For most of the people in Asia, rice is life and the staple food. In some countries, rice is even considered as food that comes from the gods.
In India, rice is commonly associated with Lakshmi, also known as Hindu’s Goddess of Wealth. It is also associated with bounty and prosperity. Basically, the Hindu people worship the rice and consid it as Lakshmi. This ritual takes place every full moon.
In Japan, there is this belief that the sun goddess was the first one to cultivate rice. It is believed that the goddess herself propagated rice grains in the fields of the heavens. Her first harvest was given to a prince named Ninigi.
On the other hand, Thailand also worship rice as a goddess. The Thai people believe that the rice is like Mother Posop who gave her life and body to feed the people of the world. During the time of harvest, it is believed that Mother Posop gets frightened easily most especially by men. This is the reason why men are not allowed to talk loudly and speak of demons and death during the harvest season. These kinds of disturbances are believed to cause crop failure.
Interesting facts about rice
Rice is really an interesting kind of food. Here are some of them:
- consumed by approximately 2/3 of the world’s current population, which is around 600,000 for every one billion people
- discovered 5,000 years ago which means that rice has been eaten by people for over 5,000 years now
- very first rice account document was made sometime in 2,800 BC by an emperor in China
- the colonists are known to be the first people who have introduced and cultivated rice in the US
- in the US, Arkansas leads the production of rice and the other states are California, Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Florida and Missouri
Rice is known to be easily adaptable in certain types of farmlands. As a matter of fact, rice easily thrives even in marsh and flooded fields. As of these days, rice can now be planted by means of broadcasting rice seeds from a plane.
There have been research works and studies that entail production of rice that is full of vitamins. Research such as this is a great help for those countries around the globe that has the problem of scarcity of food. Whatever these interesting facts are, rice is definitely the ultimate food for everyone.
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