On April 15, the Ministry of Health and Welfare in Korea announced that all measures of social distancing will be lifted from April 18, after about two years and one month. From this day on, many fields are expected to normalize as pre-COVID-19, and festivals and events are also in the mood to be revived.\n\nYeondeunghoe, the Lotus Lantern Festival in Korea was originally held every year before Buddha’s Birthday (April 8th in the lunar calendar), but due to COIVID-19, it could not be held normally in 2020 and 2021. Coincidentally, Yeondeunghoe was registered as an Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity by UNESCO in 2020 when the COVID-19 outbreak was rampant. The Yeondeunghoe Preservation Committee, which organizes the event, declared that the event will be held normally this year. Based on Jogyesa Temple in Seoul, the event began on April 5 this year and will run until Buddha’s birthday (May 8 this year).\n\nAccording to the Standard Korean Dictionary, “Yeondeunghoe originated in Silla as a ritual to light a light and pray for good fortune on the birthday of Buddha, and was held on the fifteenth day of the first lunar month during the reign of King Taejo of Goryeo. In the first year of King Hyeonjong’s reign (1010), it was changed to the 15th day of February.” The festival continues from the period of the northern and southern kingdoms through the Goryeo period, the Joseon period, and the Japanese colonial period to the present day. Since Buddhism was introduced to Korea, the festival has been an important cultural event for both the royal court and the common people. Historically, Yeondeunghoe in Goryeo period, which was held as a national event, had the greatest social function, and it also functioned as an important cultural event and festival for the common people. Even in the Joseon Dynasty, when Confucianism was a national ideology, Yeondeunghoe functioned as an important cultural event and festival for the common people. While the festival of Silla and Goryeo, which were Buddhist countries, had a strong national and religious color, the festival of Joseon, which was a Confucian country, was more a private event than a religious event. Even today, the lantern festival has become an important cultural event for the public and has become a citizen’s festival that non-Buddhists can enjoy. The event is largely composed of a ceremony to bathe the baby Buddha, a procession of lanterns, and a Buddhist ceremony.\n\nThe ICH values of the “Yeondeunghoe, Korea Lantern Festival,” which was recognized through UNESCO’s list of intangible cultural heritages in 2020, are as follows.\n\n“Yeondeunghoe is a festival in which all people, regardless of gender or age, participate as equal members of society. In particular, the active participation of women and children stands out in the festival. Although patriarchal culture has long been strongly entrenched in Korean society, Yeondeunghoe serves as an opportunity to uplift women and children in particular. Traditionally, for young people, the festival has been an effective means of expressing their creativity by experimenting with various shapes and colors of lanterns. Yeondeunghoe contributes to social cohesion. Lantern festivals are usually a place to share joy and happiness, but in times of social adversity, they unite society and help people overcome the problems they face. In 2014, when the whole country was shocked and grieved by the tragic Sewol ferry accident, all pre-planned Lotus Lantern events were canceled and the following new topics were announced. “Sharing sorrow and gathering hope.” This shows that Yeondeunghoe is being performed in a close relationship with society’s interest and the sentiments of the times.”\n\nYeondeunghoe, which has been transmitted to this day, has become a precious event that has shared joys and sorrows with the public for a long time beyond its religious significance. Since 2020, many people are living a difficult daily life that they have never experienced before due to COVID-19. After three years, the streets are back with the lanterns. That is why the meaning of the Yeondeunghoe, which we will meet for the first time after the dark of era of COVID-19, and which has not yet been fully lifted, is even more special. I hope that the Yeondeunghoe, which has revealed the emotions of the times and the value of life, can be a light of comfort and hope to those who have been exhausted from the pandemic over the past three years.\n\nphoto 1 : Lantern Lighting Festival 2022 © Republic of Korea, CC BY-SA 2.0, Changed: Size, Level\nphoto 2 : Lantern Lighting Festival © Cultural Heritage Administration of Korea, KOGL Type1, Changed: Size, Level\nphoto 3 : Lantern Lighting Festival 2001 © Pravin Premkumar, CC BY 2.0

Countries all over the world are faced with increasing hazards and challenges due to climate change. Earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, catastrophic storms, flooding, sea-level rise, drought, and more are becoming ever more common threats each year and the problem appears to be without limits. Many disasters lead to people losing their homes, land, local resources, and livelihoods, and force them to relocate unwillingly.

Since the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) was initiated in 1946 to promote world peace and development based on international understanding and cooperation, there have been continuous efforts to safeguard cultural heritage of humanity. However, it is undeniable that tangible cultural heritage, which includes natural and cultural heritage, received greater emphasis than intangible heritage. The Convention for the Safeguarding of Intangible Cultural Heritage adopted in 2003 in Paris ("2003 Convention" hereinafter) is regarded as a milestone that changed the historical perception and marked a turning point.

Human has made great progress beyond the speed of biological evolution by using tools. First, human used stones and wood as tools for hunting and gathering, and then invented earth-baked earthenware such as bowls for food, appropriate to farming life. The defects of woodenware and earthenware, however, were obvious. It was not able to contain liquid due to their moisture absorbency, and easily damaged. Earthenware has evolved into glazed ceramic but it required a high-tech kiln with high temperature, accompanied by a technology for metal refining as a key prerequisite. In East Asia, moisture proof and insect proof techniques to coat objects were invented much earlier. That is lacquer technique.\nProduction process of lacquer is delicate and complicated such as handling lacquer sap at the risk of skin disease, creating hot and humid environment for hardening process, etc. Nevertheless, in East Asia, people have used lacquer technique in many regions from the Neolithic Age, knowing its merits earlier on. Lacquer was used for adhesive and surface protection of leather, earthenware, ceramics and metalware. In particular, it has been inextricably linked to wooden objects. Whereas in West Asia and Europe various varnishes mixed with dry oil and resin has been used, in East Asia lacquer was used as a basic varnish in common. That shows that lacquer is great material and technique to represent the commonality of Asian culture.1) This article aims to briefly look into the origin of lacquer technique in Northeast Asia and share the information on it and its current status of transmission.

"While the artistic heritage of the Pacific is no doubt rich and representative of its cultures, it is more than merely something to be gazed upon and admired. Rather, Pacific art is both functional and symbolic of deeper meanings. Items as commonplace as bows and arrows, masks, and meeting halls are tangible expressions of the spirit of a culture. The themes in the final section seek to represent this spirit. In examining the Tongan kupesi traditions, for example, we see how the symbolism contained within the art, beyond its outer function, is reflective of the indirect nature of Tongan culture and somewhat akin to the practice of using heliaki in speaking. Likewise, in learning the complex process of building Palauan bai meeting houses, we can see that the structures stand not only as important functional spaces but also as carriers of cultural motifs and legends passed down over time. \nAll these themes attest to the art and technology of the Pacific societies as not only reflecting aesthetics but also serving a function. Traditional technological know-how allows the Pacific islanders to use available resources to their best advantage. Architectural designs, motifs, lashings, knots, stone walls, and pavement ensure that structures withstand the test of time while also carrying vital symbolic knowledge."

Introduction\nKamancheh could be considered one of the national and novel instruments of Persia with a long history in the Orient. Through the historical pages of Baluchistan, an instrument named ghaychak is found and is similar to ghazhak or ghazh, a Perso-Islamic instrument.\n\nHistorical evidence, such as the great music book of Farabi, the poetry book of Masoud Saad, and the paintings of the Chehel Sotoon hall show the antiquity of using this instrument and its similarity to rabab, and give us this information that at the time of Safavid dynasty, it was common to play Kamancheh in the royal court.\n\nHistory\nKamancheh is filled with a history full of ups and downs from the far East to the West and played in different lands in such a way that it is known as an ancestor of the violin, able to perform all the techniques of that instrument; however, its Persian origin is clearly recorded and mentioned in Egyptian documents from the fifteenth century.\n\nThe paintings in the Chehel Sotoon hall shows that this instrument, initially, included three strings, quoted from Edward Brown the British orientalist at nineteenth century, and at the time of Western influence on our culture, during the Qajar period, the fourth string was added to imitate one of its grandchildren: the violin.\n\nIn the region of Lorestan the instrument includes a rich history in such a way that you can find a Kamancheh in every music lover’s house. In this region, the players are called kamancheh-kesh, whereas in other regions, they are called as kamancheh-zan.\n\nLiterature of Music\nMusical instruments, the way they are played, and the essence of the sound created from them have penetrated in the human soul and has somehow transpired into oral literature. What we are speaking of are the poems written by great Persian poets in which we see the use of literature that has been common among musicians and musicians as a common language of the past. Poems written by poets such as Masoud Saad Salman, an eleventh century poet, who mentioned the name Kamancheh along with the names of other musical instruments in his poems as follows:\n\nFrom canon, cheerfulness, glory, welfare, and play\n\nFrom harp, oud, nay, kamancheh, and party\n\nFarrukhi Sistani is another eleventh century poet who had mentioned Kamancheh in his poems:\n\nEvery day there was glory and welfare\n\nEvery day there was canon and tar played\n\nInstrument Components\nResonant Bowl and Skin\nThe bowl is almost spherical and hollow. The upper surface is open, on which the skin is peeled, and the vault is installed. The outer surface of the bowl is decorated with pieces of oyster or bone. Some of the local fiddles are also open behind their bowls, which makes a louder sound. The skin of the aperture is made from the thin hull of quadrupeds such as deer, goats, and lambs.\n\nHandle\nThe handle of the instrument is like a tube full of wood, which is about 25 cm long and 3 cm in diameter.\n\nVault\nThe fiddle vault is made of wood or bone, which is 4 cm long and 2 cm high. The vault rests on the skin of the bowl with its two small pedestals.\n\nThe Claw\nThe claw is located at the beginning of the handle and is made of wood. Its surface is hollow. Four phones are placed in pairs on their sides. At the top of the head is a straight, crown, or narrow.\n\nEars\nThe Kamancheh includes four ears with several instrument strings and in the form of a wide-headed nail made of wood, which are located on the sides of the toe. The flat part of the phone rotates left and right in the player’s hand to tune. The narrow part is inside the space of the claw head, and one end of the wire is wrapped around it.\n\nPawl\nIt is the thin, not long bone or stick the same size as the width of the handle between the claw and the handle, which the wires pass through its shallow grooves and attach to the ears.\n\nStand\nThis stand is a thin, moving metal bar ten centimeters long, that when played, one end is fastened to the bottom of the bowl with a screw, and the other is placed on the foot or the ground.\n\nPhoto : Kamancheh Player by Ibrahim Jabbar-Beik

The tradition of jewelry making in India began with the prehistoric factories of the Harappan civilization which produced metal and bead jewelry and has continued unbroken over five thousand years in the continuity of its form, technique, and symbolism. Some of the earliest excavations of bead and stone factories have uncovered evidence of sophisticated tools like burins, scrapers, cylindrical drills, and micro-drills used to drill holes in beads and etch designs on precious and semiprecious stones. These beads, along with sheet gold and gold wire twisted into intricate earrings, necklaces, bangles, waistbands, and more, represent the humble beginnings of the Indian jewelry tradition. Jewelry has since been used to demonstrate affection, status, power, and skill.

Inside the Guam Museum’s multipurpose room, Chamorro oral historian Toni “Malia” Ramirez sits on a carpet of autumn tones along with a small group of young children. On the floor beside him are a world globe, a sprouting coconut plant, and a tray of local foods as diverse as the multicultural children seated—lumpia from the Philippines, Japanese-style omusubi, Korean kimchee, and Chamorro titiyas. On the back wall, a wire grid is covered with an assortment of t-shirts hung with plastic hangers. The t-shirts have phrases in Chamorro, the indigenous language of the Mariana Islands. In the tradition of Chamorro storytellers, Ramirez converses with the children, sharing memories he had collected over the years from Guam’s war survivors and their stories of life during the Japanese Occupation and Liberation in July 1944. The t-shirts, he explains, express cultural values that helped the Chamorros survive the atrocities of the war, values that are important even today. The t-shirt he wears is decorated with “Tåutau latti’ yu’, Guåhan, Islas Marianas,” asserting his pride as a “person of the latte,” and a native of Guam. With a song, the tray of food soon represents the cultural diversity of Guam home. As the session ends, the children and their parents wave Guam flags and sing “Fanoghe Chamorro,” the island’s territorial anthem. Ramirez has shared with the event’s participants important historical memories of Guam’s people, Chamorro cultural values, and lessons for good citizenship in a little more than an hour.