In mid-April every year, Sri Lankans celebrate the Sinhala and Hindu New Year with distinctive rituals that fuse Hindu and Buddhist elements. With the introduction of Buddhism in the third century BCE, traditional Hindu New Year rituals were reinterpreted. While historians and sociologists believe these rituals were closely related to sun worship because they coincided with ancient myths about the sun moving from one celestial house to another—the major rituals today embody a sense of cultural heredity and tradition.

In Turkmenistan, the national inventory of intangible cultural property comprises five domains: oral expression, beliefs, performing arts, craftsmanship, and traditional knowledge. Epics belong in the division of oral expression. More than ten elements have been identified in this field, including epics such as Gorogly, Shasenem and Garip, Zokhre and Takhir, Khuyrlukga and Khemra, Sayatly Khemra, Asly Kerem, Arzy-Gambar, Khatamnama, Warka-Gulsha, Kasym oglan Melike-Dilaram, Nejep oglan, and Tulum Hoja. The epic Gorogly holds an especially important position among Turkmen epics.

A small crowd is standing on a bridge across the canal that brings water to the village. The canal diverts some water from the Syr Darya River, the only source of irrigation water in the region. There are several cars parked on the banks of the canal and a medium-size truck with a two-year old bull is parked right on top of the bridge. A group of young men take the bull on the bridge and tie him up. The crowd gathers around and the people present lifts their palms up at the chest level. The most respected elder loudly starts making a wish: “May there be plenty of water this year for our crops and livestock; may there be peace and prosperity in our lands; may there be accord and respect in our community….” The wish, which is also a blessing, goes on for several minutes. After every sentence, the crowd univocally utters “amen” to show that every person seconds that wish. Then, bull is solemnly sacrificed on the river bank, and its blood flows into the current turning it red for a little while.

Dibya Jyoti Borah, President of ARHI introduces the role of ARHI in safeguarding of ICH. Established in 2008, ARHI is collaboration of individuals belonging to the indigenous tribe, activist working for the cultural-educational rights of native people. It is a wider platform for all indigenous communities to discuss and reflect upon challenges and problems faced by indigenous communities as well as finding the best means to address those concerns. It is a grassroots organization comprising all small & big indigenous communities.

Co-orgarnized by ICHCAP and Hue Monuments Conservation Centre (HMCC), this year’s Asia-Pacific ICH NGO Conference was held in Hue, Vietnam under the theme of ICH NGOs towards Sustainable Development of Communities.

The Miao people are a linguistically and culturally related ethnic group who settled in the Chinese provinces of Guizhou, Yunnan, Hunan, and Guangxi. While the Miao are disbursed over a large area and are subdivided into several different branches, they share a common heritage element called the circle dance. Often accompanied by a lusheng (a bamboo musical instrument), the circle dance is the most important dance and the most popular among all Miao branches. The wood drum dance is popular among the Fanpai Miao in Taijiang County, Guizhou province.

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.

Puppets have been a metaphor in Indian literature for ages. One’s deftness in getting something done is often compared with the skills of a puppeteer. Puppets reflect the helplessness of people in situations beyond their control, like a puppet dancing to the whims of the one pulling its strings. The metaphor, incidentally, is also applicable to the lives of string puppeteers of Muragacha in the Nadia District in the eastern Indian state of West Bengal.

Jeff M. Poulin notes an analysis of a set of ICH NGOs identified by the United Nation’s Education, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) recognized for their 'good practices' in the early months of the global pandemic. And He provided a discussion overlaying his findings with the theoretical modeling in hopes of illuminating some lessons which can be taken on by ICH organizations as they move forward through this and other crises.

Kathmandu, the capital of Nepal, is known as a city of temples dedicated to various gods and goddesses. Newārs are indigenous people who mostly reside in Kathmandu valley. They have a unique identity among Nepalese people as lovers and preservers of many Nepali cultures and traditions. Newār communities play very active roles in the preservation of unique Newāri cultural elements. Among many, Di pyākhāṁ is a traditional mask dance with a glorious history. In the Newāri language, Di means “goddess” and pyākhāṁ means “dance,” therefore the name can be translated as “Goddess Dance.”\nThe practice of Di pyākhāṁ provides an opportunity for participants to learn to work together in social harmony. To this end, various tasks are assigned according to work required. Not only does Di pyākhāṁ have religious significance but it is also culturally significant, touching on different artistic aspects.

The coastline of Bangladesh spreads over 711 kilometers containing a wide network of river systems that drain the Ganges-BrahmaputraMeghna river system's massive flow. The coastline is separated into a\npacific-type deltaic eastern zone, a central deltaic zone, and an Atlantictype deltaic western zone (M. R. Islam 2004). The Encyclopedia of Flora and Fauna of Bangladesh (Volumes 3 and 4), released in 2008, listed 156 species in the coastal zone of Bangladesh, including brown algae, red algae, green algae and five different seagrass species (Kamal and Short 2009). In terms of faunal resources, the maritime environment\nof Bangladesh has 442 fish species and 36 shrimp species (Ben Belton, et al. 2011). \n\nAround fifty million people from various ethnic groups reside in the coastline zone, encompassing thirty-two percent of the country's total population. Although the Banglaees are the most populous ethnic group, ten other ethnic communities live along the coastal zone of the country: Chakma, Khyang, Marma, Munda, Murang, Rakhine, Tanchangya, Tripura, Mahato, and Pundra Khatrio (Kamal, et al. 2001). The distinctive water-land-forest ecosystem of this area has significantly shaped food production and consumption patterns among these communities throughout history. \n\nThe coastal inhabitants are exposed to both climatic, natural disasters and manmade hazards. This paper aims to discuss the food production system in the coastal area of Bangladesh as well as the impact of alarming climate change on the general food security of the region