The story of Rice(part 1)

Study the history of rice and you will discover that it is bound up with many strange and fascinating myths.Rice has fed more people than any other crop,and the story of its cultivation must rank as one of the most important developments in history.Almost every culture in the East has its own rice legend,and in many Asian countries these stories are still celebrated today.In Bali and other parts of Indonesia,puppets act out a creation myth,which tells of how Lord Vishnu caused the Earth to give birth to rice,and the god Indra taught the people how it should be grown.From China comes the story of a devastating flood,which left all the crops destroyed.Facing certain starvation,the people of the town one day saw a dog with strange yellow seeds hanging from its tail.Rice grew when the seeds were planted in the waterlogged soil.In the many myths from around Indonesia,Thailand and Japan,the rice spirit is always feminine.She is young and tender -a beautiful maiden,dusted with rice powder to emphasize her perfect white skin.In almost all of the many Asian cultures,the femininity of rice is reflected in the way it is grown.Men prepare the land,build the dykes and attend to irrigation,but it is the women who plant the rice ,tend it in the fields,cut it and,finally,cook it.There are numerous signs all over South-east Asia that rice is still highly revered today.A family will traditionally store its rice in a rice barn.These beautiful and elaborate buildings are where the rice spirit is said to reside until the time of the next planting,and there are often strict rules about who may enter these barns.Usually,only the women are allowed inside,and even then only once a day.