Lhamo’i Drubchen, or colloquially Lhamo’i Dromche (with a corrupted form drubchen), is a grand religious ritual and mask dance dedicated to Palden Lhamo, the principal female guardian deity of Mahayana Buddhism. It is conducted in Thimphu Dzong (Thimphu Fortress) by Zhung Dratshang (Central Monastic Body) and is the most highlighted annual event that takes place before the monastic body leaves for the summer residence in Punakha Dzong.

Indigenous Fijians feel a close connection with the sea, land, and nature. In Fiji, jewelry making began way back in the time of the ancestors, dating back to the eighteenth century or even earlier. Traditional indigenous knowledge, beliefs, and practices were seen in the unique creation of hand-crafted jewelry and adornments. These pieces were mainly worn to display social status, functioning as symbols of rank and leadership, or as markers of clan membership.\nThere were distinctions in the types of jewels and adornments worn by a chief (turaga), a warrior (bati), the wedding attire of a bride (yalewa vou) and groom (tagane vou), and those used in ceremonies and celebrations where men, women, and youths adorned themselves with necklaces of shell (taube qanivivili), bead (taube), or clay (coko qwele). Chiefs and warriors mainly wore breastplates (civavonovono), whale ivory (tabua), sperm whale tooth necklaces (waseisei, also known as wasekaseka), boar tusk necklaces and hand bands (bati ni vuaka), while white cowry shells (buli vula) are mainly worn by brides and grooms, and also worn during a traditional dance/performance (meke).

The small sun-soaked village of Molela, located approximately fifteen to twenty kilometers from the city of Udaipur in Rajasthan, is home to a vibrant community of terracotta clay artists. Over the years, Molela has emerged as a focal point in the art of making attractive votive plaques or idols of gods, with terracotta. While the early creations were originally cast as standing idols of local deities and various forms of the Hindu god Vishnu, today these figures are often mounted on tiles or plaques and are hung from the walls of homes and temples. These votive figurines can be multicolored or can have a terracotta hue, as is represented in the various temples in Rajasthan and Gujarat.

The tug-of-war is one of the most well-known intangible cultural heritage elements that represent the Republic of Korea. Tug-of-war games were widely enjoyed by people across the country before the 1930s and 1940s. During the 1960s, the tug-of-war came under the protection of the Cultural Heritage Conservation Policy and has been appointed and is being managed by local and national governments. Locally, eight tug-of-war traditions have been inscribed on the national inventory list. Moreover, compared to other ICH element studies, of the element has been significantly researched.\n\nTug-of-war is a cultural heritage element of many East Asian nations, and these nations are preparing to nominate the element to the UNESCO Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. In this context, the goal of this paper is to discover universal traits in tug-of-war traditions in East Asia. However, besides the Republic of Korea and Japan, there is insufficient research on tug-of-war traditions in the region, which limits the scope of this presentation. In case of China, despite the existence of various records on tug-of-war in literature, the tradition as it exists in China today seems to be more of a sports match than a ritual event. I would also like to mention that this paper is a draft based on document records, the Internet, and the academic symposium hosted by Gijisi Tug-of-War Conservation Institute.

Historically, Malaysia (the Malay Peninsula) was known as the Golden Chersonese, and in the past, Malay populations lived in riverine and coastal settlements, which were some of the most important trading hubs in Southeast Asia. The Malay maritime empire was once a large kingdom, stretching from the coast of Vietnam and Cambodia to Southern Thailand, the Malay Peninsula, Singapore, Borneo, Sumatra, Riau, Sulawesi, and Southern Philippines. Across the Malay-speaking world, fabrics embellished with gold were for the rich and powerful, such as the ruler of the kingdom. Besides the golden fabric, songket, Malay embroideries were mostly used by nobility and royals. In the fifteenth century, the Melaka Sultanate instituted sumptuary laws governing the types of ornaments and colors for interior and soft furnishings, such as curtain fringes, bolster ends, cushions, prayer mats and other items. Across the Malay world, the numbers of dais, bolsters, and layers of siting mats, were associated with a certain hierarchy, varying across the regions.

This paper deals with traditional boat building in our country Traditional boat building refers to boats and other watercraft mostly using wood and other locally-available raw materials in our archipelago. The fabrication and construction methods as well as their operation draw largely from long term indigenous experience in traversing the inland seas in Southeast Asia, the South China Sea (West Philippine Sea) and the vaster Pacific and Indian Oceans. Boat building technology is part of the broader Malayo-Polynesian culture. The major components of this broad culture include the use of Austronesian languages, bilateral family structure, mutually-supportive clans and kinship groups that include maternal and patriarchal affines led by the most able chief. Most important feature of Malayo-Polynesian culture is boat building and sea faring that enabled them to disperse by 1,500 BCE from the core area in Southeast China, Taiwan, Malaya, Indonesia and the Philippines as far as the Madagascar to the west, east to Pacific Island Groups across the Pacific up to the offshore islands of Argentina in South America.

The lion dance is a performance art known throughout East Asia, in which practitioners wear lion masks. It is thought that the lion dance was introduced in Japan as a religious play together with Buddhism in the seventh century. The dance tells the story of a lion with magical powers that played a role in expelling evil from the path on which the spirits travel. Today, it is a much-loved performance used to celebrate auspicious occasions, to bring peace, happiness, health, and long life. It is also commonly performed in New Year celebra\u0002tions and festivals. Several entertaining performance groups traveled around performing the lion dance during the Edo period, which gave momentum to the spread of the dance all over the country. The dance is light and has strong recre\u0002ational characteristics including acrobatic elements.

The subject of this study is to find out the protection and sustenance ways of Shaman heritage among the Turks of Turkey. As it is known, Turks of Turkey are shaman community in terms of ancient religions and world-views such as Kazakhs, Uighurs, Uzbeks, Turkmen, Altai, Republic of Tuva, Sakha and other Turkish tribes constituting the Turkish World. Majority of the Turks of Turkey migrated from the middle of today’s Mongolia to the shores of Aegean Sea and Balkan Peninsula in the last 1500 years. Another factor complicating this 1500-year migration is the fact that Turks accepted Manichaeism, Buddhism, Christianity and some groups accepted Judaism. Normally while it was expected that they pursued various religions and dispersed in this tens of thousands kilometer square, these Oghuz tribes weren’t assimilated and they assimilated many communities whose administration they undertook within the scope of their control.

The use of medicinal plants for healing diseases has been known to man ever since he was affected by diseases. When illnesses became frequent, ancient man started searching for drugs from the natural environment where he lived. Bark from trees, seeds, leaves, fruits and roots were all utilized for treating illnesses. We continue to use these remedies today, maybe in a more refined form (Petrovska, 2012).This knowledge from the past was transferred mainly through trial and error, and through the exchange of knowledge and experiences among diverse communities and regions mainly by means of oral communication. This exchange of knowledge continues even today, but with an incorporation of modern biomedicine into the traditional practices. This has led to Ayurveda,1Unani2 and Siddha3 emerging as integral parts of modern medicine, or through complementing the modern biomedicine in India.

The Cultural Research Foundation (CRF) was founded in 2002. Led by folklorists and anthropologists, the work of CRF regarding intangible cultural heritage can be categorized as\n\n- Researching and documenting ICH,\n- Sharing and promoting ICH through publications and events, and\n- Creating cultural heritage awareness, especially for pre-school and youth.\n\nCRF, accredited under the UNESCO ICH Convention in 2012, carries out this work under the sections of Culinary Culture, Toy, Crafts and Rituals Research Programs. CRF is also a member of the Izmir ICH Commission.

In Vietnam, before the invention of techniques used in lacquer painting, lacquer served different purposes; referred to as annamite lacquer. Lacquer usage can be traced as far back as the Dong son period. Traditionally annamite lacquer was used as a varnish-like coating on objects. Decoratively, it was often mixed with red powder or used in combination with silver and gold. Tran Lu (also known as Tran Thuong Cong, born in 1470), is considered the founder of lacquer industry in Vietnam. As a mandarin of the Le Dynasty (1443-1460), he studied Chinese lacquer in tributary visits to China. Returning to his village of Binh Vong (Thuong Tin district, Ha Tay province), considered the location of the first lacquer in Vietnam, he bought back techniques in how to use lacquer. The lacquer industry developed during the Ly Tran Dynasty, as a decorative art mainly connected with Buddhism. During the Nguyen Dynasty lacquer gained popularity as it became accessible to daily life demand.

Based on the accumulated experience over the course of fifteen years since the adoption of the 2003 Convention, Southeast Asia is well known for its diverse and abundant intangible heritage. Many states in this region have already initiated ICH safeguarding plans with active participation of communities.\nHowever, a number of Member States are still having difficulties employing community‐based safeguarding plan and programs. In implementing the 2003 Convention, much attention should be paid to build capacity to support and safeguard a wider range of ICH Stakeholders, including communities, group, and individuals.\nTherefore, this session will provide an opportunity to share experiences and discuss on the roles the community should exercise in safeguarding ICH. In this session, we will discuss the following questions: (1) Do ICH communities, groups, individuals, and practitioners fully recognise the spirit and significance of the 2003 Convention? (2) Are they subsequently assigned to embody appropriate roles?