Airag is the fermented beverage from mare’s milk. This element includes a traditional method of making airag, its related equipment and objects such as khokhuur (cowhide vessel), buluur (paddle) and khovoo (kibble), and associated therewith social customs and rituals. The milking season for horses runs from mid June to early October. Daily milk yield of mares varies from 3 to 6 liters. The basic technique of making airag consists of milking mares and cooling fresh milked milk, and repeatedly churning milk in a khokhuur with starter left inside to assist its fermentation. The liquid must be churned 5000 and more times to make good fermented blend of airag. Mare’s milk undergoes fermentation by lactobacilli and lactic acid streptococci, producing ethanol, lactic acids and carbon dioxide. The airag - mildly alcoholic white beverage emits a delicious smell and its pleasant taste can make your mouth watery. For making the khokhuur, first, the cowhide is soaked and hide’s filament is removed, then it is dehydrated in the wind and fumigated. In such process, the cowhide turns to a white flexible leather. The khokhuur is made from this white leather and consists of mouth neck, corner, body and cords. The buluur is long-handled wooden paddle which is used for churning airag in khokhuur and furnished with bored blade of board at the end. Khokhuur can hold 40 to 100 liters of airag. Airag is used and served as a main and holy drink during various fests and in making offerings and ritual blessings.

Mongolia 2019

The murals in the Ubosot of Wat Thong Thammachat are works of art dating from the reign of King Rama III of the Chakri Dynasty. The paintings are executed in a style that was popular in the early Rattanakosin period, and they depict episodes of the Buddha's life. This particular mural stands out among others found in Bangkok for being one of the best preserved early Rattanakosin period wall paintings. The front wall is painted with the picture of a demon, while the back wall depicts the so-called Tribhum world shape, a representation of Buddhist cosmology. Another unique feature of this wall mural are the further depictions of large groups of buildings that are shown at the bottom of the Tribhum picture. This picture depicts not only architecture, but also the way of life of Thai society as it existed during the reign of Rama III. The overall color tone of this mural painting is quite dark, which is in line with the popular style of the early Rattanakosin art and sets it apart from the late Ayutthaya period where vivid colors were used. The other noteworthy elements of the picture are the use of golden decorations on the painting as well as the use of the color red as a background. Both of these are stylistic devices for accentuating important elements such as the Tribhum cosmology picture.

In China, the art of seal engraving is recognized as one of the finest examples of traditional arts and crafts and is of immeasurable cultural value with a history of over 3,000 years. In ancient China, seals served as the personal signature of their owners, and, more significantly, also served as a symbol of legitimacy for a ruler or an entire government. Seal engraving represents the harmonious combination of calligraphic aesthetics with the precise skills of engraving and meticulous attention to detail. The seal must use what is often a very limited space in order to convey the unique character traits of its purpose or the personality of its owner. For thousands of years, it has had both a purely functional use as well as attaining the highest levels of artistic and cultural aesthetics. Seal engravers preserve artistic traditions while also reaching out in new directions and revealing fascinatingly different styles: exaggerating the thinness or thickness of a character, elaborately curving or angling a stroke, or even deliberately re-forming traditional ideograms for artistic effect. Indeed, the work of master seal engravers is no less important than the work of well-known painters or calligraphers in Chinese history. The engraving process is unique. The tools used for seal engraving include the knife, seal holder, seal ink, writing brush, and xuan paper. A design is made on paper—when engraved, the characters have to be written on stone surface opposite to what they will look like. After the engraving is completed, press the seal in the seal ink to make an impression on xuan paper. Additional text is often engraved on the side of the seals, from which rubbings can be made. Seal engraving has the following unique characteristics: 1.The artists use engraved characters to show the aesthetics of traditional Chinese culture through the harmony of positive and negative and the balance of abstract and concrete forms. 2.The artists use seals to express their accumulated ideas, artistic sensibilities, and engraving skills in a very small space. 3.The creation of seals is an integration of man and nature through the engraving process. 4.Seals display the quality of the stone and the style of the calligraphy. The art of seal engraving embodies important cultural and social functions. It is the expression of the artists’ own imagination, as well as a way of personal cultivation and the blending of art, literature, aesthetics, and language. Seals also serve as a means of communication and have been used by scholars and art collectors as a means of personal identification, a claim of ownership, or for social interaction. The art of seal engraving also reached other parts of East and Southeast Asia as part of the exchanges of culture and art among different nations. Today the art form enjoys worldwide appeal among historians, art lovers, and collectors.

China 2009

Kara Zhorga (kaz. 'Kara zhorga','black horse') - is the Kazakh folk dance, when a dancer performs an experienced rider, horseman, prancing on the pacer. Dance promotes horsemanship. Initially, it was considered male kind of dance. Gradually Kara Zhorga was danced by girls too. The Kazakh dance has reflected peculiarities of worldview and material culture of cattle-breeding nomads, embracing different aspects of labor, spiritual activity and way of life in the steppe. For the nation who poeticized everything within its environment any move could be the impetus for creating a dance element. A horseman that rode past at a gallop was compared with a darted arrow. A girl strolling slowly in the steppe was compared with a lonely grass-blade swinging in the wind, or a bird’s flight in the endless blue. The nature of Kazakh dances reflects the depth of a specific world-perception of the nation, which is spilled over into a certain style of performance and expressed in a particularly upright proud bearing of a performer, in certain positions and movements of her/his hands. Kara-Zhorga dance reproduces a picture of a traditional horse competition called bayga. "... The Maman village gathers for a feast (‘toy’). The young joyful horsemen step out from the crowd. The young men, bending their bodies slightly forward and swinging harshly with their whips, eagerly enter the competition. The horsemen, moving in circles, lines and diagonals, outrun each other, demonstrating the agility of a leap or an intricate hop. The imitation of horserace - rhythmically sharp-cut hops from one foot, big leaps with a curved body – have interspersed with dance technique. A sharp-cut, rough and springy folk tune of Kara-Zhorga dance and the movement which coincides with the horserace rhythm, successfully merge into a single image of bold horsemen (‘dzhigits’) who have equestrianism at their finger tips." (Sarynova, 1976: 37) “Kara-Zhorga is a dance that embodies a variety of nuances and technique. Kara Zhorga dance differs by nuances and technique of execution. It combines the 'militancy and buffoonery, softness and mobility, speed and peace' (A. Ismailov). The folk dance has various performance types: as 'a pair of zhorgas' ('qos zhorga') and 'male zhorga' ('erkek zhorga').

Sericulture and Silk Craftsmanship refers to the craftsmanship applied in traditional sericulture, silk dyeing and weaving process, which has been handed down from generation to generation, and relevant folk-customs derived thereby. China’s sericulture and silk craftsmanship boasts a history of 5000 years. The silk fragments, preliminary loom and potteries decorated with silkworm patterns excavated from sites dating 4000 years ago in the Taihu Lake area; demonstrate the time-honoured history of the sericulture and silk production in the region. Alongside the historical process, traditional manufacturing craftsmanship develops, and the main elements include: Mulberry planting: including cultivation of mulberry seedling, mulberry trimming, and various methods of engraftment; Silkworm production: including the selection, hybridization, and breeding of silkworm eggs, incubation, instruments for silkworm rearing, control of the temperature and humidity, and frame mounting methods; Silk reeling: including sorting and stripping of cocoons, ways for preserving the cocoons such as drying and salting, temperature control and process for boiling the cocoons, facilities and techniques for silk reeling, etc; Silk floss making: including techniques of water rinsing and tearing; Weaving tools: including various looms such as treadle looms, multi-shaft and multi-treadle patterning looms, lesser draw looms, greater draw looms, etc, and arrangement of heddle drafts and programming of patterns on draw looms; Design and weaving of fabrics: including the design and weaving of various structures and patterns, such as the Shuanglin silk damask which is calendared by stamp rocks, the Hang gauze with warps crossed, the Shu silk with warp-faced patterns, the Song-style silk in lampas weave, and Kesi woven in tapestry structures.

China 2009

As the most influential goddess of the sea in China, Mazu is at the centre of a host of beliefs and customs, including oral traditions, religious ceremonies and folk practices, throughout the country’s coastal areas. Mazu is believed to have lived in the tenth century on Meizhou Island, where she dedicated herself to helping her fellow townspeople, and died attempting to rescue the survivors of a shipwreck. Local residents built a temple in her honour and began to venerate her as a goddess. She is celebrated twice each year in formal temple fairs, when Meizhou residents, farmers and fisherfolk temporarily suspend their work to sacrifice marine animals, venerate statues of Mazu and enjoy a variety of dances and other performances. Smaller worship ceremonies take place throughout the year in the other 5,000 Mazu temples around the world and in private homes; these may involve floral tributes; candles, incense and firecrackers; and evening processions of residents bearing ‘Mazu lanterns’.

China 2009

Blessings are a specific genre of the oral folk art, which is closely linked with rituals and ceremonies of the Kyrgyz. Origins of this genre are widely presented in Kyrgyz epic heritage, musical and poetic genres of art. The most important life events such as birth, wedding, funerals and many others are continuously followed by the blessings. First of all, a blessing means recognition and incentive of an action. Traditionally, blessings are given to children from the early age on behalf of the recognized honored people, wise ‘aksakals’ (elders), and noble grandmothers, ‘baibiche’. Blessings are given in a slow manner, but solemnly. Although the image and genre expressiveness of blessings remains unchanged, today they vary in themes and contents. If early blessings had a more ritual character, at present they also carry moral, ethical and educational functions.

Tussau kessu (kaz."Tussay kessu") is one of the most common traditions and customs among the Kazakh nation, which has ethnographic features. This custom is considered one of the most significant events in the child's life. The origin of the custom is associated with magical belief in the hidden strength of the fetters that hold back unstable steps of a toddler. And if they are cut, then the toddler begins to walk confidently. This belief is found among many people of the world. In particular, it has been preserved to this day among the people of Central Asia. There is another belief, that if toddler takes his first steps and reached the family not stumbling then he would be very capable. The main purpose of giveaways is association of aul neighbors, relatives, friend around the principles of humanity and respect. Gifts are also given to the toddler. If he is a boy, then a horse might be given as a gift.

This article will attempt to explain the ancient spirituality of the indigenous people of Fiji. Indigenous spirituality is important because it describes in totality the significance of the vanua, its worldview and vanua ethos. One must decolonize one’s thinking one is to understand the nature of itaukei spirituality and its ideology. Few research have unpackaged the significance of the vanua, nevertheless in its simplest form; the vanua comprises of seen and unseen elements. Nowadays, some itaukei have abandoned their traditional roles and its customs, some have prohibited the consumption of kava. But on the other hand, they are content with traditional itaukei artifacts and crafts. Others have indicated the irrelevance of culture yet when asked of their identity, without hesitation they state their place of origin. As there are traditional beliefs surrounding yaqona consumptions and traditional ceremonies, there are also traditional beliefs associated to traditional crafts and the ancestral guardians of the vanua. An example of a traditional craft with spiritual powers is the masi, also known as the isulu ni vanua (attire of the vanua), it links the physical and the spiritual world. It is worn by newlyweds to protect them from outside influence before the marriage is consummated, it is hung at homes as protection. (Hulkenburg J, 2009:67, 68). In the past, chiefs were regarded as representatives of gods on earth, they were considered sacred because of the sau and mana they possessed. The vanua is protected and respected because of the powers (sau and mana) the chiefs possessed. Yet, it was unreasonable for the people to continue to revere their chiefs when they cease to believe in their ancestor-gods (Thomason B, 1908:111). In Fiji, both Fijian history and Fijian traditional religion are hard to trace and attended with considerable difficulties. (Tivi. D. 2018:39)

This is a very simple custom in which especially the young cowherds and enthusiastic adults of the village faithfully participate every year. It was considered a highly privileged holiday, a well-deserved break exclusively for young cowherds from their daily work. It is an old custom to visit the temple of Tsito Goen-pa once a year and offer butter lamps and prayers. For cowherds, it is a very important holiday or rather a sacred day when they can take time off from their daily work of herding cattle, especially cows. The Kar-mey or butter lamp offering at Tsitu Goen-pa Temple is held every year on the 15th day of the 7th month in the Bhutanese calendar. Tsitu Goen-pa is an ancient temple founded by Lam Lotoey Jamtsho. I have not been able to trace the history of the founder and the temple, but would recommend further research in the future, and I believe that some information is also kept in the temple in text or oral form by the guards and the administrator of the temple. Tsito Goen-pa is located on a hilltop, barely 40 minutes from the nearest highway, making it a pleasant walking route for tourists who also visit the temple to receive blessings. The temple is believed to house sacred relics, the unique remains of the skullcap of Lam (Spitirual master) Lotoey Jamtsho and the sacred Phurpa or ritual dagger believed to have flown from a place called Tosakha. It is shown to the public only on auspicious days or other important religious holidays. The government of Bhutan has been struggling with the problem of rural-urban migration since the early 1990s. The country is undergoing a rapid phase of development in which modernity is displacing tradition and culture, which are becoming less and less important. With rural roads connecting farmlands and easy and quick access to markets, agricultural trade has become very convenient, while at the same time the ancient culture of pilgrimage, backpacking and walking to visit a temple or monastery is rapidly losing its enthusiasm and importance. Villagers are looking for lucrative ways to farm and use modern techniques and equipment. Cowherds no longer have to go high into the mountains in search of fresh pasture for their cattle because a new way of feeding cows is being introduced that increases milk production. These are some examples that are pushing the ancient culture to the brink and gradually bringing it to extinction. The Tsito Goen-pa Kar-mey is no longer practiced because there are hardly any young shepherds left and they hardly need leave to visit the temple.

Wood turned utensils and dishes were present in Bhutan since ancient times. Communities from different parts of Bhutan have a similar type of craft as cups and plates are necessary for all household meals. However, the labour-intensive wood turned lacquer wares from Yangtse earned a considerable reputation in the kingdom. About a century-old traditional woodturning art (Shag-zo) in Yangtse is still a vibrant and popular means of family business and occupation. The present young artisans in Yangtse who are in their 20s and early 30s are the fifth-generation descendants of Lobazang from Kham in Tibet. Like other crafts of Bhutan, Shagzo demands a long process. The extracted wood knots and burls have to be dried; soaked in water; roughly shaped (first turned); roughly turned bowls are boiled; dried again; final turned bowls are smoothened with sandpapers and dried leaves of Trema politoria (locally known as Sog sogpa-shing). After colouring them yellow or red, it becomes ready for the next step – lacquering. Lacquering is another time-consuming process. Traditionally, lacquerers mostly use an urushiol-based lacquer common in East Asia derived primarily from toxic wax trees known as Sey Shing in Yangtse. These wooden bowls are an integral part of both the Bhutanese and Tibetan lifestyles and this explains the high demand for these products in Tibet. In the medieval period, people from Yangtse and Bumdeling traded wooden plates (not Dhapas) and bowls (cups) to Assam (India) and Go-phors (wooden bowl with lid), Lha-phor (bowl with lid used by monks), Dra-phor (bigger than other Phobs originally used by Tibetan Drapas), and Bay-phor (used by Tibetans, and has a deeper interior than Bhutanese hobs) to people of Tibet. Other than products historically exported to Assam and Tibet, Shagzopas make varieties of wood-turned products.

The people of Drangmaling-Nangar village in Tsamang Gewog, Mongar Dzongkhag in the eastern district gather every two years to perform Khar-phued. Literally, dairy product; milk, curd, cheese, butter, etc. were used as offerings. In other words, Kar means "wheat", Phued means "offering" - it is the offering of the first wheat harvest. Kharphu is a Bon ritual festival used to pay homage to local deities and ensure the well-being of the community, its households, livestock and crops. Kharphu is celebrated from the 26th day of the fourth month to the 2nd day of the fifth month according to the Bhutanese calendar. The village elders trace the origin of this ancient festival to the days of the creation of earth and sky (sachag namchag), as they do not know the exact century of origin or when it was held. The program and its components have been entirely preserved and passed down through oral tradition. This includes the ritual nightly exchange of songs that extends throughout the week. Apparently, this festival is in great danger of being lost in the modern cultural landscape.