Following a meeting of the Peace and Order Maintaining Command on Friday, Deputy First Army Region commander Maj-General Pongsawat Pannachit said the adjustment was needed because Sanam Luang would be prepared as the ceremonial ground for the upcoming Royal Ploughing Ceremony.

The Bangkok Metropolitan Administration’s Department of Public Work is currently preparing the southern area of Sanam Luang to support mourners, with an administrative tent and medical team set up there.

From April 1, officials and volunteers will provide snacks to visitors each morning, Pongsawat said.

Those visiting the “Yen Sira Phro Phra Boriban” exhibition building at Sanam Luang will have a tent especially for them at the area opposite the Appeals Court.

A shuttle bus service from the Grand Palace’s Thevapirom Gate to the exhibition building will be available.

The Royal Ploughing Ceremony will be held in May on the Phuetcha Mongkhon holiday to mark the traditional beginning of the rice-growing season.

The ceremony, rooted in Brahman belief, will involve two sacred oxen ploughing a furrow in the ceremonial ground while rice seeds are sown.

After the ploughing, the oxen will be offered food such as rice, corn, green beans, sesame, fresh-cut grass, water and rice whisky.

There will be a prediction on whether the coming growing season will be bountiful based on what the oxen eat.