In 1995, the Sub-commission on Cultural Communities and Traditional Arts of the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA) – the lead agency mandated to preserve, promote and develop Philippine culture and the arts – affirmed the need to safeguard traditional knowledge and practices from rapid cultural devaluation brought about by media, tourism, formal education and religion. This paved the way for the creation of The School of Living Traditions (SLT) programme, involving informal, community-managed learning centres where practitioners can transmit their communities’ knowledge, intangible cultural heritage, skills and values to younger generations. The identification of priorities for safeguarding was led by elders, leaders and other members of communities through a series of consultations. In the process, the NCCA provided capacity-building assistance for the mobilization of logistics and other resources needed to establish the learning centres. The SLT programme aims to develop, implement and evaluate community-based measures to safeguard vital traditional cultural knowledge and practices from the potential negative effects of modernization.

Philippines 2021

The Hudhud consists of narrative chants traditionally performed by the Ifugao community, which is well known for its rice terraces extending over the highlands of the northern island of the Philippine archipelago. It is practised during the rice sowing season, at harvest time and at funeral wakes and rituals. Thoughts have originated before the seventh century, the Hudhud comprises more than 200 chants, each divided into 40 episodes. A complete recitation may last several days. Since the Ifugao’s culture is matrilineal, the wife generally takes the main part in the chants, and her brother occupies a higher position than her husband. The language of the stories abounds in figurative expressions and repetitions and employs metonymy, metaphor and onomatopoeia, rendering transcription is very difficult. Thus, there are very few written expressions of this tradition. The chant tells about ancestral heroes, customary law, religious beliefs and traditional practices, and reflects the importance of rice cultivation. The narrators, mainly elderly women, hold a key position in the community, both as historians and preachers. The Hudhud epic is chanted alternately by the first narrator and a choir, employing a single melody for all the verses.

Philippines 2008

Buklog is an elaborate thanksgiving ritual system of the Subanen, which has several attendant rituals. It is noted for its elevated structure with a highly flexible platform, which serves as a sacred and social space for rituals and the community dance. It is open for all members of the community, and those outside the community are also welcomed in most of its rituals. The Buklog has mythic origins and is mentioned in age-old epics. Until today, it performs both communal and integrative functions. The Subanen’s economic, social, political, cultural and ritual lives intertwine to constitute a single system, motivated by shared tenets of cultural survival —consulting the spirits, working with nature, and sharing with others. The Buklog is planned by the head of a host family, usually a village chief called ‘timuay,’ to appease and express gratitude to the spirits for many reasons such as a bountiful harvest, recovery from sickness or calamity, or acknowledgement of a new leader. The Subanen’s deep sense of spirituality is affirmed in the Buklog, where a representation of Dwata Magbabaya, the supreme god, as Apu Usog (the great ancestor), joins the community. The attendant rituals ensure harmony among members of a family, clan and the community, as well as among the human, natural, and spirit worlds. Harmony is requisite to the success of the Buklog, an indication of a socially cohesive community. The attendant rituals are the ‘sinulampong,’ which signifies the community’s readiness to hold the Buklog and to ask permission from the spirits to gather materials from the forest; the ‘sangat’, to maintain the balance in the spirit world through coin offerings; the ‘panmalwasan,’ where spirits of the departed are invited to the feast; and the ‘gampang’ and ‘gilet,’ to invoke spirits of the water and land. ‘Giloy,’ chants of praise; music; and dance are performed all throughout the ritual system, functioning not only for entertainment, but to embody the aesthetic aspects of Subanen life and to substantiate their spirituality. The community then starts the construction of an elevated wooden structure called the Buklog, where the system derives its name. At the center of the platform, a single pole called ‘petaw’ is installed to hit a hollowed-out log called ‘dulugan.’ While dancing on the flexible platform, the structure resonates with a sound believed to please the spirits and signify the culmination of the festivity. The ‘dulugan’ is the Buklog’s musical icon and serves as aural embodiment of Subanen’s cosmology. The final ritual of the Buklog, called ‘giti-an,’ is done on the platform, where the rules for the celebration are expressed and the spirits start to commune with the people. This is followed by a community dance called ‘gbat’, a moment marked by joy and excitement resulting from the renewal of spiritual and social relationships within the community. All community members, regardless of age, gender, social status, education, and level of mental and physical capability, are encouraged to join the rituals and festivity, which last for several days. Through the Buklog, the Subanen indigenous secret knowledge is respected, preserved and transmitted. The ritual system remains the most compelling cultural marker of the Subanen’s individual and collective identity and the strongest unifying force of the community.

Philippines 2019

Inscribed in 2015 (10.COM) on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity Tugging rituals and games of Vietnam have different characteristics, meanings and rules. The element is held as part of village festivals in Spring, a form for communities to pray for abundant harvests and prosperity, marking the start of a new agricultural cycle. Tugging game symbolizes the power of natural forces like the sun, water source that influence the harvests. In some localities, tugging game is associated with the legends of worshiped heroes for their merit in reclaiming the land, fighting against foreign invaders, protecting prosperous life of the people. It is usually held at the communal houses or temples after the rirual of commemoration of local guardian deities finished. The material used for tugging varies from region to region, reflecting the ecological and cultural context of each community, it can be made of bamboo, rattan stems, or ropes. The procedure for selecting teams or players is in accordance to the ritual rules, and the winning or losing team is regulated by customs to express certain religious meanings and the harmony of nature. Nowadays, tugging rituals and games are popularly known as a folk game that is entertaining, sporty and collective.

Cambodia,South Korea,Philippines,Viet Nam 2015

Nanyin is one of the oldest music genres in China. It lasts for thousands of years and prevails in Minnan area (including Quanzhou, Xiamen and Zhangzhou, with Quanzhou as its center). Between 4 AD and 13 AD, the musical culture of central China went down to the south. It continuously integrated with the local arts and finally gave birth to the nanyin. The playing modes of nanyin are related with many forms of music and instruments, such as Xianghege (literally “Song of Harmony”) and Qingshangyue (a music genre) popular in the Han and Jin dynasties (B.C. 206-420 A.D.), and Yanyue (a kind of court banquet music) and Daqu (a grand piece) popular in the Tang Dynasty (618 -907). The singing of nanyin follows the Quanzhou dialect since it came out. The musical instruments adopted and only found in nanyin mainly include dongxiao, an end-blown bamboo flute originated from the Wei and Jin Dynasties (220 AD-420 AD) (found in the murals found in No. 6 tomb in Jiayu Pass) and pipa, a kind of crooked-necked and horizontally played instrument widely used in the Tang Dynasty (618-907) (found in the murals at Mogao Grottoes in Dunhuang). Nanyin also adopts some hand percussion instruments described in Yueshu (Book of Music) by Cheng Yang (1068-1128) of the Northern Song Dynasty (960-1127), including clappers (made of five pieces of litchi wood), erxian (a two-stringed plucked instrument), sanxian (a three-stringed plucked instrument), siguan (a kind of pipe), xiangzhan (a kind of small bronze horizontal gong), xiaojiao (a kind of small bronze percussion instrument), sibao (a kind of bamboo clappers), shuangling (double-bell) and biangu (a kind of flat drum). The sculpture of apsarases playing musical instructions in Daxiong Hall and Jietan (the place for monastic vows) of the Kaiyuan Temple reflects the musical culture in the Tang Dynasty. The musical instruments in the sculpture can be found today in the performances of nanyin. The most popular combination of the musical instruments includes pipa, dongxiao, erxian, sanxian and clappers currently. The sounds played by the combination coincide with each other in different orders and give forth the peasant and lingering melodies. The melodies contain fixed alternation system on basis of seven tones in the diatonic scale. The singing and the musical performance in nanyin are very difficult. Both the music and the sound must “be steady, flow smoothly at starting, be deeply moving in the middle and sound strong and round at the end”. The musical notation in nanyin is the inheritance of Chinese ancient musical notation. It uses five Chinese characters of “乂, 工, 六, 思, 一” to represent five musical notes. The signs of pipa zhigupu (music notation) and time-beating are attached beside the characters, including the concerned diction in midst. From the Three Special Melodic Phenomenon in the Instrumental Music of Nanyin published 420 years ago (one special melodic phenomenon is kept in the Cambridge University Library in Britain, and the other two are kept in Sachsen-based state library in Germany) to the various folk manuscripts, it shows that nanyin had widely adopted the accurate musical notation. Nanyin consists of three components, namely, pu (qiyuequ, refers to suites of instrumental music that carry no texts), zhi (taoqu, a kind of suites with lyrics, notation and pipa’s fingering), and qu (sanqu or qingchang, refers to “qu singing”). Nanyin involves legends in different generations, social customs and public feelings, and is very instructive. Among the more than 3,000 existing pieces of works, Qu accounts for 90%. It also contains many famous poems of the Tang and Five dynasties (907-960), including In Memory of A Maiden of Qin (The flute plays) by Li Bai, An Epigraph in Praise of My Humble Home by Liu Yuxi, Sheng Cha Zi (The crescent moon) by Niu Xiji, and Waves Sifting Sand (The rain gurgle outside the curtains) by Li Yu. Some lost plays of nanxi (southern opera) in the Song and Yuan dynasties (1127-1368) such as the Wang Huan, a masterpiece, can be found in nanyin. They are the precious heritages in the history of ancient Chinese musical culture. Nanyin is a common hobby and an important component of life for people in Minnan (south of Fujian). Nanyin is shown in various places such as courtyards, teahouses, squares, stages, halls and chambers, and different occasions including weddings, funerals and festivals by multi-means. As Nanyin is a common hobby and an important component of life for people in Minnan (south of Fujian). Nanyin is shown in various places such as courtyards, teahouses, squares, stages, halls and chambers, and different occasions including weddings, funerals and festivals by multi-means. As Minnan people moved to other areas, nanyin was also brought to Taiwan, Hong Kong, Macao and the Southeast Asia. Wherever there are people from Minnan, there would have nanyin performance. Nanyin is the sound of hometown and motherland in the mind of Minnan people. Nanyin has become indispensable to the people's cultural life. An integral cultural event is composed of the sacrificial activities in spring and autumn, the ceremony for worshiping god of music (Meng Chang, 919-965), the master-disciple ceremony, the mutual visiting ceremony, social events and the nanyin performance. Nanyin is passed down and recreated by the local people in the long history of development. Various operas including puppet shows and Gaojia opera borrow ideas from nanyin. Nanyin lays a firm foundation for the growth of local opera music. Learning the musical and performance elements from local operas, nanyin greatly enriches the expressive force. By the innovation of integrating old tunes and new texts, nanyin advances with the times and meets the needs of environment and history.

China 2009

The Bamboo Cord Tugging Rituals and Games are one of three important rituals of the Vua Bà Temple festival, which takes place on January 4. The bamboo used to make the mine is carefully selected and is 7-8m long. After cutting bamboo, you must report it to the Holy Lady and ask permission to make scissors. The mine is made from two Bánh tẻ bamboo trees, long internodes, no decay, no truncated ends, about 8m long, the bamboo segments are calculated to enter the letters Prosperous or Peace according to the cycle of Prosperous - Decline - Stuck - Peace, must count the 9th segment and 3 more segments to bend the beak back. Two long bamboo trees are connected by crushing a bamboo segment (burn number 10), then bending it into a beak and hooking it together. The lattice tied on the hook between two bamboo trees (3 lattices on each side) has great flexibility. There are 2 teams: the inside team (standing in the South) and the outside team (standing in the North). Each team has 5, 7, or 9 members depending on the year, shirtless and a captain, a technical instructor. After reporting to Thanh, the two teams stood at opposite ends of the mine. There are 3 lines: 1 center line and 2 win or lose lines, 50cm from one side to the other is a loss. The first round is called "clearing the crowd", the next two rounds are the winners and losers. The organizing committee does not declare victory or defeat, only announces the same prize, people can see and judge for themselves (if the inside team wins, they will get a rice crop; if the outside team wins, they will get a crop of white beans and a small amount of other things).

Viet Nam 2015

The Darangen is an ancient epic song that encompasses a wealth of knowledge of the Maranao people who live in the Lake Lanao region of Mindanao. This southernmost island of the Philippine archipelago is the traditional homeland of the Maranao, one of the country’s three main Muslim groups. Comprising 17 cycles and a total of 72,000 lines, the Darangen celebrates episodes from Maranao history and the tribulations of mythical heroes. In addition to having a compelling narrative content, the epic explores the underlying themes of life and death, courtship, love and politics through symbol, metaphor, irony and satire. The Darangen also encodes customary law, standards of social and ethical behaviour, notions of aesthetic beauty, and social values specific to the Maranao. To this day, elders refer to this time-honoured text in the administration of customary law. Meaning literally “to narrate in song”, the Darangen existed before the Islamization of the Philippines in the fourteenth century and is part of a wider epic culture connected to early Sanskrit traditions extending through most of Mindanao. Specialized female and male performers sing the Darangen during wedding celebrations that typically last several nights. Performers must possess a prodigious memory, improvisational skills, poetic imagination, knowledge of customary law and genealogy, a flawless and elegant vocal technique, and the ability to engage an audience during long hours of performance. Music and dance sometimes accompany the chanting.

Philippines 2008