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anniversary
ICH Elements 16
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The Worship of Hùng Kings in Phú Thọ
The Việt people in Phú Thọ province have been practicing and trasmitting the worship of Hùng Kings whose father named Lạc Long Quân and mother named Âu Cơ for a very long time. The legend has become a strong belief of the country’s origin in the Việt people’s mentality for centuries. Dynasties of Great Việt attached great importance to the worship of Hùng Kings and offerred imperial conferments to villages worshiping Hùng Kings in temples and shrines. The worship of Hùng Kings has created many legends of wharves, rivers, fields, rice plants, land and other unique cultural creativity. Part of cultural creativity is reenacted in annual worship performed at communal houses, temples and shrines in villages. Communities make offerings of rice – based delicacies such as square cakes and glutinous cakes dedicated to Hùng Kings. Legend has it that, Lang Liêu who later became the seventh Hùng King made these two types of cakes by himself. They represent the heaven and the earth as well as the filial piety of the children for the parents. These two offerings are indispensable in the worship of Hùng Kings. Offerings dedicated to Hùng Kings at temples and shrines by villagers usually last for a few days: offerings by families first and then by the whole community. The tablets of Hùng Kings are proccessed throughout the villages and the rice fields, which implies that Hùng Kings may witness today’s lives of villagers and offer good weather, abundant harvests, good luck and good health to villagers, plants and animals. Offerings conducted by villagers at temples, communal houses, and shrines is supposed to be the most sacred moments when the respect and gratitude of communities dedicated to Hùng Kings are expressed.
Viet Nam 2012 -
Zardozlik (gold embroidery)
Type of traditional embroidery which was widely spread in applied design art of Uzbekistan, Gold embroidery was revived at the middle of XXth Century. It's formation goes back to ancient history. At the end of the XIX – beginning of the ХХ century especially Bukhara was the center of crafts associated with gold embroidery. Notably, at that time gold embroidery was mostly dealt by men. But in some cases, when there were more orders than expected, women (who were close relatives of gold embroiderers) could act in the role of assistants. Bukhara gold embroiderers applied several methods of embroidering. These were: 1) "zardozi-zamindozi" – solid embroidering of the background with gold threads 2) "zardozi-guldozi" – embroidering based on design (image), which is cut out from paper 3) "zardozi-guldozi-zamindozi" – a combined method of embroidering, which unites the above-mentioned two methods 4) "zardozi-berishimdozi" –combined embroidering 5) "zardozi-pulakchadozi" –gold embroidering with spangles. Ornamentation in gold embroidery was predominantly of vegetative nature. Geometric patterns were used less often. Main motifs were rosettes, palmettes, bushes, trees, branches, flowerpots with flowers, almonds, pomegranates, cherries and grapes. Usage of certain vegetative motifs, for example, of "guli-chinni" (chrysanthemum), "guli-qashqari" (Kashgar flower), testify to the fact that pictures of Chinese porcelain (since ancient times it was imported to Central Asia and was popular among elites of Bukhara in the XIX – beginning of the XX century), were borrowed and adapted by Bukhara gold embroiderers.
Uzbekistan -
Traditional knowledge and skills in making Kyrgyz and Kazakh yurts (Turkic nomadic dwellings)
Yurt production includes knowledge and skills in creating a portable dwelling traditionally used by Kazakh and Kyrgyz people. Yurt has a dismountable wooden circular frame covered with felt and braided with ropes. Yurts can be easily set up and dismantled within a short period of time. Yurts are basically characterized as easily transportable, compact, ecological and practical dwellings. Bearers of yurt-making traditional knowledge are craftspeople (men and women), producing yurts and yurts’ interior decorations. Men and their apprentices make yurts’ wooden frames, traditionally by hand using special devices and instruments. Men also make wooden, leather, bone and metal details for yurts and household items. Women make yurt coverings and interior decorations. As a rule, they work in community-based groups supervised by experienced skilled women-artisans. Women-artisans use weaving, spinning, braiding, felting, embroidering, sewing, winding and other traditional handicraft technologies. Women’s work- process is usually accompanied by their singing, joking, telling stories about famous masters of the past and treating traditional meals. Clans’ wise elders are also bearers. Knowledge and skills are transmitted through generations traditionally from masters to their apprentices (oral instructions, practical classes, joint production). The element is a great value and heritage received genetically or through learning, enriched by masters and transmitted to young generations. Joint production of yurts gives craftspeople the “one-family” feeling; the use of yurts by livestock-breeders as their dwellings in everyday life and by urban citizens as their summer-houses generates the feeling of continuity of ancestors’ traditions. Yurts are an obligatory part of all national festivities, traditional events and funeral-memorial rituals; yurts are kept in the family and transmitted from parents to their children as a sacred family relic ensuring ancestors’ protection. For Kyrgyz and Kazakh people the Yurt is not only a dwelling and the Universe model; but also a symbol of their national identity. Yurt’s top crown shanyrak and tyundyuk are depicted on the state symbols of Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan – coat of arms and flag. Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan Heads of State receive honourable guests in Yurt.
Kyrgyzstan,Kazakhstan 2014 -
Haapi Hoen-tey (Dumpling)
Hoen-tey is a special Haa Valley dish that is usually prepared during Lomba celebrations, the indigenous New Year, which are held on the 29th day of the 10th lunar month. Normally, the ingredients for Hoen-tey are prepared and cooked on the evening of the 28th day. When Hoen-tey needs to be made in large quantities, it is prepared either on the 26th, 27th or 28th day, and then on the 29th day it is cooked. Long ago, Hoen-tey was only made during Lomba celebration. Nowadays it is prepared all year round. To prepare Hoen-tey, you need the following basic ingredients. -\tBuckwheat flour -\tBunches of beet leaves -\tTurnips -\tLocal butter -\tFermented local cheese -\tGinger -\tClove of garlic -\tWild black pepper -\tChili powder -\tWalnut (optional) -\tA few stalks of green onion -\tSalt to taste
Bhutan -
Nha Nhac, Vietnamese court music
Meaning “elegant music”, Nha Nhac refers to a broad range of musical and dance styles performed at the Vietnamese royal court from the fifteenth to the mid-twentieth century. Nha Nhac was generally featured at the opening and closing of ceremonies associated with anniversaries, religious holidays, coronations, funerals and official receptions. Nha Nhac shares a nationwide scope and strong links with the traditions of other East Asian countries. Nha Nhac performances formerly featured numerous singers, dancers and musicians dressed in sumptuous costumes. Large-scale orchestras included a prominent drum section and many other types of percussion instruments as well as a variety of wind and string instruments. All performers had to maintain a high level of concentration since they were expected to follow each step of the ritual meticulously. Throughout historical transitions, Nha Nhac’s cultural context and functions have shifted. Beside its re-enacted performances for spectacle purpose, Nha Nhac music and its expressions are viable and relevant to local communities in Thua Thien Hue, especially in festive events and ceremonies, such as festival, funeral, ancestral worshipping ritual, and birthday anniversary.
Viet Nam 2008 -
Palov culture and tradition
Palav culture and traditions have been included into the Representative List of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in 2016. Palov (or Osh) is the most beloved and highly regarded food among Uzbeks. It is spread in all regions of Uzbekistan. Palov accompanies Uzbeks throughout their lives. It is prepared on different occasions. These are: on the occasion of the birth of the first child (aqiqa); on the occasion of circumcision ceremony (sunnat toyi); on the occasion of engagement ceremony (fotiha oshi); on the occasion of seeing off a bride to the house of a groom (qiz oshi); in connection with wedding, for men only (nikah oshi); in connection with wedding, for women only (khotin oshi); after wedding, only for friends of a groom (kuyav oshi); on the occasion of child’s birth and carrying out “ beshikkasolish” ritual (beshik toyi oshi); on the occasion of commemoration of the deceased (ehsan oshi); on the occasion of anniversary of death day (yiloshi). Thus it serves to unite people for different events.
Uzbekistan 2016 -
Mesir Macunu festival
Mesir Macunu (paste) Festival has been annually celebrated for 472 years during March 21st-24th of each year. The roots of Festival go back to a historical anecdote about the mesir macunu, Hafsa Sultan, mother of the Ottoman Ruler Suleiman the Magnificent contracts an incurable disease. In an effort to find a cure for this disease, Merkez Efendi, the Chief Physician of the Madrasah of Sultan Mosque concocts a special experimental recipe of a paste with 41 different herbs and spices. This special paste to be thenceforth known as the mesir macunu (paste) cures Hafsa Sultan rapidly. Hafsa Sultan then asks to disseminate this paste to the wider public, hoping that it would ensure the well being of each and everyone. Wrapped in small pieces of paper, the paste is then “scattered” to the community, from Sultan Mosque. Since then, at each and every anniversary of this event, people gathering around Sultan Mosque commemorate the invention of this healing paste, through a series of events. The festival begins with the “mixing” and cooking of the mesir macunu, prepared in respective proportions and mixtures in line with the traditional know-how. Blessed with wishes for cure, the paste is then packed up by women according to the traditional knowledge. It is then scattered among the public from the top of the minaret and the domes of the Sultan Mosque. Thousands of people coming from different regions of Turkey compete with each other, in a challenge to grab these pastes in the air, before they finally hit the ground.
Turkey 2012 -
Bình Đà Festival
According to legend, Binh Da village is where Lac Long Quan took his children to build an inheritance. Noi Temple is the place to worship Duc To Lac Long Quan and Linh Lang Dai Vuong, who made merit to the villagers. To pay tribute to the two saints, the people of Binh Da take the sainthood day of Linh Lang Dai Vuong (February 26 of the lunar calendar) as the opening day of the festival and Lac Long Quan's sainthood day (March 6 of the lunar calendar) as the main festival. Binh Da village festival takes place at both Noi and Ngoai communal houses to commemorate and pay tribute to the two tutelary emperors of the village. On the main death anniversary of the two saints: February 26 and March 6 of the lunar calendar, there is a ceremony to offer two special offerings: offering cows to Duong Canh Thanh Hoang Linh Lang Dai Vuong and offering vegetarian cakes to Duc Quoc To Lac Long Quan.
Viet Nam -
Kar-mey: Butter lamp Offering
Karmey: (Butter lamp Offering) during A-shey Lhamo Dance is an indigenous tradition practiced exclusively by women in the communities of Shingkhar, Somthrang, Pangkhar and Ura in Ura Gewog (block), Bumthang Dzongkhag (district). Colloquially, Karmey means offering butter lamps in all temples and monasteries in and around these communities. The element is closely related to an annual offering of Saang (smoke offering), popularly known as A-shey Lhamo which is normally conducted from 8th and 9th day of the 7th month of the lunar calendar. The Karmey program is the last and concluding event of the three-day A-shey Lhamo festival which is held on the 10th day of the 7th month coinciding the birth anniversary of Guru Padsambava. The origin of Karmey is identical to that of A-shey Lhamo, although A-shey Lhamo is considered a Bon-kar (transformed Bon practices) and the other explicitly a Buddhist tradition. The establishment of the A-shey Lhamo festival dates back to the reign of Dung Lhawang Rabgay (local ruler) of the Ura community, not long before the advent of the Dung caste system in Bhutan around the 10th and 11th centuries. It is said that the misfortune of shey-ned (diarrhoeal infection) spread among the children of the Ura community, and to cure such epidemic diseases, Dung Lhawang Drakpa introduced the performance of the A-shey Lhamo dance, an offering to appease the female local deity on the eighth and ninth days of the seventh month of the lunar calendar. For most Bon practitioners throughout the country, this is a special day when they make confirmation offerings to their respective deities and ask for blessings of peace and happiness for the individual as well as for the entire community, country and all sentient beings in the world. According to older members of these communities, they have noticed a decline and disappearance of this ancient practice over the years. They say that they remember crowds of women from communities like Ura, Pangkhar, Somthrang and even Singkhar singing and running to all the temples and monasteries to offer butter lamps and tshogs (offerings) and perform melodious folk dances right after the A-shey Lhamo festival was celebrated. There are also some native songs and dances that are sung and performed only on Karmey Day. It is believed that after the annual offering to the A-shey Lhamo deities according to the Bon Kar tradition, people also wanted to observe the Buddhist way of offering to the scattered temples and monasteries, which falls exactly on the 10th day of the month, which is revered as the birthday of Guru Padsambava, one of the highly revered saints who introduced Vajrayana Buddhism in the mid-8th century. However, over time, the villages of Somthrang and Pangkhar have discontinued this tradition along with the performance of A-shey Lhamo, and today Shingkhar and Ura are the only two communities that follow and maintain this tradition.
Bhutan -
Phủ Dầy Festival
Phu Day festival is organized by the community in Kim Thai, Nam Dinh province to honor Mother Lieu Hanh - one of the Four Immortals in Vietnamese folk beliefs. People believe that Phu Day is the place where the Mother of God was born. According to folk legend, the Holy Mother Lieu Hanh is Princess Lieu Hanh - who is honored as Mother Nghi Thien Ha. Mother Goddess Lieu Hanh is also considered the main deity of Vietnamese mother worship. There is a saying "August Father's death anniversary, Mother's death March" with the meaning of honoring saints like father and mother. The festival takes place from the 1st to the 10th day of the third lunar month. The Phu Day festival is known for its rites of passage to the fields and singing of chau van. The procession of Mother Goddess’s palanquin is one of the important rituals of the festival. There are also other activities such as dragon, unicorn, quartet dance, and a very special word-drawing festival.
Viet Nam -
Côn Sơn Festival
Con Son Pagoda Festival is held from January 15 to 22 every year. Con Son festival originates from the death anniversary of Zen master Huyen Quang (January 22, 1334) - the third ancestor of Truc Lam Zen sect, a Zen sect with the idea of national self-reliance. King Tran Minh Tong gave the field to worship and built the dharma ancestor behind the pagoda, specializing the Tu Thap "Huen Quang false venerable". The traditional festival is held at Con Son pagoda with rituals bearing the imprint of Buddhism. The ritual sequence includes: incense offering ceremony to open the festival on January 16; the procession of water and carpentry is an important ritual of the Con Son festival taking place on the morning of January 16; The Mong Son giving food ceremony took place on the evening of January 17 at the courtyard of Con Son pagoda. The Mong Son alms-giving group includes: the main organ and the altar for making offerings to the Buddha. This ritual has been successfully restored in the project of upgrading Con Son - Kiep Bac festival in the period 2006 - 2010; The sacrifice to heaven and earth on Ngu Nhac mountain: takes place on the morning of January 17 at Trung Nhac temple, on Ngu Nhac mountain, performed by magicians. In addition to Buddhist rituals, folklore activities in the Con Son pagoda festival are also diverse and attractive with their own characteristics such as fairy swings, calligraphy, wrestling, quan ho singing...
Viet Nam -
Pilgrimage to the St. Thaddeus Apostle Monastery
The three-day pilgrimage to the St. Thaddeus Apostle Monastery is an annual event that marked its 64th anniversary in 2018. The pilgrimage is a community celebration held in July with the participation of the Armenian communities of Iran and Armenia and other countries. The pilgrimage is inclusive for those who wish to attend: clergy, community leaders, regional and local governmental officials, laypeople, artisans, people with disabilities in search of a healing power from the Lord that may be granted to them with mediation through the holy spirit of St. Thaddeus, children and the elderly. The pilgrims gather for religious celebrations and special cultural, folk and educational performances. In Iran, busses and caravans transport individuals from Tehran, Isfahan, Tabriz, Salmas and Urmia to the St. Thaddeus Apostle Monastery. Hundreds of pilgrims attend the event from all over Armenia, including the capital city, Yerevan, other cities and bordering towns and villages to Iran. Hundreds of tents are erected in the countryside for more than 6000 pilgrims who attend the three-day ceremony from Iran, Armenia and overseas. The pilgrimage venerates two prominent Saints: St. Thaddeus, the Apostle of Christ, and St. Santukhd, the first female Christian Martyr. The commemoration ceremony includes special liturgies, processions, prayers, homilies and fasting. It culminates in a divine liturgy (Holy Mass) with Holy Communion and the anointment of the water blessed with Holy oil. Special times are set aside for traditional Armenian folk performances that include special music and songs. Artisans and craftsmen demonstrate their works of art at special stands. Ethnic Armenian dishes and delicacies are served at appointed times during the Pilgrimage.
Armenia,Iran 2020