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

Chapei Dang Veng (hereafter Chapei) is a popular musical tradition found in Cambodian society. The singing of Chapei is accompanied by a long necked lute Chapei from which the tradition takes its name. Chapei is closely interwoven with the life, traditional customs and beliefs of the Cambodian people. The instrument itself is used in two eminent ancient ensembles,'Pleng Araek' (Spirit Music) and 'Pleng Kar Boran' (Traditional Wedding Music) both of which are endangered forms themselves. Chapei performers are generally male, although there are no restrictions regarding gender or social class. Chapei players are not only musically adept, but also witty, intelligent, and quick to adapt and improvise. They should be well-versed in language, literature, and poetry, and a good story teller. From 1975 to 1979, the Khmer Rouge regime systematically annihilated and destroyed any form of intellectual activity including traditional arts. As a result many traditions such as Chapei disappeared from the scene together with the people performing them. Only two grand masters of Chapei survived this gruesome period and together with some other masters and their students are trying to revive the art form today.

Cambodia 2016

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

Ancient Chinese divided the circle of the annual motion of the sun into 24 equal segments; each segment was called a “jie qi” or solar term. Hence the 24 segments are collectively called the Twenty-four Solar Terms. This system of time embodies the traditional knowledge and the social practices through which Chinese organize their perception of the regularity of seasons, of astronomical laws and of other local natural phenomena occurring in the course of the year. It is an indispensable component of the traditional Chinese calendrics and its living applications, serving as a time-frame for agricultural activities and daily life. In International circle of meteorology, this cognitive system has been honored as the Fifth Great Invention of China. Transmitted through generations, the element has profoundly influenced Chinese people’s way of thinking and code of conduct. Upon a specific solar term, people spontaneously arrange farming and daily routine as well as basic necessities of life. Thus this knowledge continuum of time is sustained through a variety of ritual practices and folk activities. Thereby the Twenty-four Solar Terms is an important carrier of Chinese cultural identity.

China 2016

Suri Jagek, literally translated to ‘observing the Sun’ is the traditional Kalasha meteorological and astronomical knowledge system and practice based on the observation of the Sun, Moon, Stars and Shadows with respect to the local topography. The practice of Suri Jagek demonstrates the relationship of the Kalasha people with their surroundings and the capacity of their immediate geographical context to sustain their way of life. Suri Jagek is a knowledge system which connects a long history of “events” to topographical locations. The system is a complex structure of empirically observed accumulated knowledge and is repeatedly referenced to allow the Kalasha people to predict the appropriate time for the sowing of seed, animal husbandry and natural calamities. It is also used to govern the Kalasha calendar by determining dates of important social events, festivals, feasts and religious ceremonies. It draws greatly from the rich cultural heritage and social practices of the people, therefore functioning in the capacity of a repository of the history of the people and the region at large. Visual cues existing within the periphery of the topography are used to mark the specific positions of the rising and setting Sun, and hence the collective markings are used to record the positions of the Sun throughout the year. Observatories called ‘Suri Jagaekein’, are chosen in each village to observe the rising Sun, and a separate location is assigned to observe its setting. The specific positions on which the sun casts its shadows are also marked in some people’s houses on walls or poles etc. Individual localities have their own specific knowledge, generated using the common processes of marking the positions of the Sun. Qazis, who are authorities on matters pertaining to religion, history and indigenous models of conflict resolution, farmers, some shepherds and a few village elders are the knowledge bearers of Suri Jagek and the observations at the Suri Jagaekein made by various community members are shared in communal gatherings. A general consensus is reached in a Jirga (communal forum); however, presently this is only practiced in the Rukmu valley on the 16th of December. Knowledge related to the constellations of stars, meanings of various types of rainbows and the study of clouds as well as shadows are all in the wider ambit of Suri Jagaek. The Libra constellation known as Tarazu is considered particularly important during the Spring period coinciding with the month of Amaal Mastruk. When the constellation is observed in its clarity during the month, it is indicative of the ground softening the next morning; a time considered vital for the planting of crops.

Pakistan 2018

The element consists of the traditional craftsmanship of a community called Thatheras of Jandiala Guru, Punjab, India. The Thatheras craft utensils are of both utilitarian and ritualistic value made of copper, brass and kansa (an alloy of copper, zinc and tin). The metals used are recommended by the ancient Indian school of medicine, Ayurveda. In Ayurvedic texts, copper is regarded as an ideal metal for making cooking utensils and possessing medicinal properties. On the other hand, kansa is the prescribed metal for retaining the nutritive values of food. The settlement of the craftspeople in Jandiala Guru is laid out along a series of narrow lanes, lined on both sides by small home-cum-worksheds with families living and working on their hereditary profession. Both male and female members participate in the processing and creation of the artefacts. The process begins with procuring cooled cakes of metal which are flattened into thin plates, and are then hammered into curved shapes, creating the required pots, urns, plates and bowls and other artefacts. Heating the plates while hammering and curving them into different shapes requires careful temperature control, which is done by using tiny wood-fired stoves (aided by hand-held bellows) buried in the earth. The utensils are manually finished by polishing with acid, sand and tamarind juice. Designs are carved by skilfully hammering a series of tiny dents on the surface of the heated metal. Using basic tools that are handmade, the craftspeople create ritualistic, ceremonial and utilitarian vessels for both individual and community use.

India 2014

It is an indigenous Kazakh performing art that combines theater, music, and puppetry. Some people say orteke is a street theatre, others might claim it is a musical instrument, some would see it as a decorative art, and children perceive it as a toy and use for entertainment. Orteke represents a simultaneous ensemble of music performance on Kazakh traditional two-stringed instrument dombyra and a hopping dance of a wooden puppet. Fixed on a surface of a traditional drum (daulpaz) by a metal rod a flexible wooden figure of teke (a mountain goat) is connected to the fingers of a musician by one or several threads. Flexible head and joints of a puppet are connected to the pulling string. As the musician strikes his/her fingers playing dombyra, the puppet starts hopping in sync with the beat set by an artist. The figure turns alive making amusing dancing movements and tapping a rhythmic beat on a firm skin surface of a drum.Some masters of genre can play with 3 and more puppets at the same time. Sound of dombra, audience public in anticipation, leather surface as flat as the steppe itself, and a small wooden figure of a mountain goat, tied to the puppeteer musician by a single thread, began to beat out the rhythm with its tiny hooves. This action, fascinating with its magical simplicity, is known among the Kazakh people as "Orteke", which is fancied by both children and adults.

Kazakhstan 2022