ABSTRACT
Each summer, on the 18th of the 7th lunar month of the Bhutanese calendar, the pastoral communities of the villages of Gechukha, Chumpa, and Chempa in Northwestern Bhutan assemble at their community shrine. The gathering is a scene of day-long prayer sponsored by the community. Supernatural influence is invoked for favorable outcomes. This daylong ritual is just a prelude to the actual business, a brief, statistical affair, that takes place in the evening. Die is cast to allocate the communal pastures to groups of herders for the coming year. The group with the highest score gets first choice, the second highest gets the second choice, and so forth. Until they meet again, 1 year later, herders will be dependent on the allotted pastures to provide their yaks with sufficient feed.
