Farmer usually carry out a ceremony to store harvested in the barns in December which is the 3rd month in Lanna calendar. The activity reflects lifestyle of Lanna people. Owing to its geographical feature, Lanna or the Northern part of Thailand has a fertile land to grow any cash crops.
Most of Lanna people in the old days were farmers. Paddy fields in the north can be cultivated in all seasons but most of them preferred growing rice in rainy season which start from July to August. Winter, especially during November to December, is also a prefect period for rice growing. After harvesting their rice, the farmers would sort out rice from their paddy ears. After they finished the process of separating rice from paddy ears, they would keep their rice within their houses.
They would weave a basket or build a barn, which is called “Yoong” in Lanna dialect, to store the rice. The harvested rice will be kept for consumption and part of their seeds will be kept for next cultivation.
To move the rice into the barn is hard task. Farmers who can afford manpower will hire workers to handle the task. Most farmers prefer selling out all their rice after they thresh their harvested rice.
Some prefer stocking their rice and studying the market price before selling it out. In order to keep their rice as long as they desire, the barn has to be well constructed and protected from insects, animals and being stolen.
In the part, farmers did not frequently open their barns after they had kept the rice inside. This is based on their belief that doing this will disturb the Goddess of rice (Mae Posob). Therefore, they would keep two portions of rice for their own consumption and food exchange respectively. They would exchange their rice with other necessary ingredients and dried food such as jiggery (sugar), shrimp paste, fish sauce, etc.
In some communities, farmers would carry out the ceremony to lock their barns temporary after they have kept the rice inside the barn. The ceremony will be performed once again to unlock their barns when they need to sell the store rice. Farmers believe that Friday is inauspicious for rice trade. Those who hold this belief don’t even measure off their rice on the day. Friday in Thai is pronounced “Wan Sook” which shares the same sound with happiness or “Kwam Sook”. Due to this sound resemblance, those people believe that to sell rice on Friday or “Wan Sook” will wipe away their happiness. This kind of belief is prevalent throughout the country. People in the south will not take the rice out of the barn on very Monday, festival days, Buddhist Lent Day, Songkran, year end and month end days. Their rice barn also has influence on their belief and rituals. The barn indirectly helps them to be more prudent and conscious in their works and life.
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