The Joget dance (also called the Ronggeng) was introduced to the Malays in Malacca during the early 16th century. The Joget has been known as a fast-paced popular dance and is performed at cultural festivals, wedding celebrations and many other social functions. Its catchy beat and cheerful combination of fast hand and leg movements appeal to both young and old alike.

Inscribed in 2011 (6.COM) on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity Jultagi, or tightrope walking, is a traditional Korean performing art. Tightrope walking refers to the art of not only walking, but singing, dancing or performing acrobatics, while narrating funny stories, on a single thin rope suspended between two points. Tightrope walking, however, is not a one-man show. The rope walker, called jul gwangdae, obviously is the centre of attention but he needs other artists collaborating on the ground, such as the musicians to accompany his acrobatic feats and funny narratives, and a clown to retort to his remarks or answer questions as a dialogue companion. Today, tightrope walking performers are frequently invited to local festivals that take place throughout the country particularly in spring and autumn. It is a good way to get people excited and laughing in festivals. Since almost all the local festivals host tightrope walking performance, it became one of the traditional performing arts the general public can readily access and feel familiar with. As a full-scale show lasts the whole afternoon, it has to be carefully organized with acrobatics, narratives and music to maintain the audience’s interest and stifle yawns. The tightrope walker starts with simpler feats, gradually moving to more difficult acrobatics such as bouncing up and down from the rope, tumbling and somersaulting, and sitting on the rope with his legs crossed. He displays some 40 different rope techniques. Between his feats he cracks jokes and sings songs while the audience catches its breath from the nail-biting manoeuvres. Tightrope walking, in this regard, is not a simple presentation of rope techniques but an age-old form of integrated performing arts and entertainment. The Korean traditional tightrope walking is distinguished from similar arts of other countries in that it is not all about demonstrating a series of rope techniques but proceeds with dialogue between the rope walker and the clown, who constantly interact with the audience. In other words, the Korean tightrope show is not a unilateral presentation of fun and thrill but two-way communication between the performers and spectators, where the participants can adjust the routine to the atmosphere of the show. The show is for the enjoyment of both the performers and spectators. And this is what makes Korean tightrope walking unique and significant.

South Korea 2011

The traditional turkmen carpets and carpet products are the hand-woven woollen textile goods of ornamental art with quadrangular shape in different sizes with dense texture ornamented with characteristic colored patterns pertaining each separately to one of five main turkmen tribes (tekke, yomut, ersary, saryk and salor). Their designs form patterns from clear linear geometric ornaments (dots, lines and figures). Compositional decision of the turkmen carpets has characteristic features: the central field with major patterns ("gels") in octagonal forms is limited with the borders, patterns which differ from that of the central field. The alternation of recurrence of designs represented with combination of the belt and centric ornamental compositions. Reality surrounding a carpet weaver (local flora, fauna and environment) has been reflected in a combination of the threads, pictures and colours creating carpet designs. The turkmen carpets are created on horizontal or vertical looms mainly using different coloured wool threads. Weavers use both types of knotting; double knots with double weft or one-and-a half knot with double weft. Carpets serve both as a floor covering and a wall decoration functions and substitute furniture to satisfy everyday aesthetic needs of turkmen people. There are also special carpets woven for the birth of a child, for wedding ceremonies, for prayers and for mourning rituals. Carpet products such as chuvals (sacks), khorjuns (saddle-bags), torbas (bags) are destined for clothing, transportation of various household paraphernalia and used for decorations of camels, horses, nomad tents, wedding processions etc.

Turkmenistan 2019

Saint Gióng also known as Phù Đổng Sky King in historical literature is a legendary hero of the ancient Vietnamese. Many centuries ago, Saint Gióng festival of Phù Đổng village –his homeland– was ranked as the most attractive one in the Northern Delta. It attracts tens of thousands of people from everywhere to attend thanks to its performing match like a battle that reenacts the national hero’s victory. The festival in Phù Đổng Village symbolically re-enacts the battles, in which the saint’s generals, such as Flag Master, Drum Master, Gong Master, Army Master and Children’s Master fight against the enemies generals. Gióng festival takes place from the 6th to the 12th day of the fourth lunar month, mobilizing hundreds of village male teenagers who act phù giá (assisstants) in an elite troop. On the 6th day of the fourth lunar month, those who act generals have to be launched in front of the Sky King, and then gather at Phù Đổng temple where they officially enter the time and space of the legend. A ritual of sacrifice is one of the most important practices of the festival at Sky King Temple as it is believed that sacrifice symbolizes the community’s respect dedicated to the holy Saint. It is followed by the ritual of water procession performed by the generals of the troop, which implies that sacred water taken from Mẫu Temple is used to bathe the weapon. The chess-playing ritual also known as the battle ritual is the central activity of Gióng festival of Phù Đổng temple and it is practiced in the form of a grand performance. In the Sóc Temple, where Saint Giong ascended to Heaven on his iron horse, the celebrations include a ritual of bathing Giong statue and a procession of bamboo flowers and elephant to the temple as offerings to the saint. Bamboo flowers are dispersed to villager as a good luck throughout the year.

Viet Nam 2010

The most important celebration for Mongolian people since ancient times is the traditional three manly sports (naadam). During this important celebration there is wrestling among men, which tests men’s strength and wit. Archery tests the skills of marksmanship. The horse race tests the racers’ swiftness and hardiness. They are performed according to the customary rules. The wrestlers are garbed in sporting uniform. The archers are garbed in specific dress. The manes and tails of racing horses are fastened together with strips as decorations. There are certain numbers of ceremonial movements. Every sportive feat is eulogized. These are rooted in very ancient traditions. Every winner in wrestling, archery, and horse-racing has titles and epithets.

Mongolia 2010

The traditional dance forms of the Malay communities in Singapore are wide-ranging and diverse, and they include zapin, joget, asli and inang, amongst others. Most of these traditional dance forms were already popular in Singapore during the early 20th century. Today, they are performed at festive events, staged as productions, and also taught to the younger generation through performing arts schools.

It is a combined genre consisting of a dutar making craftsmanship with creative abilities including a composing of music and performing of dutar’s music sat down accompanying by singing. A dutar is a two-stringed, long necked lute consisting of a pear-shaped resonator (body) covered by thin wooden sounding board. The turkmen dutar’s resonator and soundboard are made from mulberry wood prepared from dried bole of the tree no less than 50 years old and the neck of apricot wood. Most melody’ notes are played on the upper of the dutar’s two strings with the four fingers of the left hand. The dutar is an inseparable part of culture of the turkmen people where it is found in all of the main genres of turkmen music and singing. Performers of the turkmen dutar‘s music and singers are divided into 2 groups. A dutar player named as a dutarchy is performing only dutar’s music. A bagshy is a peformer of dutar’s music accompanying by singing of the different genres of poetry which also subdivided into 3 types according to their performing styles and repertiores. A yanamachy bagshy is only a singer accompanied by music performed by dutarchy. A tirmechi bagshy is a performer of different genres of the turkmen music accompanying by singing. A dessanchy bagshy is an epic perfomer incorporating narrating, singing, vocal improvisation which in its performances a prose and poetry are alternated.

Turkmenistan 2021

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 entire epos includes a historical range of the legendary achievements of the ancient national hero of Gorogly and his 40 cavalrymen by recording all major events of traditional lifespan of the Turkmen people. The aspiration of the Turkmen nation for a happy life, unification, freedom and justice as well as their features such as bravery, honesty, partiotism, freindship, tolerance and fairness have been reflected in the epos. The element is a combined genre of oral traditions and performing art incorporating narrating, singing, vocal improvisation and musical composition, where a prose and poetry are alternated in its perforamnce. Its bearers and practitioners are epic performers-dessanchy bagshy specialized in the Gorogly epic. It is by tradition performed by one dessanchy bagshy playing the dutar (a two stringed, long-necked lute) in a sitting position, while narrating prose and reciting poetry in a way to deliver the characters' feelings and emotions to the accompaniment to the traditional musical instruments such as dutar and gyjak (a fiddle-like Turkmen musical instrument). It is traditionally performed at social gatherings, celebrations, national ceremonies, life rituals, national festivals and special "Folklore Festivals". The element provides related communities with a sense of social and cultural identity and it is considered as a main symbol of Turkmen people to sustain their cultural identity being as an oral encyclopedia and it remains the inexhaustible fountain-head to nurture their cultural psychology, national character, mentality, creative capacity and artistic skills.

Turkmenistan 2015

Chavgon is a traditional equestrian team game in Uzbekistan, historically played by skilled riders who use wooden mallets to strike a leather ball while riding horses. The game combines elements of sport, ritual, and performing art, requiring not only physical agility and horsemanship but also strategic coordination and rhythmic group movement. Known as a symbol of strength, unity, and celebration, Chavgon is traditionally held during festive gatherings, weddings, and national holidays, especially in rural and pastoral regions. It is commonly accompanied by live music, cheering crowds, and sometimes ceremonial song or narration, turning the event into a community-wide performance. While once widespread across Central Asia, the tradition of Chavgon has survived most strongly in Uzbekistan due to continued transmission within horse-breeding families, equestrian clubs, and cultural revival efforts. In recent years, it has also been reintroduced in festivals and youth sports programs, preserving its status as both a physical discipline and a living expression of cultural heritage.

“Furyu-odori” refers to various local ritual folk dances, characterized by glamorous costumes accompanied with songs, gong-ringing, and drum-beating. These dances have been performed at certain times of the year for centuries and have been transmitted from generation to generation mainly in rural areas throughout Japan. The nomination encompasses 41 representative furyu-odori of each area. Life in rural areas was easily affected by severe climate events such as typhoons, droughts, and earthquakes. Local people of such areas created ritualistic performances imbued with their earnest hopes for a tranquil life. They dance furyu-odori for numerous purposes, including end of plagues, repose of the deceased, and praying for a good harvest or safety from such disasters. The eye-catching costumes, lively dances and songs and other accompaniments are indispensable for furyu-odori, since they dispel evil spirits and misfortune and strengthen good forces, such as local deities and ancestral spirits that protect the communities. While sharing commonalities, furyu-odori have evolved into different forms in response to socio-cultural differences in each region. There are several classifications for furyu-odori; one of them is bon-odori, practiced as part of the Bon festival that takes place in July or August throughout Japan. A large group dance is performed in order to repose and entertain ancestral spirits that return home for several days in the Bon period. People also practice other kinds of furyu-odori, which are kouta-odori (dances with short songs), nenbutsu-odori (dances with Buddhist chanting), taiko-odori (dances with drumming), or hayashimono (dances accompanied by objects in which deities dwell).

Japan 2022

In the life cycle rituals of the Raglai people, the Grave-abandoning Ritual is considered the most important ritual. The Grave-abandoning Ritual is performed from the third to the fifth year. It is usually held around March and April of the solar calendar, for 3-5 days, with the meaning of farewell to the dead forever according to the Raglai people's concept. The scale of the festival is large, attracting the whole village and many other villages to participate. Depending on the economic conditions and local customs, they make it big or small. For large Grave-abandoning Ritual, there is usually a Kagor - a symbol of wealth and prosperity that the living make to give to the dead. An offering in the shape of a boat, beautifully and elaborately carved. The offerings and items used in the Grave-abandoning Ritual are usually prepared by the deceased's family months in advance, including 3 trays of offerings: Tray 1: Chicken, rice, wine, 1 pair of chopsticks; Tray 2: Pig head, boiled pig liver, boiled chicken, rice, wine, bananas...; Tray 3: Chicken, rice, wine, meat... According to custom, in the Grave-abandoning Ritual, there must be 3 shamans, symbolizing the three parts of the body: head, body, feet. The main shaman always stands in the middle of two other people, called Yanuh jalat (the person who shows the way, shows food, drinks... to the ghost). The "magic stick" (gai toah) is made from the day someone dies, and only now does Yanuh jalat use it. In addition to the ritual, the Grave-abandoning Ritual includes beating gongs, stabbing buffaloes, dancing, singing, and drinking rice wine to celebrate the soul of the deceased. This ceremony involves the contributions of everyone in the Raglai clan and community. The Raglai Grave-abandoning Ritual expresses the feelings and responsibilities of the living towards the dead, at the same time expressing gratitude to grandparents, filial piety to parents, and the close-knit relationship between the village and the neighborhood. With its typical value, the Grave-abandoning Ritual of the Raglai people in Phuoc Chien commune, Thuan Bac district, Ninh Thuan province was included in the List of National Intangible Cultural Heritage in 2018 by the Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism.