THANKS TO THE NO-MEAT RULE At least 100 heads of cattle and thousands of fishes and chickens will be spared

20 December, 2009 - When farmer Kinga reached his winter home in Lobesa last month, top on his agenda was conducting the annual two-day lochhoe (ritual). It is a hectic ritual, which requires thousands of ngultrums and includes hosting a feast for the neighbours.

Unlike in the past, however, he can conduct his lochhoe this year without much hassle.

There is a standing rule in the village, which prohibits villagers from serving “any sort of meat” during the annual ritual. They are allowed to serve only vegetables and that includes meals served to the monks performing the lochhoe. The rule is not only in Kinga’s village, it applies to all 11 gewogs in the dzongkhag, as decided by the 91st session of the Punakha dzongkha yargye tshogdu (DYT). “It’s very convenient. I needn’t handle meat this time,” said the well-to-do farmer.

While meat had been an indispensable part of Bhutanese rituals, the decision to not serve meat was received with great appreciation by the villagers. “The best thing about the rule is that it came from the people,” said Punakha DYT chairman, gup Tshering Tobgay. “A few gewogs raised the issue in their gewog yargye tshogchung and it was sent to the DYT,” said the gup. “It’s one decision that was welcomed in all the gewogs,” he said.

Bap gewog’s gup Penjore told Kuensel that 263 of the 270 households have all sighed an agreement not to serve meat. “It wasn’t imposed. People were consulted and all the representatives readily signed the agreement,” he said.

A lochhoe without meat is unimaginable, but gewogs like Bap are serious to stick to the rule. According to the gup, a meeting with the chiwog representatives agreed that the ban should be unanimous. “People want to discourage killing and banning meat during rituals will help achieve that,” said the gup. There are tshogpas in every chiwog (village) to monitor the rule. The tshogpas are authorised by the people themselves to inspect choku. A violator will be fined Nu 500 and dealt with as per the relevant provisions of the law, according to gups.

Meanwhile, villagers say that they are happy with the rule. “His Holiness the Je Khenpo and many lams are on a drive to stop killing. Not serving meat will automatically reduce killing,” said a villager in Gamkha, Zam. Zam’s husband quickly guesstimates how many head of cattle would be saved if all 270 households stopped buying meat for choku. “Every household buys at least two legs of beef, five to six chickens, fishes, sausages. At least 100 heads of cattle, thousands of fishes and chickens will be spared,” he said. “By not serving meat nobody will die.” Chairman Tshering Tobgay said that the ban would also help poor villagers, who sometimes even go to the extent of borrowing money from neighbours to perform lochhoe. “Rich villagers have no problem, but, since lochhoe is a compulsory ritual, poor villagers are affected by this social pressure. Some families are left without meat after the lochhoe,” he said, adding that the ever-increasing cost of meat has burdened the poorer section. “But the greater objective is that we’re a Buddhist society and killing is against our religion.”

Villagers said that, although they are a meat-eating society, meat served at a lochhoe has become a social status with richer farmers addicted to an attitude of displaying dozens of meat items. “This isn’t right,” said Kinley, a villager in Tshokona, Bap gewog. Kinley just completed her lochhoe and is relieved that everybody was happy with the nine items of vegetable curries she served. “All my neighbours and relatives were happy with what I served,” said Kinley, adding that, for thsogsha (meat offered at the altar), she offered cheese on the advice of the Chimi lhakhang lam.

However, there are a few farmers, who feel that a vegetarian diet would compromise the importance of lochhoe. “Lochhoe is the only annual ceremony where relatives, friends and neighbours gather and enjoy,” said a villager Tshering. “With the rule, not many would be interested in lochhoe.”

Meanwhile, the DYT chairman Tshering Tobgay said the vegetarian meal rule at the Punakha crematorium would be implemented strictly. “Even with a notification from the dratshang, people are serving meat at the crematorium,” he said. The chairman said most of the violators are rich people, who turn the crematorium to a feasting ground.