The Thai economy is set to prosper over the next year and when the forecasters are two heavyweight, horned, white oxen, who would argue? The prediction came via the annual Royal Ploughing ceremony, held Friday, on a field outside the Grand Palace in Bangkok. The pageant-heavy spectacle –presided over by King Maha Vajiralongkorn and Queen Suthida – marks the start of the rice-planting season. A pair of sacred oxen repeatedly ploughed the ground while a brahmin priest scattered rice on the furrowed soil.