The Kyrgyz komuz is a national musical instrument. Traditionally, komuz was made from a single piece of wood. The instrument has three strings, which were traditionally made from dried ram innards, but in modern times, fishing lines are often used instead.

Gijisi tug‐of‐war is one among many traditional Korean tug‐of‐war games. \nPlaying Gijisi tug‐of‐war forms a temporary community as well as a trans-mission community. In exploring the formed community, this article will discuss how the communities are formed, the features they have, and the meaning such temporary communities have. In addition, this article will examine how continuous and conventional communities enable the Gijisi tug‐of‐war event to take place. While doing so, different features of the tug‐of‐war communities will be discussed by comparing the characteristics of the Gijisi tug‐of‐war community with the Jul Nanjang, a special market held for the tug-of-war. Although different and both have changed, the characteristics of contemporary traditional transmission commu-nity will be clarified. Such comparative research might give Gijisi tug‐of‐war to find its unique position among traditional tug‐of‐war games.\nBased on the name, Gijisi tug‐of‐war, one may assume that the people who create such a spectacular would be residents in Gijisi‐ri or even residents of Dangjin, which includes Gijisi‐ri. However, participation in the tug‐of‐war is not restricted and is open to visitors from the whole country as well as foreigners. As such, a community for playing tug‐of‐war is temporarily formed. In other words, it is a temporary com-munity that is formed in a specific time and space.

Food plays an important role in spiritual rituals and worship for many faiths including Christianity, Judaism, Hinduism, Islam, and Buddhism. The food offered to God is called prasada/prasadam, which means a gracious gift. Prasadam could be any o!ering, but typically an edible food is firrst o!ered to a deity in his or her name.

These children attend a Sámi kindergarten, and as the example above shows, they are learning—in the practical way—about traditional Sámi food as a part of their day in the kindergarten. This article will look into the importance transmitting traditional knowledge about food and the food-chain process, from raw nature materials to cooked dishes served on the table to the young generation, and highlight some examples of good and healthy traditional food.

The custom of traditional Japanese tug-of-war, or tsunahiki (綱引), can be outlined as follows:\n\n• It is practiced on different annual events, such as Ko-syogatsu (小正月), or New Year celebration around 15 January according to the lunar calendar), Obon festival (盆)celebrated around 15 August, the Boys’ Festival on 5 May (端午節句), or the fifteenth night of August of the lunar calendar (八月十五夜).\n• The tug-of-war ropes are made of either straw, kaya (kind of cogon grass often used as traditional roofing materials), or shobu (菖蒲 or sweet sedge).\n• A village is divided into two groups of farming and fishing areas, eastern and west-ern areas, and upstream and downstream areas, and in some cases, the two groups are subdivided into smaller groups such as children and young adults as well as men and women.\n• The rope is tugged by these groups, or dragged around, slammed against the ground, or sometimes cut into pieces.\n• The purpose of this traditional event is said to forecast the volume of the coming harvest, to ward off evil spirits, or to pray for a peaceful life.

The burning of incense in the sacred shrines of Buddhist monasteries, temples, and also in the consecrated spaces that house the representations of the supreme spiritual beings is considered a kind of offering of sweet fragrances to the enlightened beings and also has the power to purify the impurities associated with us in any form that prevent us from realizing the innate Buddha nature and receiving the blessings. For this reason, incense is crucial in the performance of any type of ritual in the world of Buddhism. In general, burning herbs and making smoke offerings outdoors and burning incense in shrines have the same meaning and benefit; to purify defilements, pacify spirits, accumulate merit for oneself, and connect people to the spiritual world.\n\nThe production of incense is considered one of the religious crafts, as the product is used exclusively for religious purposes. There are two different types of incense: Ja-ju poe (herbal incense) with a yellowish texture and Zu-poe or Choe-jue poe (incense mixed with flesh and blood ingredients) with a brown color. Ja-ju incense is usually burned explicitly for the enlightened beings and when performing Drol-chog (ritual of Goddess Tara) and Rio-sang-chod (smoke offering at the summit of ridges and mountain to attract good fortunes), rituals associated to Nagas (subterrain sentient beings), while the other is offered to the guardian deities and guardian spirits during affirmation rituals.\n\nThe basic raw materials for both incenses are: Powder of Shug-pa (juniper), Tsen-den (weeping cypress), Balu (Rhododendron ciliatum), Sulu (Rhododendron setosum), Aru (Terminalia chebula), Baru (Terminalia bellirica), Manu (Inula racemosa Hook. f), Ruta (Saussurea lappa), Pang-poe (Valeriana officinalis) and water extracted from Zangdrug; (six valuable substances) Chu-gang (bamboo pitch), Gur-gum (saffron), Li-shi (clove), Ka-ko-la (cardamom), Za-ti (nutmeg), Sug-mel (cubeb) Ga-bur (camphor) and also Tsho (colours). When special ingredients such as Kar gsum; (three white substances) milk, curd and butter and an additional mixture of Ngar-gsum; (three sweet substances) brown sugar, molasses and honey are added to these mixed powders, the product becomes herbal incense and similarly, various ingredients of special animal meat, blood, La-tsi (musk), Gi-wang (elephant bile) and alcohols are added to make Zu-poe incense.\n\nMr. Lhundrup (80) learned the art of making incense sticks at the Government Incense Production Center in Thimphu, the capital of Bhutan, and worked for nearly 8 years. In 1918, after his retiremen, while some friends located their incense production more promisingly in the city, Lhundrup established the present incense production named Lhundrup Poezo-khang in his remote village of Urug in Chumey Gewog (block), Bumthang Dzongkhag (district), Bhutan. Currently, he supervises the production unit while his son Sangay Tenzin (50) takes the main role and his mother Uden (67) sometimes assists her son. Two other employees help them produce a plethora of incense sticks with five different types to meet consumer demand.\n\nProduction Process: Based on the license to produce incense sticks, the raw materials, especially dried junipers, are collected from the opposite foot of Yotong la (a mountain pass in the central region at 3425 meters above sea level) and the rest of the materials are purchased from the highlanders. After collecting the raw materials, they are chopped, dried in the sun and processed into fine powder with the help of an electric grinding machine. In the meantime, a helper prepares the extraction of water from the Six Valuable Substances. During mixing in the kneading machine, 80% of the raw material powder is carefully kneaded with the extracted medicinal water. After removal from the kneading machine, the dough-like incense is formed into a palm sized shape and placed into Tsir-shing (traditional wooden compressor) hole, creating a noodle like discharge while an employee places his or her body weight on the compressor liver. These noodle-like incense sticks are rolled between two wooden boards by the incense makers, cut evenly when the bottom wooden board is full, and dried in the sun. The incense sticks are tied into bundles using thread, dried again, and finally ready for making offering.\n\nphoto 1 : Finished product © Yeshi Lhendup\nphoto 2 : Raw materials being dried © Yeshi Lhendup\nphoto 3 : Drying right after the processe © Yeshi Lhendup\nphoto 4 : Incense being offered in the Local Shrine © Yeshi Lhendup\nphoto 5 : Raising of incense smoke © Yeshi Lhendup

When strolling the pedestrian zone around Hoàn Kiếm Lake in Hà Nội, one may be attracted by a man sitting behind a small wooden box filled with colorful figurines. With only a small bamboo stick in his hands, the man can create beautiful roses, lively dragons and legendary generals in their elaborate costumes. It takes only ten minutes for him to complete the creation of a figurine. This man is a tò he maker.\n\nTò he, as briefly described, are figurine toys popular in Hà Nội and some other provinces in the Red River Delta of Vietnam. Traditionally, the common figurines depicted flowers, animals, historical figures and characters in folk tales. Nowadays, a diversity of new figurines can be made, adapting from famous cartoon and movie characters whom children adore. They range from Doraemon, Sailor Moon to Elsa Princess.\n\nThe about-10-centimeter figurines seem to be simple at the first sight but what make them really stand out are the sophisticate craftsmanship and great passion of their makers. The first step of making tò he is to prepare the dough by pouring fresh water into a mixture of glutinous and regular rice powder. The dough then is dropped into the boiling water for about one hour. The final step of making the dough is to divide it into different portions and dye them with food colors. There are seven basic colors used in tò he figurines: green, pink, red, violet, yellow, white and black. The dough must be carefully prepared to ensure the edibleness of tò he, which is a unique characteristic of these folk toys.\n\nThe creation of tò he figurines requires another great amount of patience and skillfulness. Every small detail is kneaded by hand, and different colors are applied without never staining one another. Therefore, seeing a favorite character coming to his/her life on the hand of the tò he maker is like watching a magic trick for many children.\n\nWith several anecdotal evidence, the history of tò he is said to date back to the 17th century. Xuân La, a suburban village in Hà Nội, is the home of most active tò he craftsmen. Every day, tò he makers from Xuân La spread out to different corners of Hà Nội to sell their craftworks.\n\nIn the past, tò he figurines were only sold during Tết (Vietnamese New Year) and Trung Thu (Mid-Autumn Festival). Therefore, getting these figurine toys from their parents could bring immense joy for children who had waited for them for such a long time. These days, tò he can be found almost every day at several major parks and tourist attractions in Hà Nội, such as the walking streets around Hoàn Kiếm Lake, Văn Miếu (The Temple of Literature) and the Museum of Ethnology. Tò he craftsmen are also present at many cultural events in different parts of Vietnam.\n\nFor many people in today’s Vietnam, tò he can evoke their beautiful childhood memories. And for children, tò he can bring them into a colorful world of creativity and imagination. While tò he, as such, currently enjoys considerable vitality despite the invasion of children’s modern toys and games, more efforts are required to make in order to keep this folk art continuously alive and flourishing. Making new figurines that are closer to children’s daily life is one of the directions almost tò he makers have been following. In addition to that, tò he craftsmen and those who love tò he have organized several tò he making classes where children and adults can learn about the history of this folk art and get hands-on experience of tò he making.\n\nphoto 1 : Dragons and roses are two among the most common tò he figurines. ⓒ Nguyễn Phú Đức\nphoto 2 : A craftsman is kneading a rose-shaped tò he. ⓒ Nguyễn Phú Đức

Mother’s Day is a holiday in honor of the mothers, that is celebrated in different forms throughout the world. Nepalese Mother’s Day which is known as “Amako mukh herne din” which literally means to look upon a mother’s face in the Nepali language, is celebrated across the nation on the last day of the dark fortnight of April or early May.\n\nOn this auspicious day, regardless of age, all the sons and daughters prepare traditional sweets and gifts. Then they visit their mother and bow deeply to the mother’s toe to receive her blessing and offer her gifts and sweets. In consequence, the mother blesses them by touching their foreheads with her hand (bowing deep down to the toe is an ancient ritual that expresses honor and respect to the elders and love, good fortune, and blessings to the younger). On the other hand, married daughters dress in a colorful sari, wear different jewelry, and visit their mothers by carrying baskets full of delicious traditional foods, fruits, and sweets. All family members gather together, thank their mother, get a blessing from her, and spend quality time together.\n\nHowever, those who have already lost their mother go to Mata Tirtha (Mata means mother and Tirtha means pilgrimage), a sacred pond southwest of central Kathmandu to do ritual offerings for the departed soul of the mother.\n\nThe story behind Mata Tirtha.\n\n“Legends says that there was a boy who used to take his cows to graze nearby the pond. After the sudden death of his mother, he was depressed. On Mother’s Day, he went to the forest to pray at the edge of the pond in remembrance of his mother. As he offered gifts, his mother’s beloved face miraculously appeared in the water. He wanted her to go back home but it was impossible because she was dead. The dead mother agreed to appear in the pond every year, and the boy started visiting his mother on the same day every year.”\n\nTherefore, until today people with the hope to see their mother’s face in the pond go to Mata Tirtha. It is said, however, that a lady visiting the pond wished to see her mother’s face, and as soon as she saw her mother’s face, she jumped into the pond to join her and disappeared into the depths. Since that event, it is said that the dead people stopped being seen in the pond.\n\nBut, nevertheless, those whose mother is dead still go to the pond to take a holy bath, do sraddha (Hindu worship) and offer gifts nearby the temple to offer respect to the demised soul to rest in peace.\n\nSo, people across the country come to this pond, often traveling many hours they arrive at dawn, pray for the peace of their mother’s soul and take a bath in the pond which is considered a holy bath, and do sraddha. Every year on this day, a big religious fair takes place at Mata Tirtha. After the offerings and praying and holy bathing in the name of the deceased, people say that they feel the warmth of their mother’s blessing. So, after finishing all rituals they go to the fair and enjoy it.\n\nBut nowadays Mother’s Day celebration is being westernized. People instead of preparing traditional sweets, bake or buy a cake with “Happy Mother’s Day” on it and instead of eating at home, they eat out.\n\nIn spite of that, Mother’s Day is one of the most important traditions in Nepal. It is a special time for a family reunion and showing respect to the mother.\n\nphoto : Daughter is putting 'Tika' on mother's forehead to get blessing on Mother's Day . © Rashmi Maharjan

Ningyo johruri bunraku is a puppet theatre composed of three elements: the chanter, the shamisen player, and three puppeteers. Bunraku originated at the end of the sixteenth century and was first performed outside or inside makeshift theaters, but in the mid-seventeenth century, it began being performed in more prominent theaters in cities such as Osaka, Kyoto, and Edo (now known as Tokyo).

ICH is an integral part of the indigenous population of Fiji known as the iTaukei. Borne of a rich oral tradition that spanned migration from Southeast Asia into the Pacific from 3,500 B.C., the iTaukei people of Fiji share many similarities with their island neighbors of Melanesia and Polynesia. ICH has manifested itself in many elements—from oral traditions, social practices, knowledge of nature, traditional craftsmanship, and performing arts. These elements exist in a rich interplay of reciprocal social systems in which the pinnacle is the chief, the physical embodiment of the ancestral spirits. Practice of the various elements legitimizes and enforces the status quo in traditional iTaukei life.

Eau le inailau a tamaitai—this Samoan adage explains the capability of women to achieve their goals in any domain through singularity of purpose and collaborative efforts.

Papua New Guinea is one of the most culturally diverse countries in the world, with over 750 languages representing 750 ethnic groups. Papua New Guinea is made up of 24 provincial governments, and the nation is divided into four regions known as Momase, the Highlands, New Guinea Islands, and the Southern Region.