Materials
satire
ICH Materials 22
Publications(Article)
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ANDONG INTERNATIONAL MASK DANCE FESTIVALThe Andong region has many highly renowned historic and cultural sites, such as Hahoe Village, however, the major cultural attraction of the region is the Andong International Mask Dance Festival.Year2010NationSouth Korea
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BONGSAN TALCHUM AS A SOCIAL SATIRICAL COMEDYSBongsan Talchum, or the Bongsan mask-dance drama, was originally transmitted in Giryang-ri, Dongseon-myeon, Bongsan-gun, Hwanghae Province in the northern part of Korean Peninsula. However, with the relocation of administrative bodies, including the district office to Sariwon in 1915, the mask-dance drama and its transmission activities were also transferred to the area. In South Korea, Bongsan Talchum had been transmitted since its restoration by performers who originated from the North, including Jin-ok Kim and Cheon-sik Min, and was designated as Important Intangible Cultural Property No. 17 in 1967. The office of the Bongsan Mask Dance-Drama Preservation Society is currently housed within the Training Center for Important Intangible Cultural Properties in Seoul.Year2020NationSouth Korea
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Andong International Mask Dance Festival: Realization of Folkloric Values and Transmission of ICHMasks and mask dance exist through which they try to realize equality and be free from judgement, allowing you to express yourself as an equal in society regardless of class. The mask dance festival starts on the last Friday of September and lasts for ten days, and over a million people visit domestically and internationally. It has garnered attention from world leaders. Queen Elizabeth II of the UK, George H. Bush and George W. Bush of the USA, UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon, and other influential leaders have attended. The festival is about mixing modernity with tradition coming together, creating a mosaic of different colors and cultural significance. They use the mask dance festival as a collaborative tool that can bring various cultures together. The mask dance festival also plays a large role in transmitting the heritage to younger generations through various associations that function as a network.Year2020NationSouth Korea
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Gai Jatra, a festival of grief and laughterNepal, a small landlocked country situated between two giant countries, China and India, is a multilingual, multi-cultural and multi-ethnical country. It observes innumerable feasts and festivals throughout the year. These festivals are adhered to different ethnical groups of the country. ‘Newar’ is a local indigenous ethnical group of people mainly residing in Kathmandu valley and also found living in different parts of the country. ‘Newars’ are known for their agricultural farming, business and trade but basically for their unique cultures and feast and festivals. Such feasts and festivals are entrenched firmly to their lives. Among many festivals of such kind, ‘Gai Jatra’ (‘Gai’ means Cow and ‘Jatra’ means street festival. Hence, ‘Gai Jatra’ means Festival of Cow.) which ‘Newars’ have been observing since the unmemorable time.\n\nEach festival has its own cultural, historical, and religious values. ‘Gai Jatra’ has both religious and historical significance in its observance among ‘Newars’. They believe that it is the day the souls of deceased can enter the world of the dead (heaven) without having gone through the suffering of multiple rebirths of different creatures. Cows are believed to guide the soul of the deceased to heaven. And the deceased can cross the ‘Baitarani’ river (Symbolically River of suffering and torments) over to the heaven by grabbing the tail of a cow. So, on the very day of ‘Gai Jatra’, anyone that has had a family member passed away is supposed to lead a calf during the procession. However, since many families cannot afford for a calf, they dress children in cow mask as a substitute, and these children walk in the procession instead.\n\nA story about the festival goes back to the 17th century King Pratap Malla and his queen of Kathmandu. One day their young son died, and the queen was grief-stricken by the unexpected and untimely demise of her beloved son. Many days passed but the queen could not overcome her grief. To restore her happiness and see smiles on her face, and to show his wife that death is a natural part of life, the king called on his people to hold a carnival if someone has died in their family. Many people answered this call which helped the queen by showing that she was not alone in her grief and that all those who participated in the festival had also lost a loved one. Since then, ‘Gai Jatra’ festival has been being celebrated across Nepal by ‘Newars’.\n\nOn the day of Gai Jatra, the deceased’s family ceremonially purifies the house in the morning scrubbing the rooms and porch with cow dung. Family members and relatives gathers and prepare for the festival. They need to find a real cow for the cow procession, if not they must bring a young child and dress him up like a cow and the procession marches the square. All people meet in the square, console each other showing death is a natural phenomenon and we are not alone in it.\n\nDespite the solemn theme, Gai Jatra is a festival that is an amalgamation of mourning and celebration. It is a festival of grief and laughter. After the procession has concluded, the rest of the day is filled with street performances of dances, plays, and comedic routines, various funny conversations, jokes, sarcasm, even standup comedy are performed—making it an incredibly light-hearted affair. Considering the means of fun and laughter in the procession in memory of the deceased relatives. ‘Gai Jatra’ seems to call on the bereaved family of the deceased to move forward as a necessary process of life. Gai Jatra is not only limited to this. On the day, people also can freely express their feelings of love and flirting, suffering and agony, and ill-fated lives in the form of songs. People do not hesitate to mock and make sarcastic remarks to the public figures and the rulers on this day. This sort of practice had been observed even during the tyrannical regime of Ranas and Panchayat autocracy when people were strictly forbidden to speak against the rulers on normal days.\n\nIn a nutshell, ‘Gai Jatra’ is the only day on which people remember their deceased family members by sending a cow procession, people could joke, satire and enjoy all together. Hence ‘Gai Jatra’ is a festival of not only grief but also the festival of freedom and joy.\n\nphoto 1~3 : Gai Jatra Festival in Kathmandu of Nepal © S PakhrinYear2021NationNepal
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Korean Mask Dance: An Exciting Comprehensive Folk ArtThe Cultural Heritage Administration selected ‘mask dance of Korea’ as its 2020 nomination for UNESCO’s Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity during a joint meeting of the Intangible Cultural Heritage Committee and the World Heritage Division of the Cultural Heritage Committee, which was held on 6 December 2019. Regarding the nomination, the International Mask Arts & Culture Organization (IMACO) held a research presentation and an international academic symposium on 20 and 21 December in collaboration with Andong City, Korea.\n\nHere, ‘mask dance of Korea’ refers to a kind of drama performed while wearing masks with different local features. It is a comprehensive folk art that encompasses a variety of elements, including singing, dance, dramatic content, and costumes. Korean mask dance is a novel form of expressing the thoughts and feelings of the people, and it truly mesmerizes the audience with diverse characters and dance moves.\n\nTraditionally, Korean mask dances helped people express their suppressed feelings and satire. Different types of mask dance drama have been transmitted nationwide. Among them, in particular, are Hahoe Byeolsingut Talnori of Andong, Byeolsingut Talnori of Gangneung, Songpa Sandae Nori and Yangju Byeolsandae Nori of Seoul and Gyeonggi-do, Haeseo of Hwanghae-do (incl. Bongsan, Gangnyeong, Eunyul), and Yayu and Ogwangdae of the east and west areas of Nakdong River.\n\nThe mask dance was a representative folk culture of the late Joseon period in Korea, along with pansori, a traditional form of musical storytelling. Mask dances hold great artistic significance and value in Korea’s traditional community, as it relates to the minds of the people through its theatrical and entertaining aspects while also functioning as a medium for social criticism.\n\nUntil now, thirteen mask dance elements have been listed as national intangible cultural heritage and four others have been listed as city/provincial intangible cultural heritage. The Cultural Heritage Administration is planning to submit the nomination file on Korean mask dance to UNESCO by the end of March 2020. The nomination will be decided during the seventeenth session of the Intangible Cultural Heritage Committee to be held in 2022.\n\nMeanwhile, a special exhibition titled “In High Spirit, Away From Sorrows: Traditional Korea Mask Dance Drama” is being held at the National Intangible Heritage Center located in Jeonju, Korea. The exhibition presents the history of traditional masks and mask dance as well as five traditional masks known as hahoe-tal, the oldest mask dance tradition in Korea. The exhibition will be running until 23 February 2020. For more information, please visit the website.\n\nPhoto : Korean Mask Dance ⓒ shutterstockYear2020NationSouth Korea
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Gavari: The Unwritten Epic of a Mewari TribeKalika is a Hindu goddess. Also known as Ambav and Gauri, she is a symbol of energy and female power for which she is worshiped by Bhil tribe of Mewar in a forty-day ritual called Gavari. The timeless, spiritually-motivated, and electrifying dance-drama is a crucial part of the rich Mewari tribe tradition. Their performance—a synchronized amalgam of ritual, dance, music, myths, folklore, and theatrical plays—can be a truly mesmerizing cultural experience. It needs not a formal stage yet maintains an attraction that keeps the audience engaged and involved.\n\nGenerally, the colorful Gavari performance holds on to the theme of “victory of the divine against the demon” and creatively retells folk tales, myth, and history, incorporating satire and contemporary issues in its short episodes. Performed only by the male members of the Bhil tribe, Gavari starts with and maintains a mimesis of the female power of Kalika. It is typically performed by ten to fifty members of the tribe, who are from different age range and have varied roles in the performance. Each performance has a vital message combined with spiritual invocations, which makes its telling more effective. The rising beats of Madal intensify the atmosphere in such a way that the audience can get into trance. Members of the Bhil tribe believe that they can be cured by the blessings of the main priest or by Kali. The Gavari performance splendidly presents stories carrying tribal wisdom. It also affirms simplicity, equality, communal harmony, consciousness, art appreciation, and upmost environment protection for sustainable development.\nEffects of modernity and globalization reaching tribal areas in India, however, have molded an abrasive attitude toward practices known to be “traditional”. In the last couple of decades, it was observed that the younger members of the Bhil tribe have less interest in keeping their tradition alive. They prefer to work as laborers than learning and performing Gavari. Gavari performance is seen to have no worthy benefit and thus must not be actively transmitted. This alarming situation may banish the purest form of performing art along with its music, stories, folk tales, songs, divinity, and wisdom, all particular to the southern part of Rajasthan, India.\n\nThe biggest challenge in safeguarding Gavari is to bring its identity and pride back to restore the ignored cultural heritage of Mewar. Enhanced visibility of Gavari performance at both national and international levels could help in realizing its socioeconomic benefits. Documentation, digitization, and dissemination art are very much needed to relocate this Gavari and its wisdom to next generations in a systematic manner. Through efforts of NGOs working in the ICH field such as the publication of the first pictorial book on it, film, and website, it is possible for people to have vicarious access to Gavari. Notwithstanding, more efforts are needed to protect the heritage of Bhil tribe.Year2017NationIndia