ALL
ICH Elements 29
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Epic art of Gorogly
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 -
Chinese calligraphy
Chinese calligraphy is an artistic practice that, while fulfilling the practical function of information exchange through writing Chinese characters with brushes, ink, and paper as the main tools and materials, conveys human contemplation of nature, society and life and thus reflects the unique character, spirit, temperament, interest, and philosophy of the Chinese people through special graphic symbols and writing rhythms. Along with the appearance and evolution of Chinese characters, Chinese calligraphy has developed for more than 3,000 years and become a symbol of Chinese culture. In its development, calligraphy has developed a complete set of theories and skills. The art has enjoyed orderly propagation and continuous development through personal instruction and documented records, and presented distinct features in correspondence the change of time and alteration of tools and materials. Chinese history has produced a large number of prestigious calligraphers, such as Wang Xizhi (303-361 A.D.), Yan Zhenqing (709-785 A.D.), and Su Shi (1037-1101 A.D.).
China 2009 -
China engraved block printing technique
As one of the conventional skills, China Engraved Block Printing Technique includes a series of processes: cutting tools are applied to the engraving of characters or patterns on wooden blocks, ink and paper are utilized for printing purpose and the printed book pages are bound into books. Historical cultural relics show the application of engraved block printing technique dates back to the end of the 6th century and early 7th century. The invention and application of engraved block printing technique in China has made tremendous contributions to the progress and development of human civilization thanks to its functions typical of recording and transmitting thoughts, knowledge and experience of human society.
China 2009 -
Kyrgyz epic trilogy: Manas, Semetey, Seytek
Kyrgyz Epic Trilogy "Manas. Semetey. Seytek" represents three interconnected parts of Epos created more than millennium ago. Manas is the epic hero who united scattered tribes into one nation – Kyrgyz. Deeds of Manas were continued by his son Semetey and his grandson Seytek. Trilogy became the immortal spirit and basic identity of the Kyrgyz. Kyrgyz people did not preserve their written language, therefore, they attach great importance to the oral Trilogy which has preserved their historical memory. World-wide known writer Chinghiz Aitmatov stressed that Epic Trilogy is a synonym of Kyrgyz and is an encyclopaedia of their life. It is one of the biggest epics in the world; its version contains 500 553 lines. Today there are more than 80 versions. Kyrgyz people say: “There is no Trilogy without tellers”. Trilogy lives thanks to community of epic tellers - manaschies, semeteychies, seytekchies. Continuous epic narration may last many hours in a row. Epic tellers believe that Trilogy narration is their mission assigned from above; it gives them sense of identity and continuity.
Kyrgyzstan 2013 -
Small epics
Kyrgyz epics are divided into two groups such as big and small epics. The epic trilogy of Manas. Semetei and Seitek belong to the big epic group. All the rest belong to small epics. There about 30 epics and epic poems in the second group. This group is very diverse in terms of topics, genres, plots and music. Depending on the core idea and plot, small epics can be subdivided into following subgroups: 1.\tHeroic epics describe the struggle of a hero against foreign and local enemies. They include but not limited to such epics as Kurmanbek, Jangyl Myrza, Janysh-Baiysh, Er Tabyldy, Seiitbek, Shyrdakbek, Er Soltonoi and others; 2.\tMythological epic describe a hero’s struggle with mythical creatures and natural forces. E.g. Kojojash, Er Töshtük, Joodarbeshim and others; 3.\tSocial and everyday-life-related epic describe complex social relations and people’s perceptions of just social structure. E.g. Kedeikan, Mendirman and others; 4.\tLyrical and romantic epics describe (often tragic) love relations. For example, Oljobai and Kishimjan, Sarinji-Bököi, Kulmyrza and Aksatkyn, Ak Möör and others). Singers and storytellers called akyn accompany their recitations of small epics with a musical instrument.
Kyrgyzstan -
Mazu belief and customs
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 -
Chinese traditional architectural craftsmanship for timber-framed structures
The construction of traditional Chinese timber-framed structures uses wood as the most important building material, with the structural carpentry as its foundation while containing other major divisions of work including the decorative carpentry, tile roofing, stone work, decorative painting, etc. The major wooden components, which consist of column, beam, purlin, lintel and bracket set, form the load-bearing frame for the whole structure. Two main types of framwork were developed as early as the 2nd century BCE. (Han dynasty), one is post-and-lintel, the other column-and-tie-beam. The wooden components are connected by tenon joints, which adds to the flexibility of the structure and improves its earthquake-resistent quality. Since the wooden components can be manufactured beforehand and installed on the spot, it can also significantly shorten the construction period.
China 2009 -
Kara Zhorga - Kazakh folk dance
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').
Kazakhstan -
Margilan Crafts Development Centre, safeguarding of the atlas and adras making traditional technologies
Historically, Margilan was the centre for making atlas and adras – vivid and fine traditional fabrics. Due to the acute need to revive and safeguard traditions at risk of disappearing, the local community came up with an initiative to launch the Crafts Development Centre (CDC) in 2007. The CDC’s goal is to safeguard, develop and promote the method of Uzbek traditional atlas and adras making through innovative training sessions, exhibitions and craft fairs, traditional textile festivals, and the publication of safeguarding materials and manuals. The CDC also promotes the use of natural materials, and supports the transmission of knowledge and skills about nature and the universe and their role in ensuring people’s health and wellbeing.
Uzbekistan 2017 -
Pinisi, art of boatbuilding in South Sulawesi
“Pinisi”, literally referring to the rig and sails of the famed ‘Sulawesi schooner’, for both the Indonesian and international public has become the epitome of the Archipelago’s indigenous sailing craft. Construction and deployment of such vessels stand in the millennia-long tradition of Austronesian (‘Malayo-Polynesian’) boatbuilding and navigation that brought forth a broad variety of sophisticated watercraft, ranging from the outriggered boats that enabled man to migrate throughout the vast expanses of the Pacific and Indian Oceans to the massive ships encountered by the first European intruders into the Malay Archipelago. As in any maritime tradition, these practices involve sophisticated cognitive concepts that outline the three-dimensional form of a ship and its countless components as well as the advanced social organisation necessary to successfully build, operate and navigate trading vessels. Following centuries of mutual co-operation, the three communities now represent the pinnacle of the Archipelago’s boatbuilding and navigation traditions. In indigenous perception a ship’s hull is conceptionalised in the form of ‘plank patterns’ (tatta), i.e., comprehensive mental routines that delineate the configuration and assembly sequence of a hull’s planking, her inner strengthenings and the dowels holding planks and framing together. Deeply embedded into a series of rituals that complement the building process, these routines for many a traditional type of vessel define position, form and size of each plank, frame or dowel in a hull; for more contemporary ships the tatta provides an overall draught that can be adapted to changing constructional demands, thus facilitating perpetuation and enhancements.
Indonesia 2017 -
Kumbh Mela
Kumbh Mela (the festival of the sacred Pitcher), is the largest peaceful congregation of pilgrims where people bathe or take a dip in a sacred river. Held at Allahabad, Haridwar, Ujjain and Nasik every four years by rotation, the Kumbh at Prayag/Allahabad is the most significant. Ardha ("Half") Kumbh Mela is held at only two places, Haridwar and Allahabad, every sixth year. It is held on the banks of the rivers - Ganga in Prayag, Saraswati in Haridwar, Godavari in Nashik and Shipra in Ujjain. A great fair is held on these occasions on the banks of the rivers. Devout believe that by bathing in the Ganges one is freed from their sins liberating them from the cycle of birth and death. A unique facet is that millions of people reach the place without any invitation. Mythology says the gods and the demons fought for the pot with the nectar of immortality. Lord Vishnu, disguising himself as an enchantress (Mohini), seized the nectar. While fleeing from the evil ones, Lord Vishnu passed the nectar on to his winged mount, Garuda. In the ensuing struggle, a few drops of the precious nectar fell on Allahabad, Nasik, Haridwar and Ujjain. Since then, the Kumbh Mela has been held in these places. The astrological sequence of the stars are the basis for the Kumbh locations. As Jupiter enters in Aquarius and Sun enters Aries the Kumbh is held at Haridwar, Jupiter enters Aries and Sun and Moon in Capricorn at Prayag and so on.
India 2017 -
Dutar making craftsmanship and traditional music performing art combined with singing
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