The Ritual of Pahlevani and Zoorkhanei is a collection of rhythmic moving skills, music and dramatic art in a holy place named “Zoorkhane”. In this ritual a group of 10 to 20 men, using tools that symbolically represent the ancient weapons, perform rhythmic and musical, dramatic and ritualistic movements. Zoorkhane, the place for the administration of the Element enjoys a special architecture, a blend of Mithraic temples and Islamic architecture. The major sections of the place include a dome, the arena (Gowd: an octagonal pit, 70cm deep, wherein the rituals are administered and the practitioners stand on specific spots according to age and seniority), the audience seats (overlooking the arena), and “Sardam” wherein the Morshed sits. The Zoorkhane gate is short to encourage bending at the entrance to pay respect toward the holy place. The tools, equipment and sportswear of Zoorkhane are mostly made in the cities of Tehran and Mashhad by skillful craftsmen. In the history of Iran, this Element has been influenced by epical myths and a worldview based on the ancient Iranian ethical trilogy “Good Though, Good Deed, Good Speech”. It roots back to Mithraism in 3000 years ago. This ritual has been and is practiced from the ancient times in most parts of Iran as well as some regions of such neighboring countries as Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Azerbaijan, Iraq, Pakistan and India. The element enjoys a masculine nature and its practitioners belong to all social strata. Ethical and chivalrous values are instructed under the supervision of a Pahlavan (""champion"", a master in skills and heroic ethics) within the epical poems recited by a Morshed (""preceptor""), accompanied by music and sport rhythmic movements. “Morshed” is a singer who plays “Zarb”, an Iranian percussion instrument, recites epical and mystical poems, and leads and harmonizes chanson with the music and sport-like dramatic movements. The poems that are recited by the Morshed constitute part of Zoorkhanei literature. In the course of the ritual, dramatic, sport-like, musical and acrobatic movements are performed and, finally, the ceremony is ended with prayers that connote expansion of peace and friendship among nations, and resolving the needy people’s hardships. Golrīzān Ceremony: One of the side programs of the Element is the “Golrīzān” Ceremony that is organized as a homage for pioneers (Pīshkesvat's), champions and preceptors, or for collecting financial contributions for the needy, the sick, or orphans. In this ceremony flowers are put at every corner of Zoorkhane, as a sign for invitation for contribution; the collected contributions are, then, secretly granted to the needy, by a group of trustees. The practitioners in the ritual wear special sportswear, usually, consisting of a pair of trunks - decorated with Arabesque drawings- and a t-shirt. On the clothes and some of the Zoorkhanei tools, motifs of Botee-Jeghghe (an abstraction of a bent cypress symbolizing a humble champion) are observed.

Iran 2010

The Mongolian Naadam is inseparably connected to the nomadic civilization of the Mongols who have practiced pastoralism on Central Asia’s vast steppe for centuries. Mongols’ traditional Naadam festival consisting of three manly games is considered as one of major cultural heritage elements which Mongols contributed to the nomadic civilizations. The three types of sports games – archery, horserace and wrestling – are directly linked with lifestyles and living conditions of Mongols and thus become the authentic cultural traditions among nomads. National Naadam is celebrated from July 11 to 13 throughout the country, in soums (counties), aimags (provinces), and the capital, Ulaanbaatar. Naadam represents distinct features of Mongolians’ nomadic culture and traditions, with expression of their unique cultural characteristics and images to become an identity of Mongolian people to the outside world. Thus, Mongolian Naadam has served a key factor to unite the Mongolian people and an important symbol of national solidarity. Mongolian people develop their physical strength, strong will power, patience, space and time related sensitivity and friendly hospitality from the three manly games which provides the cognitive and moral education basis. Main bearers of this cultural heritage are practitioners of the three games. i.e. those who significant part of the Mongolia population. Currently, over 100,000 people practice the traditional wrestling in various clubs and training courses, in addition to 3,000 students studying in several wrestling universities and colleges. Besides, the home schooling is considered one of most effecient forms, as it is the main traditional method to teach and learn the wrestling. Youths who practice wrestling would develop postive personalities such as being friendly, caring to the elderly and modest, besides strong will power, physical strength and courage. The main bearers of horserace appear racehorse trainers and jokey-children. Nowadays, about 400-500 horserace tournaments take place annually and altogether 200,000 horses (some recounted across tournaments) participate in them. About 100,000 racehorse trainers normally train these horses, while over 70,000 children ride and race. Besides, the audience of those tournaments would reach over 300,000 people. The Mongolian traditional home schooling provides extensive knowledge and skills, traditions and customs, culture and art elements of horserace. Compared to other two forms, relatively fewer people (about 10,000) practice and are interested in archery. Similarly, home schooling methods tend to dominate in learning and transmitting archery that family members and relatives become archers a lot. There are hundreds of thousand artisans and craftmen who make various tools and items used in the three manly games through employing meticulous skills and design to make them as collections of various art pieces. For instance, wrestling outfits – hat, boots and shorts, racehorse saddles and jokey’s outfits, and bows and arrows used in archery competitions have specific traditional technology and techniques each. These three sports games make a core blend of traditional arts and sports. Title-singing of horses and wrestlers indicate musical elements embracing songs and melodies. • Wrestling. After the wrestling site has been chosen based on the quality of the grass and the flatness of the site, the wrestling matches begin. Judges in groups of 8, 16, or 32 are divided into two groups which line up at the right and left side of the wrestling site and the wrestlers are divided into two groups at the left and right wings. To present the wrestler to the audience, judges will hold the participant's hat and sing praise songs while the wrestler performs an eagle dance before assuming the position to begin. Wrestling is not only a display of strength and bravery; it is also a competition of skill and technique. The object of the match is to make one’s competitor to fall on the ground with his elbows, knees or any other part of the body touching the ground, at which point he loses. Wrestlers who lose in each round will get eliminated from the tournament. The number of rounds differs from tournament to tournament. There are often 9 rounds at the national festival which takes place on July 11-12 annually and altogether 512 wrestlers wrestle. A half leaves after each round. From the fifth round, winning wrestlers can earn titles starting from hawk, falcon, elephant, garuda /mythical bird/, and lion, to the coveted champion. Wrestlers are divided into two groups or so-called ‘wings’ that the highest ranking wrestlers are listed at the top depending on their titles, such as first grand champions, then champions, lions, garudas, elephants, hawks, falcons etc. • Horserace. Horse-trainers choose potential race horses among horse flocks and train them meticulously, carefully adjusting their daily training and diet. Horse races are grouped in age-specific categories such as stallions, adults, 4-years old, 3-years old, 2-years old and 1-year old which race in different distance categories from 10 km to 30 km. Race horses have their mane and tails trimmed to improve their appearance while their trainers use specially crafted wooden sticks or a brush to remove the sweat from the horse after the race. These sweat-removing tools are often carved and decorated with traditional patterns and images of horses to symbolize their strength. Young riders wear special clothing including the deel and hat. Typically, children aged 6-10 years old jockey racehorses. When registration of the applicant horses is completed, the race administrator rides around the Naadam site three times, while children riding race horses sing ‘Giingoo’ to raise spirits of horses before racing. The winning horse is given the title of ‘Tumnii ekh’ (the mightiest of all), whereas the last horse in the race is given a nickname ‘Buren jargal’ “complete happiness”. The praise song is performed to congratulate winning horses and is called ‘singing titles’. • Archery. This competition is divided into two categories; Khana sur (big bow) and Khasaa sur (small bow). Men shoot from a distance of 75 meters to the target, and women from 65 meters. The target is called ‘zurkhai’, and is made of leather balls neatly lined along the flat ground in two rows. Each archer shoots 40 arrows and the one who shoots the most targets wins.

Mongolia 2010

Inscribed in 2010 (5.COM) on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity Mokjang or moksu is a traditional Korean term for artisans who deal with wood. Among the jobs of mokjang, daemok refers specifically to the building of wooden architecture, such as palaces, temples and houses. Woodworkers who engage in daemok are called daemokjang. The term daemokjang also refers to traditional wooden architecture. Daemokjang apply traditional skills and knowledge to construction. Thus, daemokjang complies with the definition of the intangible heritage as ‘knowledge, skills’. In addition, they use traditional materials and techniques. Thus, daemokjang constitutes ‘e) traditional craftsmanship’. Mokjang are divided into somokjang and daemokjang. Somokjang refers to those who make small-scale wooden objects, such as chests, cabinets, desks, dining tray-tables, and wardrobes. Daemokjang are those who build large-scale buildings, such as wooden palaces, temples and houses. Daemokjang are in charge of the entire construction process: planning, design and construction of buildings, and supervision of subordinate carpenters. Thus, the skill of daemokjang cannot be acquired in a short period of time. It takes decades of education and field experience. Wooden architecture has a long history in Korea. Among the best examples are Changdeokgung Palace and Bulguksa Temple, which are inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List. These architectural treasures were constructed under the command of daemokjang. In this sense, traditional Korean wooden architecture, built and restored with the skills and knowledge of daemokjang, are appreciated not as mere buildings, but as works of art. The knowledge and skills of daemokjang practitioners are recorded in historical documents, and verified in actual buildings. These practitioners are recognized as successors of the cultural heritage of traditional architecture. Daemokjang skill holders make efforts beyond preserving and transmitting the skills of traditional architecture. Their activities extend to the maintenance, reparation, and reconstruction of historic buildings, ranging from traditional Korean houses to national treasures. Thus, they are recognized as the guardians of traditional Korean architecture. All in all, daemokjang are recognized as successors, symbols, and preservers of the traditional architecture of Korea. This recognition plays a significant role in forming the identity of daemokjang.

South Korea 2010

The Radif is the traditional model repertory of Iranian classical music. It comprises more than 250 melodic modules, named gushes, arranged in special orders into seven primary and five (or six) secondary collections on the basis of their modal and melodic affinities. The primary and secondary collections are respectively called the dastgāh and the āvāz. Each dastgāh/āvāz is a collection of melodic models arranged in a multi-modal cycle, i.e. embracing several maqāms, beginning and ending on the same mode while modulating to a number of other modes. The structure of each cycle can be analyzed in terms of two layers. The underlying, fundamental, layer provides the modal infrastructure upon which a variety of melodic and/or rhythmic motifs are set. The seven dastgāhs are shūr, segāh, chahārgāh, māhūr, homāyūn, navā and rāstpanjgāh. The āvāzes are considered as derivatives of two dastgāhs. The satellites of shūr are abū‘atā, dashti, bayāt-e tork, afshāri (and bayāt-e kord), while āvāz-e bayāt-e esfahān is regarded as the satellite of dastgāh-e homāyūn. Each gushe has also a specific name which refers to its function in the cycle, a technical feature, an area, an ethnic group, a mood, a poetic genre, or a musician, as well as other descriptive or expressive titles. Some nominal and structural counterparts of the constituent parts of the contemporary radif can be found in the musical systems of the ancient and medieval Persia. Although the radif per se was the product of the Qajar epoch (1785-1925), the history of the dastgāh, as the main component of the radif, dates back to the mid-Safavid period (1501-1722), when the old modes or maqāms were gradually transformed into multi-modal cycles in terms of the main shadds (chains) and later dastgāhs (systems). Indeed, the radif can be regarded as the reformulation of an older musical system, which dates back to earlier centuries. There are various versions of the radif as interpreted and performed by prestigious masters of Persian music. There are two main types of the radif, i.e. vocal and instrumental versions. The latter is, in turn, translated into the technical language of various instruments, slightly differing in performance techniques while retaining the same structural foundations. The radif is sung and also performed on the traditional instruments of Persian classical music: tār (double-chested skinned long-necked lute), setār (long-necked lute), santur (hammered dulcimer), kamānche (fiddle) and ney (reed pipe). It is also performed on other musical instruments such as the ‘ud, qānun, and violin. The radif, as a model repertory, serves as a point of departure for actual musical performances in terms of improvisation and composition in Persian classical music. The main performance practice of Iranian traditional music unfolds through improvisation, which is the spontaneous creation of music according the mood of the performer and in response to the audience, inspired by the spatial and temporal context of performance. All performances of Persian classical music rely on the rich treasury of melodic modes of the radif.

Iran 2009