Rice and Survival

Rice is the staple food for more than half the world’s population, and the only source of nourishment and survival for the less fortunate. Rice is deeply symbolic
and is particularly associated with good fortune. In Sanskrit, one of the words for rice, dhanya, also means ‘sustainer of the human race’. In China, rice symbolises a link between Heaven (Gods) and Earth (Men). It is one of the twelve symbols of sovereignty, traditionally representing the emperor’s capacity to feed the people, and therefore prosperity and fertility.