"The Cultural Heritage Administration plans to designate tteok making (떡만들기), Korean rice cake making, as National Intangible Cultural Heritage. The designation will recognize the making and sharing of Korean rice cakes as a traditional culture and way of life.\n\nKoreans have made tteok by steaming grain flour in siru, a traditional steamer, or by boiling or baking, depending on the type of the rice cake being made. From a long time ago, Koreans have enjoyed making and sharing different kinds of tteok for major milestones in their lives as well as for important national holidays.\n\nHistorically, rice cakes have been a key offering for various rituals. They include rites held for village gods wishing for peace and prosperity as well as similar rites held for house gods like sangdalgosa. Rice cakes are also offered at gut rituals held by traditional shamans. In modern-day Korea, people distribute tteok to others in their community when they open a business or move into a new place.\n\nIn many ways, tteok is more than just a delicacy—given that Koreans distribute rice cakes to others for special moments of their lives, it can be considered an embodiment of sharing and generosity as well as a symbol of the unique Korean concept of jeong or a deep connection and harmony.\n\nIt is also notable how different types of rice cake are made for different occasions and how they have a story of their own. This makes tteok intangible cultural heritage that people need to learn to fully understand Korean culture.\n\nIt is unclear when Koreans started making rice cakes. However, archaeological findings show that Koreans have been eating rice cake since ancient times. Siru has been unearthed in historic sites of the bronze age and iron age. Siru can also be seen in the mural of fourth-century Anak Tomb No. 3 in South Hwanghae, North Korea."\n\nPhoto : Two women shaping tteok CCBYSA World to Table / Wikimedia

"The Cultural Heritage Administration has a new listing on the national intangible heritage list: the traditional Korean alcoholic beverage makgeolli and its associated culture. It incorporates the skill of making this milky and lightly effervescent rice wine and the cultural practices associated with sharing it. Makgeolli is conventionally brewed by cooking rice, mixing it with water and nuruk (a fermentation starter that contains sacchrogenic enzymes and natural yeast), and running the mash through a sieve after a few days of fermentation. Mak in makgeolli means ‘right now’ or ‘just then’ and geolli mean ‘to filter.’ Not only is the word pure Korean, but the name itself reveals the method of making the beverage and its characteristics.\n\nMakgeolli is an alcoholic beverage made from rice or other grains that is purported to date back to the introduction of farming on the Korean Peninsula. Histories on the Three Kingdoms period, such as Samguk Sagi (History of the Three Kingdoms) and Samguk Yusa (Memorabilia of the Three Kingdoms) include terms such as mion, jiju, and ryoye that presumably refer to what is known as makgeolli today. Baekju and other terms purported to denote makgeolli appear in Dongguk Isanggukjip (Collected Work by Minister Yi of the Eastern State) and other literary compilations from the Goryeo Dynasty. Books from the Joseon period, such as the novel Chunhyangjeon (The Story of Chunhyang) and the encyclopedia Gwangjaemulbo (Information on Comprehensive Things) contain mentions of mok-geolli or mak-geolli. Joseon-era cookbooks, such as Gyuhap Chongseo and Eumsik Dimibang, contain recipes for alcoholic beverages that would have been enjoyed as a cloudy makgeolli.\n\nMakgeolli can be made easily and at low cost simply with rice and nuruk. As a result, it was easily affordable, and it became the alcohol to sooth the sorrows of ordinary people. Makgeolli quenched the thirst of farmers throughout the working season. Korean farm laborers used to say, “If it all pays the same, I’d rather offer a hand to the farmhouse serving the most delicious makgeolli.”\n\nMakgeolli was also an indispensable element in ritual ceremonies and celebrations or mourning. Many traditions featuring makgeolli as a ritual drink have been transmitted to the present. The milky rice wine is still presented as an offering in many modern ceremonies commemorating, for example, the completion of a building, purchase of a new car, or opening of shops.\n\nIn a nutshell, the tradition of making and sharing makgeolli has been evaluated as a worth entry onto the national intangible heritage list for the following reasons: its transmission across the Korean Peninsula for ages; its historicity is supported by documents; it serves as an interesting subject of study in diverse academic fields such as history, food sciences, and folklore studies; and its association with a wide range of farmers’ songs, folkloric sayings, and literary work; among other reasons."\n\nPhoto : Makgeolli in a bowl. Public domain image.

The novel coronavirus fears have affected various sectors of the economy, politics, society, and culture. Notably, the cultural sector has been directly and substantially affected by the coronavirus crisis. Most of the public cultural facilities, including museums and art galleries, were temporarily shut down, and many cultural events and performances have been canceled or postponed due to the outbreak. The crisis has wreaked havoc on the performing arts industry. With measures taken to curb the spread of the coronavirus by preventing mass gatherings, concert halls, and theaters have been closed to help people avoid close contact with others.\n\nThe pandemic is also tough on traditional performing arts. It should be noted, however, how the performing arts community is trying to overcome this difficult time and use the crisis as an opportunity. They are looking for various ways to get through the health crisis. The National Gugak Center (https://www.youtube.com/user/gugak1951) and the Seoul Donhwamun Traditional Theater (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCr2aWbG8Hz-EAl7cznvGO5Q), for example, are streaming live performances without audiences via Naver TV and YouTube. And several classical music companies around the world, including the Paris National Opera and the Bolshoi Ballet, are trying to bond with fans, using advanced technologies, by, for example, sharing videos of dancers practicing within the confines of a studio.\n\nLivestream performances provide audiences with virtual content they can partake in from home. Artists can have a live chat with viewers and be inspired to perform free improvisations, making audiences feel as if they were sitting in the front row. By using video technologies, online concerts offer audiences various views, unlike in-person theaters, where spectators can watch the stage from specific angles and distances. Livestream performances also enhance audience convenience. Viewers can enjoy great art while enjoying snacks and drinks from the comfort of their own homes. They can also talk to the people beside them and share their feelings with other audiences in real time while watching shows.\n\nHowever, there are some downsides. Audiences might find it difficult to concentrate on a performance when they experience it via screens and speakers. And although the latest technologies are used to deliver high-quality images and sounds, there are still limitations in bringing the full force of actual performances. This situation raises doubts about whether live streams can appeal to audiences with the same intensity that they might have in physical theaters.\n\nThe coronavirus pandemic has changed many aspects of life. It has also led to noticeable changes in the performing arts. Although there are still varying opinions about the audience’s absence, which is one of the most fundamental elements of performances, the recent proliferation of live streams can be considered a significant leap forward and have shown the possibility of further development.\n\nLivestreaming of traditional performances via online platforms is expected to play a significant role in lowering physical and emotional barriers and increasing accessibility to traditional culture, especially among young people who are more exposed to pop culture. Traditional performing arts will hopefully survive this crisis and come out of it stronger.\n\nPhoto : ‘Ogomu’ Traditional Performing Arts of Korea ⓒ Shutterstock/Jack Q.

"Sumbi-sori is the sound of pain and the sound of life,” said Yun-bok Kim, a native Jeju islander whose deceased mother dedicated her entire life as a haenyeo, a female diver in Jeju.\n\nSumbi-sori is a huffing sound the diving women make upon exhaling after diving up to twenty meters. Kim said that his mother worked day and night, half on earth and half in the sea. He used to bring some food to his mother at dawn, when she was resting on a bulteok, a small, stone-walled structure built on the coast, where women divers can change into or out of their diving gear or gather around a fireplace to talk about their know-how and families. Kim remembers sweet grilled seaweed that his mother would make for him at the bulteok. “I didn’t really want to get up early and go to the bulteok, but now I miss the old days.”\n\nOn 25 May, I participated in a field trip program, Walk along the Haenyeo, organized by the Jeju Haenyeo Museum. I was excited to walk around the vast, crystal-clear ocean under the blue sky. About twenty participants walked for an hour and a half with Kim along Sumbi-sori Path, a trekking course in Sehwa-ri, which is home to the largest haenyeo community in Jeju with 280 female divers. Along the path, we could find agar harvested and dried on the ground, shrines built near the seaside to pray for the safety and a good harvest of haenyeo and fishermen, spring water as a source of drinking water for the village, field walls built with basalt rocks formed from volcanic activities, and bulteoks.\n\nSumbi-sori Path was a good representation of haenyeo life. The women dive to pick various marine products, such as agar and seaweed, until May. Then, they stop harvesting when the spawning season starts in June. The work of the diving women never stops, however. During the spawning season that continues until August, they go back to their farms and plant seeds for carrots, potatoes, radishes, and other crops and harvest crops from winter to spring.\n\nPhoto 1 : Photos of Shamanistic rituals organized by women divers in Jeju, taken by Kim Soo-nam, exhibited at Sanjicheon Gallery ⓒ Jinhee Oh\nPhoto 2 : A bulteok at the seashore of Sehwa-ri in Jeju ⓒ Jinhee Oh

The twenty-second Jeju Fire Festival will run for four days from 7 to 10 March 2019 at places across Jeju, including Jeju City Hall Square and Saebyeol Oreum in Aewol-eup.\n\nThis year, the festival has the theme “Light up the world with wildfire and dreams.” The first day will begin with a torch lighting ritual at Samseonghyeol. The torch will be conveyed along a route from Samseonghyeol to the KAL intersection, Gwangyang intersection, and Jeju City Hall Square. In addition to the torch ceremony, various events will be held at the city hall, including writing wishes on paper and a music concert.\n\nThe second day will see a number of programs taking place, including a prayer ritual for the prosperity and development of the Jeju city, a sheaf making contest, and diverse cultural and media art performances staged by delegates from other countries. There also will be a large full moon ceremony where visitors can wish upon the moon, which will be followed by putting the torch to a field, a torchlight parade, and a sheaf burning event.\n\nOn the third day, various traditional cultures of the island will attract visitors. One of them is majoje, a ritual of praying for the health of horses, which is representative of the pastoral culture of the island. Others include neokdungbegi, the traditional yutnori (board game) of Jeju, and deumdol-deulgi (stone lifting), a coming of age ceremony of the residents. A forum on how to develop the festival is scheduled as well. In addition, there will be a burning of a pig sheaf to hail the year of the pig according to the Chinese zodiac. Then, the oreum will be set alight, which is the highlight of the festival, to pray for good fortune in the new year.\n\nEven during the 1970s, farming households in Jeju raised a couple of cows to plow the land and carry the harvest from the fields to their homes or village market. In the off-season, farmers in each town took turns to manage the fields for their livestock. They set the pastures alight to get rid of old grass and harmful pests between late winter and early spring, so their livestock could graze fresh quality grass. The fields were set alight all over the hilly areas, and it created a spectacular sight. The Jeju Fire Festival is a modern interpretation of the ancient pastoral traditions of the island.\n\nPhoto : Jeju Fire Festival ⓒ Jeju City

There is a rich tradition of hand papermaking in East Asia that is still alive today. In Korea, hanji (traditional paper) making remains a distinguished cultural activity. According to many studies, such as the one conducted by Minah Song and Jesse Munn,1. different methods and materials in making hanji are tested to gauge permanence and durability. This is done because traditional Korean paper serves many functions, from it being a primary element in architecture and interior design to the versatility of hanji in art-making and recreation. More importantly, conservation of traditional hand papermaking in Korea is given attention because hanji is culturally symbolic of Korea being a nation of literacy, a nation that believes in the power of reading and writing. Aimee Lee, a leading hanji researcher, has carefully documented many ways in which hanji may be perceived: as a traditional process in a highly digital world, as a practice appropriated in North America, as an art made by hand, and as a performance of conservation. All of these lenses bring to the fore how intentional the process is and how meticulous one has to be to make a paper according to traditional knowledge.\n\nFrom 5 to 7 May 2018, the most traditional city of Korea, Jeonju, saw the return of the Hanji Culture Festival. The festival was a reminder of hanji importance, but it also showed the evolution of hanji, specifically on how hanji can be integrated into modern life. On the first day of the festival, p’ansori singer Nani Kim and calligraphist Lucia Choi opened the event with performances. The twenty-fourth National Hanji Craft Competition Awards Ceremony followed. The works of the competition winners as well as those of invited artists were on display for the entire run of the festival. The festival certainly was not short on performances: a hanji puppetry called “Ariari Puppet Play” was showcased. If not the most, one of the most anticipated segments of the festival was the 2018 Jeonju Hanji Fashion Competition and Show. It was a very special part of experiencing how important hanji is because it educated people on the transformative capability of hanji: that Korean traditional paper can actually be transformed into textile.\n\nLike other traditional handicrafts, hanji takes an important place in Korean heritage, allowing the possibility of witnessing timeless values that hold the nation together. It is for this that appreciation and conservation of hanji should be in place especially now that traditions are situated in global societies run by high technology.\n\nNotes\n1. Song, Minah and Munn, Jesse. 2004. “Permanence, Durability and Unique Properties of Hanji.” The Book and Paper Group Annual v23. American Institute for Conservation of Historic and Artistic Works. Last accessed on 31 May 2018. http://www.ifides.com/images/LOCHanjiTest.pdf\n\nPhoto : Korean hanji CCA jared

Jeju Island or Jeju Do was formed from volcanic eruptions that lasted from 1.8 million to a few thousand years ago. The island has a diverse and unique volcanic landform, earning its nickname as “a museum of volcanoes.” It is a repository of biological resources, as it is home to 2,000 plant and 5,000 animal species on Mt. Halla and in other areas. Jeju’s environmental value was globally acknowledged when it was listed as a UNESCO World Natural Heritage Site in 2007. The island is now “a treasure island of environmental assets” for the whole world to appreciate and protect.\n\nUNESCO designates places of “Outstanding Universal Value” as World Heritage. The 2007 listing for Jeju Island was the first such site in Korea and is listed under the official title “Jeju Volcanic Island and Lava Tubes.” Among four natural criteria for selection (scenic value, geological features, biodiversity, and ecological value), Jeju was acknowledged for its significant scenic value (vii) and significant geological value (viii). The designated sites are Hallasan Natural Reserve, Seongsan Ilchulbong Tuff Cone, and the Geomun Oreum Lava Tube System, covering a total area of 188.45 square kilometers (Core Zone 94.75, Buffer Zone 93.70), accounting for about 10 percent of the island.\n\nMt. Halla\nMt. Halla is the symbol of Jeju Island and the central peak of a shield volcano rising 1,950 meters above sea level. It was designated as Natural Monument No.182 in 1966 and a national park in 1970. The mountain has various volcanic landforms, including the Baengnokdam Crater Lake at the summit, the steep cliffs of Yeongsil Giam, many oreums, and a network of lava tubes. Mt. Halla is a habitat for various species. In particular, the forest of the Korean fir (Abies koreana), at an altitude of 1,400 meters, or higher is uniquely valuable as the only pure forest in the world.\n\nSeongsan Ilchulbong Tuff Cone\nSeongsan Ilchulbong Tuff Cone was formed when hot magma rose to the surface and interacted explosively with water 5,000 years ago. This 180-meter-high tuff cone has a crater about 600 meters in diameter, and as a result of thousands of years of erosion, it has the shape of crown. For such reasons, Seongsan Ilchulbong Tuff Cone has a well-preserved volcanic edifice since the hydromagmatic volcanic eruption, clearly displaying the sedimentary layers of volcanic ash. For a long time, it has been the first of the ten most famous scenic views at sunrise, drawing millions of tourists every year.\n\nGeomun Oreum Lava Tube System\nGeomun Oreum Lava Tube System refers to a series of lava tubes that were formed by the flow of lava from a small volcano called Geomun Oreum to the beach in the northeast direction (for about 14km). Among the caves, Bengdwigul, Manjanggul, Gimnyeonggul, Yongcheondonggul, and Dangcheomuldonggul were designated as World Natural Heritage Sites. The caves have significant scientific value due to the excellent preservation of its internal structure and topographical features, given its age of formation hundreds of thousands of years ago. In particular, Yongcheondonggul and Dangcheomuldonggul are recognized as the most beautiful lava tubes in the world, as they boast a magnificent view with carbonate speleothems, which are common in limestone caves.\n\nphoto : Four seasons of Hallasan ©Jeju World Natural Heritage Center

Folkland, International Centre for Folklore and Culture is a nonprofit NGO devoted to promoting folklore and culture. Headquartered in Kerala in south-western India, Folkland has three main centers and several chapters in India and associations with other organizations abroad through MOUs and collab-orative partnerships. Folkland has been affiliated with the UNESCO ICH sector since 2010. Folkland envisions a society that respects cultural heritage by conserving arts and cultural traditions and transmitting them to future generations. As such, Folkland is proudly dedicated to promoting Indian culture and values with a focus on intangible cultural heritage. The center provides access to knowledge and information about intangible cultural heritage and is known for promoting indigenous culture that inspires audiences to explore the cultural and artistic heritage of Kerala. The main domains covered by Folkland are performing arts; oral traditions and expressions; social practices, rituals, and festivals; and traditional crafts. Folkland documents oral traditions and practices and extends training to younger genera-tions to revitalize old and near-extinct traditional art forms. One ICH element of particular interest to Folkland is tolpavakoothu (shadow puppetry).

School should be a happy place where students are willing to engage in activities, learn, share, and develop into citizens who make a useful contribution to society. Most people spend a significant proportion of their youth, and sometimes some of their adult years, in the education system. It is, therefore, not a surprise that quality education is one of the goals identified as part of the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Interestingly, this objective—Sustainable Development Goal 4 (SDG 4)—focuses not only on quantitative indicators (e.g., ensuring that all girls and boys complete free, equitable, and quality primary and secondary education) but also on qualitative aspects of education. It is essential to give a central place to strengthening education’s contribution to the fulfillment of human rights, peace, and responsible citizenship; this can be achieved through, among other aspects, the acceptance and appreciation of the cultural diversity of the world.

The term pastellessa represents an extraordinary combination of food, culture, music, and folklore, an expression of the people of Macerata Campania. It’s a term with a very rich history and tradition, relating to the celebration of a religious event: the Feast of Sant’Antuono (St. Anthony the Abbot).