Like many others, you might have searched the internet for an answer as to why rice is tossed at weddings. You must have found that while wheat was originally used in wedding rituals in ancient Rome, when wheat became more expensive, rice replaced it. 

Nowadays, there is a trend to use confetti or bird food instead of rice at weddings to avoid food waste; however, the ritual remains. It reminds us that in almost every culture worldwide, food grains have been a major symbol of fertility and prosperity, connected to life and rebirth, and that rice stands out as the most widely recognized among them.  

It’s one of the oldest cultivated staples in the world. Over 90% of the world’s crop is grown in Asia, although in the 7th century, rice cultivation spread westward to Europe. 

The mythical symbolism of rice

Similar to other food grains such as wheat and barley, the symbolism of rice grew out of its importance as a staple that kept communities alive, combined with ancient spiritual ways of perceiving the world. 

The Mandarin phrase “food is heaven for the people” connects divinity to a staple that could feed the nation. Similarly, in Japanese mythology, the sun goddess Amaterasu-Omikami gives the gift of food grains to the people through her descendant Jimmu, the first emperor of Japan. The Emperor could bless the land with a good harvest through his ability to communicate with deities. 

The Mahabharata tells us a story: Lord Krishna gives his sister Draupadi a vessel that would always produce rice for the five brothers and protagonists of the Mahabharata, known as the Pandavas, when they are in exile. The vessel was called ‘Akshya Patra’, which means ‘inexhaustible vessel’. The vessel worked on the condition that Draupadi, the wife of all five brothers, would delay her meal until everyone had eaten. If she ate her own meal, the vessel would become empty. This urged the Pandavas to remain generous and hospitable, and to respect the ‘inexhaustible vessel’ as a divine gift and source of sustenance. 

Interestingly, the motif of the ‘inexhaustible vessel’ or ‘a magical pot that keeps on producing food’ appears in mythology worldwide. In the Brothers Grimm fairytale The Magic Porridge Pot, a poor girl receives a gift of a pot that will always produce porridge from millet whenever she is hungry and says the magic words. One day, when she is not at home, her mother uses the magic words to make the pot cook porridge, but she doesn’t know the magic words that’d stop it. Eventually, the entire town gets covered in porridge, and people eat it for days to get rid of it. 

The origin of the fairytale is in the Norse Song of Grótti. King Fróði of Denmark uses his magical millstone that grinds anything the owner wants. His magical millstone feeds his endless greed for gold and also produces peace and happiness for him. But the two giantesses he has enslaved to turn the mill are denied rest. They cast a curse, and the mill grinds an army that destroys the King. 

Rice remains a central feature of rituals at events such as birthdays and weddings. In China, newlywed couples share sticky rice balls to ensure a happy marriage. In India, it features in many wedding rituals. One of these is vidaai. When the bride leaves her home, she tosses heaps of rice with coins and flowers without looking back. Tossing rice by the bride symbolizes her prayers for the welfare of her family’s home and gratitude to her parents. When the bride enters her husband’s house and her new home, she gently kicks a pot filled with rice, symbolizing the arrival of wealth. 

The symbolism of rice is associated as much with magical rituals for communal prosperity as with recognition of food grains as divine gifts, and an insistence on respect and gratitude for these gifts, together with warnings against greed that could lead to destruction.

The culture of rice planting

You might be familiar with the sight of rice paddies filled with water, young green plants growing above the water level, and seedlings being planted by farmers standing in the water. Usually, seedlings are first grown in trays until they are ready to be transplanted into the paddy. Transplanting seedlings is the most common method, but rice seeds can also be planted directly in the soil. Rice planting seasons usually start in the spring and coincide with the rainy season. 

Rice plants need a lot of water, and the paddy fields provide the constant irrigation that they require to develop. Weeds and pests cannot thrive in this watery environment. The water also provides a habitat for certain fish and birds that are important for the environment and also act as natural pest controllers. 

Since ancient times, growing food grains, including rice, has not just been work or business. Traditionally, producing food is a process requiring hard labor but also spiritual commitment, characterized by a belief in a magical relationship between humans and nature. In ancient Sumatra, rice was sown by women who would let their long hair hang loose on their backs, so that the crop would grow with luxurious and long stalks. 

Even today, agricultural rituals are followed to ensure a good harvest. 

In Japan, the Mibu and Kawahigashi communities in the Hiroshima prefecture celebrate the rice deity after transplantation has ended. The ritual presents an enactment of planting and transplanting seedlings. Villagers walk to the Mibu Shrine with colorfully decorated cattle. An elder carries a sacred stick and leads the procession to a field reserved especially for the ritual. Traditionally dressed girls plant seedlings to the sound of songs and music. As they plant seedlings, the field is leveled with a special Japanese tool called the eburi that is believed to embody the deity of rice fields. After the ritual, the eburi is left upside down in water with three bunches of seedlings.

Given the breathtaking views of rice paddies and terraces, it is no wonder that many Japanese poets were inspired to capture the beauty of rice planting. Renowned Japanese poet from Osaka, Konishi Raizan (1654-1716) wrote:

“Girls planting paddy:
only their song
free of mud”

How the rice seedlings grow

Generally speaking, the rice plant undergoes three phases as it grows. In the first or vegetative phase, a process known as tillering occurs when the main stem produces branches or shoots known as tillers. Panicles, or the flowering structure of the rice plant, appear on the tips of the tillers. It is inside the panicles that rice grains develop. 

The second stage of growth is the reproductive stage, when florets inside the panicles start developing into individual grains. The third and final stage is the ripening or grain filling stage. The still-developing starch grains in the kernels are at first in a soft liquid state resembling milk. As they grow, they become firmer, and the starch looks like soft dough. Grains continue to dry and become harder until the whole grain is ready for harvest. 

Harvest of rice and cultural rituals

Harvesting rice involves various activities such as reaping: cutting the ripened panicles above the ground; threshing: separating the paddy grain from the crop; and cleaning: removing non-grain material from the grain. Harvested grain is then stacked and finally packed for transport and/or storage. In some regions, the harvest is done manually, while in others, modern agricultural machines are used. 

But harvest season is not just about the technical process of procuring the ready grain. In cultures around the world, harvest season comes with special festivals and rituals. 

The Tho people inhabiting the mountainous regions of northern Vietnam carry out rituals devoted to the rice spirit before harvesting the crop. Families visit their fields, pick the few most beautiful rice ears, and hang them next to the ancestors’ altar. This symbolizes that the rice spirit has been brought home to rest before the next crop is planted. 

A thanksgiving ceremony is held to show gratitude to the gods. Offerings of newly harvested rice and a dish of fish to ancestors are made at the altar, accompanied by prayers led by a shaman. Only after these rituals are enacted, the families partake of the new rice together. The Tho believe that eating the new rice before offering it to their ancestors is disrespectful. 

Concluding words…

You could dismiss food grain and rice rituals as primitive magical thinking or superstition. However, identification with the natural world forms the basis for these rituals. Ancient communities understood that human survival is intrinsically connected with respect for the power of nature, a power that creates a grain of rice from a seed in the water, transforming it into a gift of food.