Dance has been an inseparable element of Persian culture for thousands of years. Dance depictions on pottery excavated from prehistoric sites attest to the antiquity of this art. However, ritual dance, the precursor to Iranian royal court dances, can be traced back to the cult of Mithra (third century BCE).

UNESCO has ten subcategories of human communities and networks, but there are two patterns of human civilizations—sedentary and nomadic communities. Difficulty with archaeologists and historians to explore and discover civilizational heritage information. Nomadic communities served as an ancient networking system, bridging sedentary communities with cultural and technological information. There is a necessity of a network approach on the discovery, excavation, preservation, and public opening of Silk Roads intangible cultural heritages through a singular project hub—namely through ICHCAP. Examples of existing projects include the Caravanserai projects by UNESCO and National Geographic, which focus on tangible heritage along the Silk Roads without considering cultural interconnections and influences. A Korean case is the KBS six-episode documentary series on the origin, spreading and localization of noodle cuisine in Eurasian communities. Another networking case currently under way is the development of series on Silk Roads martial arts, dance, and play through Korea, Japan, China, Mongolia, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, and Iran.

Abstract: In this paper, the author discusses a diversity-focused approach to musical instruments, using Japanese traditional instruments as an example. In Japan, there are safeguarding systems in place to protect not only the performing arts and its performers, but also the techniques used for making musical instruments, instrument makers. . Simultaneously, there are many musical instruments of the same historical origin throughout Asia. Approaching the musical instruments in a new framework – one which includes the performers and instrument makers – adds new perspectives such as the natural environment, traditional knowledge, and methods for accommodating the conditions specified for each era. If we apply this perspective to Asian musical instruments, we may be able to discover new stories of diversity that connect musical instruments.

This networking program is based on experiences and achievements obtained from the collaborative work of UNESCO-ICHCAP in the living heritage field in Central Asia over the last decade.\n\nFor reference, the networking program comes on the heels of a three-party MoU signed by ICHCAP and organizations in Uzbekistan in 2019 and was followed by a Central Asia network meeting in Kazakhstan in 2019. In 2020, ICHCAP in cooperation with International Institute for Central Asian Studies (IICAS), conducted a survey project about ICH festivals along the Silk Roads, particularly with countries along the steppe route. Regarding the survey result, ICHCAP, IICAS and Korea-Central Asia Cooperation Forum Secretariat of the Korea Foundation (KF) held an online webinar and a strategic meeting to consider the need for realizing the multilateral values of Silk Roads-related cooperation

The use of medicinal plants for healing diseases has been known to man ever since he was affected by diseases. When illnesses became frequent, ancient man started searching for drugs from the natural environment where he lived. Bark from trees, seeds, leaves, fruits and roots were all utilized for treating illnesses. We continue to use these remedies today, maybe in a more refined form (Petrovska, 2012).This knowledge from the past was transferred mainly through trial and error, and through the exchange of knowledge and experiences among diverse communities and regions mainly by means of oral communication. This exchange of knowledge continues even today, but with an incorporation of modern biomedicine into the traditional practices. This has led to Ayurveda,1Unani2 and Siddha3 emerging as integral parts of modern medicine, or through complementing the modern biomedicine in India.

In ancient times, China in the East Asian continent, along with the Islamic world which spanned the South Mediterranean Sea, West Asia and Central Asia, were the world’s most developed regions in oceanography. It was only after the renaissance that this leadership was only taken away by the Portuguese explorers. This paper aims to provide an overview of the names used in ancient Chinese texts to refer to the seas of Asia, as well as the ancient Chinese understanding of world oceanography. China is situated in the East Asian continent, which is not in direct contact with the vast Pacific Ocean, but rather, within several seas of the Pacific, nestled between the West Pacific island arc and the East Asian continent. These seas are, going from North to South, the East Sea of Korea, Yellow Sea, East Sea and Southern Sea. The structure of this paper begins from the East Asian seas, going from North to South, and then continues westward to Southeast Asia and the North Indian Ocean.

Introduction\nA voice that revived traditional Persian music and played a role like ferdowsi (a poet who preserved the Persian language for 900 years) in literature for the music world. A hero to the world of art who interlaced the world of literature with sounds and melodies and blew with his voice in the existence of this country and gave it life again.\n\nMohammad Reza Shajarian, the artist whose voice resonates beyond the memories of Persians of his generation and the younger generations after him. A voice that is the phonetic embodiment of Persian music culture, and if anyone mentions traditional Persian music, the voice of Rabbana of Mohammad Reza Shajarian, which is registered as ICH by the Ministry of Tourism, will resonate in their minds.\n\nBiography\nBorn on 1 October 1941, into a family of art, culture, and literature, Shajarian began singing at an early age. When he entered school in 1326 AH, he started reciting the Qur’an with his father. He continued it very well so that by the age of 10, he could recite the Qur’an in political ceremonies and gatherings. His first high school whispers began with the help of his uncle and Mr. Young (a teacher). In 1331, the voice of young Mohammad Reza Shajarian was broadcast for the first time on Khorasan Radio.\n\nInternational Titles\nShajarian was so prominent that the largest organizations and art centers of the world would bequeath him with great titles; the website of the Asian Association has mentioned Shajarian as the most famous Persian of original music art. The National Public Radio has named him as one of the top fifty voices in the world, and the Vancouver Sun titled him as the most important music artist in the world.\n\nShajarian Awards\nShajarian was a great master of traditional Persian music and worked hard to spread the music of his land and introduce its culture and art beyond borders and became a label of music of his country. He did a great service to patriotic music, such as the Picasso Prize, the UNESCO Honorary Diploma, the Beta from Stanford University, the UNESCO Mozart Prize, the National Knight of the French Embassy, the High Prize for Art for Peace, and the Aga Khan Foundation Award as Lord of Music to Enrich Human Musical Heritage. He was perhaps the only artist to inject the essence of Persian music into the hearts of the world with his voice.\n\nShajarian Performances\nShajarian founded Del Avaz Company in 1977, and in 1978, he won first place in Quran recitation competitions all over the country. During the sixties, Shajarian began an extensive collaboration with Parviz Meshkatian, which resulted in the albums Mahour, Bidad, Nova, Dastan, and so on. In the same years, he performed concerts outside Persia with the Aref group.\n\nDuring his professional life, Shajarian held numerous performances around the world. Since 1968, he has been performing in the United States and Europe with the Pirniakan and Andalibi groups. Shajarian received the UNESCO Honorary Award (Picasso Award) in 1978, and his book, The Secret of Mana, was published in 1979.\n\nShajarian Family\nShajarian married Miss Farkhondeh Golafshan in Quchan which resulted in the beginning of a thirty-year life and three daughters and a son, Homayoun, who is also an artist as great as his father. They have published great performances and works together.\n\nShajarian Works\nThis beloved artist, who is not only in the hearts of the Persian people but also in the hearts of the people of the world, has released more than seventy albums during his professional life. The best of which are Yad Ayam (Memory of the Days), Del Majnoon (The Heart Insanity), Janan Province, Bidad, Dastan, Nova, Bi To Besar Nemishavad (It cannot be without you), Faryad (scream), Dar Khial (in imagination), and Night, Silence, Desert.\n\nTraditions are so important as the cultural lifeblood of a country. Some of have been transmitted to us through audio recordings, which has naturally formulated laws for itself that ultimately define the hearing culture, the essence of which is perpetuated by humans. A culture where part of it is playing music, and part of it is singing, and he was the perpetuator of that culture.\n\nPhoto : Shajarian London Concert CCBY Wikimedia/ Khashayar Karimi

The Qalishuyan is the 1,000-year-old ritual of Mashhad Ardehal is the only religious ceremony in Persia that history is according to the solar-agricultural calendar. This ritual is known as “Qali (Carpet) Friday”. This is a symbolic ritual of martyrdom, the burial of Imamzadeh Sultan Ali, a holy figure among the people of Kashan and Fin. The symbolic coffin is a carpet that is carried to a stream and washed, then returned by the people of Fin and Khave with respect and ritual details.\n\nThe Qalishuyan has their own set of rituals. Starting the Qalishuyan takes place a few days before the major ceremonial date.\n\nJar Friday, the Friday before Qalishuyan, is the day when individuals in Mashhad Ardehal are invited to the Qalishuyan. Jarchi is a person who walks Fin village, Kashan’s Bazaar neighborhood, and Khaveh village and announcing the Qalishuyan’s arrival and the pilgrimage week to Imamzadeh Sultan Ali.\n\nThe most important thing about the Qalishuyan is that it is a public ceremony and people hold it, so the Kashani families always prepare a few days before the ceremony so that they can perform the Qalishuyan well and participate in it.\n\nIt is usual to recite the Qur’an aloud at the entrance and in the courtyard of Imamzadeh Sultan Ali on the night before Qalishuyan.\n\nThe people of Kashan believe that the presence and observance of the Qalishuyan ritual is one of their religious duties. Participants gather in the courtyard of the Safa in Sultan Ali’s shrine with special etiquette. In the morning of the ceremony, the people of Khaveh gather at the tomb and sprinkle rose water on the carpet, then collect the carpet and wrap it with green threads and deliver it to the Finns to respectfully carry it to the stream. And wash with spring water. Those carrying the carpet must move quickly and agitatedly so that the soil rises from the ground and they move their sticks in the air towards the Imamzadeh. Fighting the Imamzadeh killer and helping him is symbolized by moving the sticks. The carpet is transported with incredible enthusiasm from the Safa courtyard to Prince Hussein’s historical spring. After arriving at the spring, the carpet is placed on the ground and bathed with a few drops of water. They put the carpet back on their shoulders with dignity and respect after bathing it and carried it to the shrine with the same enthusiasm as before. After these steps, a mourning ceremony is held at the tomb of Sultan Ali and several people who were involved in Imam Sultan Ali’s martyrdom will be cursed during this ritual.\n\nAnd on Friday next week, the people of Nashlaj will hold their ceremony.\n\nThe Mashhad Ardahal Qalishuyan rituals are registered on the list of cultural and intangible heritage by UNESCO and are performed every year on the second Friday of the month of Mehr, according to the solar-agricultural calendar. Many people travel to Mashhad Ardahal to watch the ceremony.\n\nIn the Qalishuyan ritual, people do not wash the carpet, they purify the carpet. They want to rid themselves of lies and slanders, then remove the shame of this happening.\n\nPhoto Provided by Mohammad Shirkavand

Introduction\nKamancheh could be considered one of the national and novel instruments of Persia with a long history in the Orient. Through the historical pages of Baluchistan, an instrument named ghaychak is found and is similar to ghazhak or ghazh, a Perso-Islamic instrument.\n\nHistorical evidence, such as the great music book of Farabi, the poetry book of Masoud Saad, and the paintings of the Chehel Sotoon hall show the antiquity of using this instrument and its similarity to rabab, and give us this information that at the time of Safavid dynasty, it was common to play Kamancheh in the royal court.\n\nHistory\nKamancheh is filled with a history full of ups and downs from the far East to the West and played in different lands in such a way that it is known as an ancestor of the violin, able to perform all the techniques of that instrument; however, its Persian origin is clearly recorded and mentioned in Egyptian documents from the fifteenth century.\n\nThe paintings in the Chehel Sotoon hall shows that this instrument, initially, included three strings, quoted from Edward Brown the British orientalist at nineteenth century, and at the time of Western influence on our culture, during the Qajar period, the fourth string was added to imitate one of its grandchildren: the violin.\n\nIn the region of Lorestan the instrument includes a rich history in such a way that you can find a Kamancheh in every music lover’s house. In this region, the players are called kamancheh-kesh, whereas in other regions, they are called as kamancheh-zan.\n\nLiterature of Music\nMusical instruments, the way they are played, and the essence of the sound created from them have penetrated in the human soul and has somehow transpired into oral literature. What we are speaking of are the poems written by great Persian poets in which we see the use of literature that has been common among musicians and musicians as a common language of the past. Poems written by poets such as Masoud Saad Salman, an eleventh century poet, who mentioned the name Kamancheh along with the names of other musical instruments in his poems as follows:\n\nFrom canon, cheerfulness, glory, welfare, and play\n\nFrom harp, oud, nay, kamancheh, and party\n\nFarrukhi Sistani is another eleventh century poet who had mentioned Kamancheh in his poems:\n\nEvery day there was glory and welfare\n\nEvery day there was canon and tar played\n\nInstrument Components\nResonant Bowl and Skin\nThe bowl is almost spherical and hollow. The upper surface is open, on which the skin is peeled, and the vault is installed. The outer surface of the bowl is decorated with pieces of oyster or bone. Some of the local fiddles are also open behind their bowls, which makes a louder sound. The skin of the aperture is made from the thin hull of quadrupeds such as deer, goats, and lambs.\n\nHandle\nThe handle of the instrument is like a tube full of wood, which is about 25 cm long and 3 cm in diameter.\n\nVault\nThe fiddle vault is made of wood or bone, which is 4 cm long and 2 cm high. The vault rests on the skin of the bowl with its two small pedestals.\n\nThe Claw\nThe claw is located at the beginning of the handle and is made of wood. Its surface is hollow. Four phones are placed in pairs on their sides. At the top of the head is a straight, crown, or narrow.\n\nEars\nThe Kamancheh includes four ears with several instrument strings and in the form of a wide-headed nail made of wood, which are located on the sides of the toe. The flat part of the phone rotates left and right in the player’s hand to tune. The narrow part is inside the space of the claw head, and one end of the wire is wrapped around it.\n\nPawl\nIt is the thin, not long bone or stick the same size as the width of the handle between the claw and the handle, which the wires pass through its shallow grooves and attach to the ears.\n\nStand\nThis stand is a thin, moving metal bar ten centimeters long, that when played, one end is fastened to the bottom of the bowl with a screw, and the other is placed on the foot or the ground.\n\nPhoto : Kamancheh Player by Ibrahim Jabbar-Beik

Every nation has its comfort and social foods. Dishes play an influential role as a social object that interacts with people at the table. These recipes are more than just something to eat.\n\nAbgoosht or dizi is a unique, national, and comfort course in Persia. Relatively new, but shows the best of the culinary art in this land. In a word, abgoosht means meat and stock and is the general name for the mixture of meat, legumes, vegetables, and herbs with its own traditional eating habits, tools, side dishes, drinks, and even special dessert. It’s Persian folklore eating habits and a meal prescribed to cure illness.\n\nAbgoosht is a new dish in the Persian kitchen, but it descends from the mighty Safavid kitchen. Cooking a fine cut of lamb with spices between four to six and even ten hours is a subtle oriental cooking technique. The key to a good abgoosht is not losing any water during cooking so, chefs use many methods to keep the moisture locked into the pot. There are around eighty well-known types of this food in Persia, and the ingredients vary from region to region. Ingredients vary, even seasonal, and it follows today guidelines of sustainable food eating habits, and the meat can be substituted with the goat, veal, mutton, chicken, duck, etc.\n\nThis existing dish also has a special custom and tricky habit that would make this recipe even more interesting to try. First of all, you must strain the solid parts of the dish into a bowl and mash them with a mortar until it turns into a soft texture. The name of this part is Goosht-Koubideh eaten with warm oriental bread, herbs, and raw onion; the liquid portion is eaten with cracked and soaked bread like a soup. Abgoosht well developed after the Persian famines to not lose even one calorie of ingredients. So, when the “Goosht-Koubideh” is leftover, some cooks mixed it with eggs and fried the dough in a shallow pan to preserve the food even longer.\n\nSome unique Persian side dishes make the taste unforgettable, side dishes like torshi (pickled vegetables), fresh herbs (mostly reddish and basil), strained yogurt with shallots, etc. Dizi, is accompanied with a drink, a fermented savory yogurt-based beverage usually mixed with dried herbs like thyme or mint. And as the last course of the meal, it’s tradition to have a cup of hot black tea served with rock candy or some other Persian sweets to make the pleasure of trying a rich and nutritious Persian meal.\n\nAbgoosht is one of the most famous Persian dishes among the people, and it is enjoyed on busy days for lunch or after work. There are places around the bazaars in big cities that only serve dizi; these establishments are called dizi-sara (the house of dizi). People get together on big social tables, the floor, or even on beds in restaurants to enjoy this hearty meal.\n\nIn the past, four or even eight people shared a big pot of dizi without knowing each other, and that was a fun way to talk about politics, society, and work. Dizi is also served in ghahve-khane (coffee house) as a lunch that ends with two or three cups of tea with hookah for smoking as a dessert and listening to some ancient folklore narrations from the famous Shahnameh.\n\nThe name of ‘dizi’ itself reflects the pot that the food is cooked in. In Khorasan, artisans make dizi pots from unique stones that keep the heat long and effectively, which is it is one of the best pots for making dizi. The food is traditionally eaten on holiday lunches with the whole family gathered in elders’ houses. It is a social recipe that brings family members together around the table.\n\nYou can have dizi in many other countries around Persia, as culinary cultures with varied recipes have inherited it. Dizi traveled to many neighboring countries and mixed with their own kitchen. Piti is a kind of abgoosht famous in south Caucasian countries like Azerbaijan and parts of Georgia. Also, Iraqi people enjoy tashreeb, the same cooking pattern of dizi making and eating that assimilated in Iraqi culinary traditions.\n\nPhoto : Dizi feast © Mohammad Shirkavand

The horse, a special animal that, ever since the beginning of civilization, has been tamed by humans. The creature has accompanied humans, from carrying loads to partaking in ceremonies. There’s not much information available on how exactly this animal was tamed, but historical evidence such as paintings discovered on the walls of caves and the pottery found in the very first human’s accommodations confirms that it was domesticated first by the Aryans and brought to the plateau of Persia. A place in which this creature has gone through many ups and downs, taken from carrying stuff for humans to becoming a playmate for him in such an ancient game like polo (chogan) with a significant role. And the presence of Turkmen horses, which are considered one of the best breeds in the world, has not been ineffective in advancing these events.\n\nHorse Background\nThe connection between humans and horses dates back to the Neolithic Era, and ever since men tamed horses, the essence of the value of these creatures has penetrated into the beliefs of the ancient people of Persia. Horses included in such a place that they would be sacrificed to the gods of ancient Persia and India. This value could be seen in the Zoroastrian’s book of Avesta, the epics, mythos, and legends in Shahnameh, and the poetry book of Ferdowsi, the great Persian poet. Names mentioned in the book of Avesta generally mean “the owner of the horse.” Horses were so sacred that they were said to carry the chariots of the gods of ancient Persia and India.\n\nHorseback Riding\nWith the technology in the hands of the ancient people, many things would not have been possible without the presence of animals such as horses, cows, or camels. In the meantime, on the one hand, because of horses’ value, and on the other hand, for its agility, strength, high speed, and loyalty, the horse could be a human helper. As history says: The Parthians did not separate their bows and horses only in their dreams, and among the Achaemenids, the horse has been their friend and helper since childhood. As the historical evidence confirms, the first Persian people to have an army on horseback were the Achaemenids, who were called Arteshtaran, the aristocrats who had been trained since childhood.\n\nIn the Parthians period, horseback riding was the favorite sport of the royal families. During the Sassanid period, they sided with the farmers and the traders. During the Samanid period, horses were sold in the bazaar of Khorasan as an intelligent animal, which its use in military units, Chaparkhaneh (in terms of posting offices), and carriages increased significantly.\n\nUsage of Horses\nIn ancient Persia, due to the power and speed of these animals, they could be used in many places to send messages and letters, they were used as Chapar’s horses who would only take messages and bring back the response. On the battlefield, they accompanied the cavalry and were used at banquets and military ceremonies. With all that, one question is left to answer:\n\nWhy was the role of horses in playing chogan as necessary as humans were?\n\nChogan (polo), as an aristocratic game played in the Safavid court, was a way for the Safavid kings to communicate with the people. The sport was popular among the people, and people used every opportunity to hold this game. To answer the question of why the horse’s role in chogan is as prominent as the role of man, it can be said that it is due to the picture of this animal captured in the minds of people and kings for centuries.\n\nThe superiority of the Turkmen horse breeding, on the one hand, and on the other hand, its role in the religious beliefs, and the powerful reality of this animal in traveling distances, and accepting the fact that it has been with man throughout history, could be a reason for humans, to share it in wars and travels, and now to share it in entertainment and joy so that he could once again meet his need for a sense of constant companionship.\n\nPhoto : Chogan in painting

Introduction\nThrough the rich history of Persia, few cultural elements have remained intact, one of which is the art of narration. Ever since Aryans entered the plateau of Iran, they brought this way of performance art with themselves through which they would tell the stories of their ancestors and later the epics of their gods.\n\nThis play, which is a combination of narrating, solo-acting, singing, and an improvisation performance, is done in two ways: Open-Space (at squares, passages, farmlands, etc.) through which the stories were drawn on a scroll curtain that would be opened slowly in front of the audience, and Closed-Space (in coffee houses or mansions) in which the curtain was hung or mounted on a wall before the performance and covered by a contrast curtain to be removed from the main curtain when the narration starts.\n\nThe influence of this art was so great that it was used to motivate and encourage the army, and in the Safavid era, it was highly valued.\n\nThe Elements of Scene Reading\nThe main parts of this way of performance are:\n\nPreface or Pre-event (A lament to gather people)\nHymn (A song in which they ask God for help)\nMonaghab Khani (Merit Reading—Praise the family of the Prophet Mohammad)\nSpeech in the sanctity of the curtain\nOpening the contract curtain or the scroll curtain\nSermon Reading or the beginning of the speech\nStorytelling (Dealing with side stories)\nDescription of the main event\nEscaping (This will be improvised, based on how people are feeling, and the recent events)\nMonody and Requiem\nGiving the promise to tell a more joyful story on the next event\nPray for the audience\nTo fold the curtain\nThe Curtain\n\nThis curtain is a piece of fabric on which scenes of mythological stories, historical narratives, and even stories of the great prophet’s lives are drawn. There’s a believe that says seventy-two stories are drawn on the curtain but in reality, it does not include exactly that many. This belief is created in terms of the multiple stories and the large number of the images. It is on connection with this belief that a famous conversation happens in between the narrator and the audience; The narrator may ask, “how many stories and faces are drawn on the curtain?” and the audience replies “366 faces and 72 stories.”\n\nThe characters are drawn on a background of natural colors, the components together and the composition of the images are arranged in such a way that it conveys concepts through the role of the narrator and the story itself. The illustration of the good characters and the bad characters are painted differently; you may see the bad characters with elongated faces and the good characters with kind, round faces.\n\nBesides all these, the positioning of the characters is determined by their rank. If it’s the narration of a war, the soldiers are drawn smaller, without the usage of perspective or anti-perspective. The commander, the prince or, the king is drawn slightly bigger to show the distinction, which also includes their horses and ammunition. This illustration of the characters must be included and drawn stereotypically, and to give emotion to the characters, their body language is also drawn in such spectacularly, showing the feeling of pain or death. The characters are mostly painted with Qajar-style clothes. Even the emotion that lies within their eyes is uniquely painted; like if they show power or their weakness, if it’s comforting or terrifying, it is drawn in a realistically.\n\nIranian dramatic story-telling: Morshed Ahadi Photograph: Sa’id Azadi © 2005 by the Department of Traditional Arts at the Research Center of ICHHTO\nThe Scene Reader\nIt is not just the role of the curtain that will fascinate the audience but how the narrator tells the stories and leads the eyes on the curtain to drown the audience in the depth of the narrations on the background of the scene.\n\nHe is the person who tells the stories drawn on the scene. A singer and actor—someone with high physical ability and excellent creativity in improvisation who, with the usage of the stories, can play the role of all the characters.\n\nNow that’s the time when the magic happens—the narrator walks between the curtain and the audience, acting out each character, singing the poems and epic songs and telling the painted stories. As his voice tonnage changes and plays out the narrations with his hands and using his stick, and the moves he makes with his body, takes the audience deep into the scene, where the events are happening. All of a sudden, the audience feel no border between them and the scene, finding themselves in depth of the story, playing the role of one of the characters.\n\nPhoto 1 : Narration of Persia--2005 Department of Traditional Arts ICHHTO Research Center, Morshed Ahadi points to the part of the screen he is reciting its story\nPhoto 2 : Iranian dramatic story-telling: Morshed Ahadi Photograph: Sa’id Azadi © 2005 by the Department of Traditional Arts at the Research Center of ICHHTO