, and then rolled in salt and coconut), one bunch of bananas, one boiled egg (sliced in sections), one lump of rice from the top of the pot, or this may be put in a banana-leaf funnel, and one new set of clothing, that is, one new stole and one new lower garment, which may be of either cotton or silk.

For the day to perform the ceremony they choose Friday in the late afternoon. When they reach the field they unfold the garments and spread them out on the ground; or they may simply unfold them as a gesture. Then they bring out the food and make an offering. When this is finished they tie up rice stubble in the form of a small human figure and hold this up while they speak an invocation to the Rice Goddess, saying, "You have come out and borne the sun and the rain for a long time in the fields. Do you return to the cool shade of the threshing ground and the house." Then they take this figure in to the threshing ground, leaving the offerings in the field, and at that spot they must cast harvested rice, in an appropriate amount, as alms to the birds and crows. When the rice has reached the threshing ground, they must unfold the set of garments and drape them over the stack of rice sheaves which have been harvested and brought together. Then they plant the figure on the cloth, pretending that they are putting new garments on the Rice Goddess, and bring out a new set of offerings including the same items as those taken out and offered in the field. They offer these and make various speeches according to whatever they think auspicious for their making a livelihood. Thus the ceremony is finished.

Making Merit at the Threshing Floor

Before carrying the rice up into the barn, the time arrives for making merit at the threshing floor. They make a pavilion and set up a place for the Buddha image and seats for monks at the threshing ground. In the evening of the day appointed for making merit at the threshing floor, the monks come and perform evening chants at the threshing ground. The host invites relatives and close neighbors to gather and make merit, listen to the chanting, and present food to monks at the threshing ground next morning. The pavilion is usually built of bamboo and roofed with rice straw. Sometimes they tie rice heads on the pavilion as sprays and drooping garlands to decorate the pavilion, and they bring the rice of the Rice Goddess, put it in a vessel, and lay it down as one of the ceremonial items. On the threshing floor they set tip parasols made of rice head, planted on the stacks of threshed rice in the same way that they plant parasols on sand pagodas. The stinging of a sacred cord in the ceremony begins with the Buddha image and goes to the begging bowl. Then it is tied around the center pole of the threshing ground. From the center pole it goes around the area of the threshing ground and then goes back to the starting point. When the monks have finished chanting, one part of the ceremony is completed.