ALL
animal
ICH Elements 113
-
Practices of Then by Tày, Nùng and Thái ethnic groups in Viet Nam
Then a ritual practice indispensable in Tày, Nùng and Thái ethnic groups' spiritual life, reflects concepts about human beings, natural world and the universe (the Earth realm, the 3-layer Heaven realm). Then ceremonies describe a journey in which Then Master (Male/Female) controls ghost soldiers travelling from the Earth realm to the Heaven realm, the residing place of the gods, to offer worshipping items and show their praying requests for peace, bad luck relief, illness treatment, good crops, new house inauguration, initiation/title-conferring ritual (cấp sắc), blessings and happy new year. Then Masters start the journey by singing and plucking the tính lute (two or three-string lute). Depending on worshipping purposes, Then Masters will arrange worshipping trays to pray different native Gods, among whom Ngoc Hoang is the highest God. Then Masters often use a summoning tablet, a seal, a demon-expelling sword, a yin and yang rod, a bell, a fan and items such as pork, chicken, wine, rice, fruits and votive papers to perform Then ceremonies in the believer’s house, outdoor or at Then altar of the Master’s house. While practising, Then Master wears ceremonial dress, sings the language of his ethnic group and plays the tính lute, shakes the chùm xóc nhạc (rattle-bells), waves a fan. In some ceremonies, a female dancing group will accompany. Then rituals performances express Tày, Nùng and Thái’s cultural identities, from customs to musical instruments, dance and music. Then is always transmitted orally while its rituals are being conducted, reflecting the succession between generations.
Viet Nam 2019 -
Kok boru, traditional horse game
‘Kok-boru’ is a traditional game played by two teams on horseback, where the players try to maneuver with a goat's carcass, or ‘ulak’ and score by putting it into the opponents' goal, or ‘tai-kazan,’ while riding on their horse companions. Modern games last for 60 minutes, with 3 periods of 20 minutes each. The team scoring most ulaks into the opponent tai-kazan wins.
Kyrgyzstan 2017 -
Washoku, traditional dietary cultures of the Japanese, notably for the celebration of New Year
WASHOKU is social practice based on a comprehensive set of skills, knowledge, practice and traditions related to the production, processing, preparation and consumption of food. It is associated with an essential spirit of respect for nature closely related to the sustainable use of natural resources. WASHOKU has developed as part of daily life and with a connection to annual events and is constantly recreated in response to changes in human relationship with natural and social environment. Basic knowledge, social and cultural characteristics associated with WASHOKU are typically seen in New Year’s cerebrations when Japanese people immerse themselves in their tradition transmitted from generations to generations, thus reaffirming their identity and continuity. WASHOKU in New Year’s celebrations are regionally rich in diversity, given that each province has its own historical and geographical specificity. People make various preparation to welcome the deities of the incoming year; pounding rice cakes, preparing special meals such as beautifully decorated dishes called Osechi, Zoni and Toso, using fresh locally available ingredients each of which has a symbolic meaning. These dishes are served on special tableware and shared by the family members, or shared collectively by the community members, ensuring peoples’ health and social cohesion. This provides an occasion for elderly persons to teach the meanings contained in this social practice to the children. In daily life, WASHOKU has important social functions for the Japanese to reaffirm identity, to foster familial and community cohesion, and to contribute to healthy life, through sharing traditional and well-balanced meals.
Japan 2013 -
Traditional knowledge related to embroidering and making of 'Tush kiyiz’
Tush kiyiz represents intensely embroidered ornamental carpet used to decorate the house. It is of a rectangular shape and embroidered on different types of fabrics. Initially it was used for insulating purposes in the yurt. Most probably, the first wall carpets were made of felt, which is evident from its name: tush – meaning “outer” or “in front”, and kiyiz – meaning “felt.” tush kiyiz is an example of Kyrgyz embroidery. Embroidery is one of the most ancient and most wide-spread crafts of Kyrgyz people. During the centuries Kyrgyz women have developed their own ornamental style, which is dominated by vegetative and zoomorphic motifs such as the ornaments of leafs, branches, flowers as well as round and spiral patterns. Kyrgyz embroidery leaves a lot of room for artistic expression and improvisation. Some Kyrgyz women embroider without stencils based on their own memory and imagination.
Kyrgyzstan
ICH Stakeholders 1
ICH Materials 486
-
Coaxing ritual for Camel Calves
The coaxing ritual is used by herders to save newborn calves orphaned or rejected by their mothers. A camel mare is coaxed into accepting an orphaned or estranged calf by singing melody accompanied by the Мorin khuur music.
Mongolia -
Book _Kyrgyz fairy tales_
Kyrgyzstan
-
Chundu Soelchod or Soelkha (Invoking Chundu, a Local Deity)
Chundu Soelchod is a native offering practiced by people of Haa and Paro. During the Soelkha, dances and Zhey are performed by the people of Yangthang Gewog with unique dress, lyric and steps. The male artists are locally called pazerpa or pazaap.\n\nIn the 8th century, Guru Rinpoche visited Bhutan thrice from Tibet and subdued the local deities and transformed them as protecting deity of dharma in every region. Chundue soelkha is mainly celebrated for thanking Ap Chundu (local deity of Haa) for helping people of Haa during the battle time. It was originated during the time of when Zhandrung Ngawang Namgyel had conflict with Tsang Desi of Tibet. During that time group of Tibetan (Boe ma) reached at Haa, Gyensa. It was said that during night, those Boe ma (Tibetan) who reached Gyensa had seen fire and noises in Jangkhakha (Ap Chundu ground). Due to the light and reflection from Jangkhakha those Tibetan couldn’t attract the enemies instead they fell down in the river below Gyensa. That group of Tibetan was defected and the battle was won by the Haaps. Therefore people of Haa started with Ap Chundu soelchod to remember and thank Ap Chundu for his superstitious power and supporting them to win the battle.\n\nPeople also say as Ap Chudu’s birthday. It is celebrated toward the end of the year that is ninth month of the Bhutanese’s calendar. Regarded as manifestation of the warmth Chagna Dorji, Ap Chundu is not just localized to Haa district but he is and important deity of the country itself.\n\nIn Bon-nag tradition (animal sacrifice is required to appease the deities. People use to sacrifice the yak during the festival until 2013. They did because they were feared so much that Ap Chundu will punish them with diseases and natural calamities if they missed it. How ever since killing is sinful act in Buddhism in the year 2013, Haaps local guardian deity has been appeased by scarifying a yak after consulting with the dzongkhag and gewog staff, and the family who carried out the tradition for years, the authorities decided to seek Ap Chundu’s permission to stop killing yaks to appease him. So they rolled the dice and according to the astrologer, got his affirmation.
Bhutan Sunday, December 26, 2021 -
Kosrae (FSM) ICH: Local Food Preparation
Local Food preparation refers to process of harvesting through subsistence, the tools created for food preparation (such as that of fafa), and the preparation itself involves many people working together. Preparing fafa is important for many special occasions and is only carried out by men with clean hands; therefore, the men cannot have another job which would be considered unclean. Fafa comes in many different forms, including fafa fiti (pounded taro balls with a toasted coconut sweet sauce) also called sranomtuh (the pounded fafa with the sugarcane mixed with coconut milk), erah (pounded soft taro with banana and coconut cream fat solidifies around making a thin shell), srono kutak (srono-piece or part of it, kutak is soft taro, pahsruk is hard taro, it is a type of fafa that does not require water, hard working fafa, not mix. It’s difficult to pound and is very sticky), suklac (type of fafa made of bananas and taro and is purple in color), fafa spirit, also known as fafa ngun (spirit, like a ghost, something translucent and you cannot really see), fafa pot, likasringsring, among others (refer to sarfert). Some food preparation is according to the moon calendar. For example, planting and harvesting any crops during full moon is the best time. The texture of the soil is ideal during this time. Sometimes even the first three days of full moon. Torch fishing or molok (an animal for eating) is best done during full moon.
Micronesia 2020
-
NEPAL'S HEREDITARY MUSICIAN CASTES
DVD2_NEPAL'S HEREDITARY MUSICIAN CASTES\n\nThe four hereditary musician castes of Nepal are Damai, Gandharba, Kapali, and Badi. The most visible of these are the Damai and the Gandharba musicians. The Kapali are temple musicians and the Badi are drum makers. Damai are required to play for the goddess of the ruling class and also to play at all types of ceremonies and rites of passage, such as weddings and Bratabhandha. They perform in a group known as a panchai baajaa, which is composed of nine musicians playing seven different musical instruments representing the five universal elements of earth, water, fire, air, and sky, of which all matter and living things are composed. The tyamko represents earth, the damaha represents water, the jhurma represents fire, the dholaki represents air, and the narasingaa, sahane, and karnal represent the sky. Panchai baajaa music is believed to keep the elements in balance and harmony and to result in therapeutic musical healing. The Gandharba or Gaine caste musicians traditionally travel from village to village and door to door singing bhajan (hymns), songs from the great Hindu epics, and karkha (historical songs of heroes and bravery), but also bring news. They accompany themselves by playing saarangi.
Nepal 2017 -
ICH Video Production in the Asia-Pacific Region : Central Asia (Living Heritage : Wisdom of Life)
ICH Video Production in the Asia-Pacific Region : Central Asia\n\nRapid urbanization and westernization are changing the environments in which intangible cultural heritage is rooted. The importance of documentation that traces the effect of social changes on intangible cultural heritage is being emphasized as a safeguarding measure. Quality video documentation is an important resource that enables the conservation and transmission of existing intangible cultural heritage and raises its visibility.\n\nVideo documentation is the best medium to record intangible cultural heritage in the most lifelike manner, using the latest technologies. It is also an effective tool for communicating with the public. However, conditions for video production in the Asia-Pacific remain poor, requiring extensive support for quality video documentation.\n\nICHCAP has been working to build the safeguarding capabilities of Member States and raise the visibility of intangible cultural heritage in the Asia-Pacific by supporting the true-to-life documentation of intangible cultural heritage as this heritage is practiced and cooperating with experts, communities, and NGOs in related fields.\n\nSince 2010, ICHCAP has hosted annual Central Asian sub-regional network meetings with Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Mongolia to support the ICH safeguarding activities of Central Asia. Through their collaboration, ICHCAP has supported projects involving collecting ICH information, producing ICH websites, and constructing ICH video archives.\n\nAt the Sixth Central Asia Sub-regional Network Meeting in Jeonju in 2015, ICHCAP, four Central Asian countries, and Mongolia adopted a second three-year cooperation project plan on producing ICH videos to enhance the visibility of ICH in Central Asia.\n\nICHCAP developed guidelines and training programs for the project and invited video and ICH experts from the participating countries, and held a workshop in November 2015. After the workshop, focal points for the project were designated in each country, and each focal point organization formed an expert meeting and a video production team to produce ICH videos.\n\nInterim reports were submitted to ICHCAP in February 2016, and the first preview screening was held in Dushanbe, Tajikistan, during the Seventh Central Asia Sub-regional Network Meeting in May 2016. Since then, each country has carried out the project according to the project plan. ICHCAP met with each country between October 2016 to February 2017 to check on the project progress.\n\nAfter the final preview screening during the Eighth Central Asia Sub-regional Network Meeting in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, in 2017, final editing process took place in each country, and fifty ICH videos were completed by October 2017.\n\nAll photos introduced on this page along with fifty ICH videos are from the exhibition 'Living Heritage: Wisdom of Life' held in the Republic of Kyrgyzstan and the Republic of Korea. Designed for introducing various ICH in the five countries, this exhibition shows photos on representative twenty elements in each country collected during the process of on-site survey and documentation for ICH Video Production Project in Central Asia by experts participated in the ICH video production project.\n\nICHCAP will continue its ICH documentation projects in the Asia-Pacific region for the next ten years by expanding the scope from Central Asia and Mongolia to Southeast Asia, Southwest Asia, and the Pacific.\n\n\nPartners\nMongolian National Commission for UNESCO • National Commission of the Kyrgyz Republic for UNESCO • National Commission of the Republic of Kazakhstan for UNESCO and ISESCO • National Commission of the Republic of Uzbekistan for UNESCO • National Commission of the Republic of Tajikistan for UNESCO • Foundation for the Protection of Natural and Cultural Heritage Mongolia • National Committee for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage under the National Commission of the Republic of Kazakhstan for UNESCO and ISESCO • School of Fine Art and Technical Design named after Abylkhan Kasteyev • State Institute of Arts and Culture of Uzbekistan • Tajik film • Tajikistan Research Institute of Culture Information • Korea Educational Broadcasting System • Asia Culture Center\n\nSupporters\nUNESCO Almaty and Tashkent Cluster Offices • Cultural Heritage Administration • Panasonic Korea • Turkish Airlines
Kyrgyzstan,Kazakhstan,Mongolia,Tajikistan,Uzbekistan 2017
-
Folk Songs of Nepal
CD3_FOLK SONGS OF NEPAL\n\nNepal is still extremely rich in folk songs, though these are less popular with younger generations. The music culture has traditionally been an oral culture passed down from guru to pupil. Many songs that have never been recorded or written down are thought to have been lost. Fortunately, several enthusiastic folklorists, musicians, singers, and researchers have made collections of folk song lyrics to promulgate them, focusing especially on the rarer and most endangered folk songs. We present here a few examples.
Nepal 2016 -
Folk Melodies of Nepal
CD4_FOLK MELODIES OF NEPAL\n\nIt has been estimated that Nepal's repertoire of folk melodies once numbered more than sixty thousand. The country’s landscape features rivers, hills, mountains, plains, and streams, as well as an extremely rich flora and fauna, which have all inspired Nepal's folk musicians. In the past, communities were more isolated from one another due to the difficult terrain and the lack of roads and transport. Thus, every small village developed its own melodies. For example, it is said that the call of the bharedwaja bird inspired at least 128 different rhythms.
Nepal 2016
-
ICH Courier Vol.3 ICH AND TEXTILES
ICH Courier is the quarterly magazine on ICH in the Asia-Pacific region issued by ICHCAP since 2009. Every issue has its own theme under the title of the Windows to ICH, and the theme of the Vol 3 is 'ICH AND TEXTILES'.
South Korea 2010 -
ICH Courier Vol.33 Village Guardian Rituals and Communities
ICH Courier is the quarterly magazine on ICH in the Asia-Pacific region issued by ICHCAP since 2009. Every issue has its own theme under the title of the Windows to ICH, and the theme of the Vol 33 is 'Village Guardian Rituals and Communities.'
South Korea 2017
-
Mongolian Culture and HeritageThe culture of the Central Asian steppes expresses itself vividly in the lifestyle of traditional nomadic practices. Mongolian culture has been in practice in the nomadic life and the traditions surrounding the nomad’s home (ger). And it is present in religious celebrations, national festivals, art and crafts, music and dance, language and literature, which form the backbone of Mongolian intangible cultural heritage of Mongolia. Mongolia is filled with valuable cultural properties and intangible cultural heritage of humanity that have been kept or practiced for thousands of years.\n\nGer, Mongolian Traditional Dwelling\nThe traditional architecture of the Mongols differed strongly from that of the settled peoples of Asia and other continents. Centuries ago, there the ger, also known as a yurt, appeared. It still offers shelter to nomads in particular places in Central Asia. Its development and fundamental principles are determined by the specific features of the way of life of Mongol tribes, which made it necessary to evolve a light and collapsible structure to be used as a dwelling or for public functions.\n\nMongolian Language and Literature\nMongolian is the language of most of the Mongolian population and inner Mongolia. By origin, Mongolian is one of the Altaic family of languages, and the history of the Mongolian language is long and complicated. Significant literary work of early Mongolia includes The Secret History of the Mongols, which was published in 1228).\n\nMongolian Religion and Beliefs\nThe Mongols have practiced several religions, of which Shamanism and Buddhism were the most common. The faith in Mongolia is Buddhism, though the state and religion were separated during the socialist period, but with the transition to the parliamentary republic in the 1990s, there has been a general revival of faiths across the country\n\nMongolian Art and Crafts\nMongolian arts and crafts have been passed down across generations from the Paleolithic times to today, leaving behind deep impressions on all facets of life and conscious, aesthetic, and philosophical thinking. Highly developed Mongolian arts and crafts come from the second millennium BCE. The works included sculptured heads of wild animals with exaggerated features. Other items include knives, daggers, and other items of practical and religious use.\n\nMongolian Music and Dance\nMusic is an integral part of Mongolian culture. Among Mongolia’s unique contributions to the world’s musical culture are the long songs, overtone singing, and morin khuur (the horse-headed fiddle). The music of Mongolia is also rich with varieties related to the various ethnic groups of the country. Among the most popular forms of modern music in Mongolia are Western pop and rock genres and the mass songs written by contemporary authors in the form of folk songs.\n\nHorse Culture of Mongolia\nIt is famously known that horses play a large role in the Mongols’ daily and national lives. Common sayings are, “A Mongol without a horse is like a bird without wings,” and “Mongols are born on horseback” these are arguably true words. Even today, horse-based culture is still practiced by nomadic Mongolians.\n\nVisit https://www.toursmongolia.com/tours for additional information about Mongolian culture.\n\nPhoto 1 : Prairie meadow grass inner Mongolia traditional clothing © Batzaya Choijiljav\nPhoto 2~7 : © Batzaya ChoijiljavYear2020NationMongolia
-
MAKING AN INVENTORY OF MONGOLIAN ICHMongols have practiced pastoral nomadism for centuries within the vast steppe that stretches throughout Central Asia, which has led to the creation of a nomadic civilization, a distinct civilization accepted worldwide. Within the context of this residing landscape, the main features of spirituality, and oral and intangible cultures practiced by Mongols have been crafted and determined.Year2009NationMongolia