ABSTRACT
The proportion of Atany land owned by private individuals has steadily increased. Nevertheless, large islands of community property remain in use among the privately owned fields. On these patches the customary order of joint ownership has managed to survive, to a limited extent, as a heritage from the period when all the fields were common property and their use was regulated by the village administration. The roots of the Pasture Associations reach back to the secular traditions of the autonomous rural government, though their activity has been curtailed. Other community organizations and associations were inspired by outside forces, such as the interference of higher administrative units or the initiative of the “intelligentsia” of the village, i.e., the minister and the village secretary. In 1901 the village administration placed a description of the village in the foundation of the new village secretary’s house, advocating the cause of progress in enthusiastic words.
