“ICH and Gender” introduces the mutual relationship between gender norms and ICH and emphasizes that understanding the intimacy between ICH and gender is important for effective ICH safeguarding and gender equality.

“ICH and Sustainable Development” summarizes the contributions of ICH to sustainable development based on three dimensions indicated in the action plan of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development—inclusive social development, environmental sustainability, and inclusive economic development—and one prerequisite for sustainable development: peace and security.\n\n

On 19 and 20 November, in the Terai region of Nepal and Indian States of Bihar, Jharkhand, and Uttar Pradesh, the people celebrated the Chhath Puja festival. This is one of the most important festivals for the people living in that region. It has now exceeded the traditional boundary of celebration and proliferated to wider geography due to widespread diaspora.\n\nDuring the four-day festival, the Sun and goddess Chhati Maiya are worshipped in water sources—ponds, rivers, and lakes. By worshipping goddess Chhati Maiya, people believe wishes will be fulfilled and provide support and strength for the poor and needy. In this festival, the rich and poor come to the same place to worship with same kind of offerings.\n\nWater sources—ponds, lakes, and riverbanks—are important for this event, so people start cleaning and decorating these places much ahead of festival. They decorate the water sources with flowers, banana plants and leaves, offerings, and lights. During the festival, colorfully dressed people create a special and spectacular ambience. So not only the people celebrating but also those from other religions and regions come to visit these celebratory spots. Other than the religious, cultural, and social importance of this festival, it tries to teach important lessons on conserving water sources.\n\nThis is just one example among many festivals and rituals whose main reason for existing is taking care of forests, water sources, mountains, and other natural resources. In South Asia, despite having traditional linkages related to nature, such as rivers being a sacred place. The irony is that rivers are the most polluted in these regions.\n\nRituals for the water sources, praying in the mountains, and many more continue to be practiced. The main motto of these festivals is to conserve nature and water sources, but some are lost in the process. We are taught to keep up the traditions, but we forgot to transfer the actual meaning behind these traditions.\n\nThis is why we need to include ICH in education where we can correlate traditional knowledge with modern science. We despise the ancient knowledge and want scientific answers for all our problems. But if we look closely at most of the traditions passed on to us, these rituals are solutions for many modern problems.\n\nMost of the Sustainable Development Goals can be addressed through understanding practices and traditional knowledge. The relation of traditional values of safeguarding water sources can address the problem of access to clean water for the people. Similarly, peace, social cohesion, climate change, inclusiveness, and safe cities are a few of them, which could directly contribute with better understanding of intangible heritage.\n\nWe have the subjects like environmental science and social studies in school, but we rarely have relatable chapters on addressing local problems and solutions for them. We educate students on the plastic problem, but we should also discuss alternatives like traditional use of leaves plates and bowels, degradable clay cups, and other items.\n\nPhoto : Chhath Puja celebration at the bank of pond © Monalisa Maharjan

Onam is a major harvest festival celebrated in the Indian state of Kerala. The 10-day Onam festival marks the onset of the first month according to the Malayalam calendar called Chingam and generally occurs in the months of August or September every year. Due to the COVID -19, the festival saw major restrictions, however, it was celebrated with much enthusiasm between 12th August until 23rd August 2021 keeping in mind all the COVID protocols.\n\nThe origin of the festival can also be traced from various regional sources. According to the folk song ‘Maveli Naadu Vaanidum Kaalam’, Mahabali was a very kind-hearted and generous king. Under his rule, there were no theft, lies, hunger, or jealousy among his people. It is said that people were so happy under his rule that they no longer felt the need to pray or make offerings to the Gods. He was beginning to rule all three worlds which infuriated Lord Indra and gods. To take control of the situation, Lord Vishnu took his fifth avatar of a Brahmin dwarf named ‘Vamana’. As Vamana, he appeared before Mahabali and made a wish for three feet of land for penance. In his first and second steps, he covered the heavens and the hell. Mahabali, seeing this, offered his own head for the third step. Impressed by this action, Lord Vishnu appeared as himself before Mahabali to bless him. Lord Vishnu granted a boon to Mahabali that he can visit his beloved people once a year. As a result, the homecoming of king Mahabali is celebrated as Onam.\n\nOnam combines elaborate festivities that include food, dance, cultural clothing, flower decoration, etc. Each house performs such functions with sheer enthusiasm and love for our culture while supporting agricultural practices. One of the most popular components of the festival is the food. Onam Sadhya is a multi-course meal that includes 26 different food items prepared with local ingredients. Some of the dishes include Rice, Avial (a dish prepared by cooking vegetables in mango and ground coconut), Olan, Sambhar, Rasam, banana and jaggery chips, Pappadam, followed by at least 2 varieties of Payasam (a milk-based sweet prepared with rice, wheat etc). These are only a handful of items prepared in the diverse state of Kerala also known as the land of spices.\n\nThe other aspects of the festival include elaborate decorations that include the extensive use of local and colorful flowers. Pookkalam (floor designs with flowers) are made every day of the festival and various games like Vadam Vali (tug of war), Puli Kali (folk art from Kerala), Vallam Kali (Boat Race), are played during the festival.\n\nThe festival is a great reflection of the cultural heritage of Kerala. Families are seen wearing traditional attires that include Kasavu/Set Sarees for women and Mundu for men. There is a tradition of gifting new clothes called Ona Kodi to other members of the family. The festival is celebrated with great energy with the enthusiasm of beginning a new year according to the Malayalam calendar in Kerala.\n\nThe author would like to thank and acknowledge the contribution of various people from Kerala including Aravind Nair, Kavya Nair, Mariam Rauf, Sarath Ninan Mathew, Vishnu Vijayan, and others who have shared valuable information about the festival.\n\nphoto 1 : Onam Pookalam © Yugaljoshi\nphoto 2 : Onam sadya © kavya_adiga

Resilience is the ability to cope with difficult situations that may be foreseen or unforeseen. It does not necessarily serve as protection against a disaster or other stressful situation, such as the COVID-19 pandemic. It is the adaptability of social and ecological systems to adverse situations and disruptions. Social and ecological systems are reflected in the definition of ICH in the 2003 UNESCO Convention as evident in the domains identified, comprising: oral traditions and expressions; performing arts; social practices, rituals, and festive events; knowledge and practices concerning nature and the universe; and traditional craftsmanship.

The Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts (IGNCA), New Delhi, and UNESCO New Delhi Office, working with the Maldhari community in the Indian state of Gujarat, undertook a joint project to develop a basic framework for a community-based approach to inventorying ICH. The Maldharis, after much deliberation among themselves, recommended the tradition of gujharat to be taken up as a case study.

According to the oral traditions of the Cook Islands, sacred rituals were commonly performed on what is known as a marae or sacred ground. Each tribe has its own marae where ceremonies such as offerings of prayers, tributes to the gods and the induction of traditional titles on family members were once carried out. It also acted as a meeting place for important tribal matters.

The small sun-soaked village of Molela, located approximately fifteen to twenty kilometers from the city of Udaipur in Rajasthan, is home to a vibrant community of terracotta clay artists. Over the years, Molela has emerged as a focal point in the art of making attractive votive plaques or idols of gods, with terracotta. While the early creations were originally cast as standing idols of local deities and various forms of the Hindu god Vishnu, today these figures are often mounted on tiles or plaques and are hung from the walls of homes and temples. These votive figurines can be multicolored or can have a terracotta hue, as is represented in the various temples in Rajasthan and Gujarat.

The gender diversity expressed in intangible cultural heritage (ICH) should be seen as a part of the cultural diversity now celebrated as a human rights value and should therefore be protected as such. However, this is not a simple matter since, as we know, some traditional cultural practices are incompatible with the fundamental human rights principles of equality and non-discrimination. Indeed, the question of how the requirements of gender equality can be met within the framework of UNESCO’s 2003 Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage raises some important and extremely complex issues. At the core of these rests an apparent contradiction between the human rights concept of gender equality and the multiple ways in which gender is expressed in ICH and understood by bearer communities. Since, as stated in its preamble, the 2003 Convention is explicitly placed within the broader context of human rights, this is not simply a theoretical question; any heritage recognized and safeguarded under that treaty should be compatible with human rights requirements, of which equality on the basis of sex (among other bases) is a central one. This presents important challenges to governments, the international community, and other actors interested in identifying ICH for the purposes of safeguarding; although more leeway may be possible for national safeguarding of ICH, a relatively strict test of gender equality and non-discrimination needs to be applied for the international aspects of the Convention (international inscriptions and assistance, in particular).

Since ancient times, Central Asia has been populated by numerous nomadic and sedentary peoples and ethnic groups. The region is characterized by a rich cultural diversity as well as the interaction and interpenetration of different cultures, each of which is original.

Once upon a time, a beautiful young woman wandered into a jungle carrying her little baby girl in search of food. She was very tired, so she made a soft bed from the petals of flowers and laid the baby on it. Then she left to search for fruits to satisfy her immense hunger. Two great birds who had no babies of their own found the little human baby in its nest of flowers and carried it away on their backs to their own nest. Their nest was very large; many strange birds lived together there in harmony. There was a parrot, a myna, a hen, a stork, a kingfisher, and a tailorbird in their nest.

"This presentation paints a broad portrait of intangible cultural heritage (ICH) in Canada. In the first section, I examine the political and legal situations of a country that has not signed the 2003 UNESCO Convention. My focus rests more specifically on the recent legislative recognition of ICH in the Canadian province of Quebec, which adopted the Cultural Heritage Act on 19 October 2011. I explain the safeguarding mechanisms prescribed in this act and describe how the legislation will be put into practice. In the second section, I examine safeguarding initiatives that support ICH directly and indirectly at the federal and provincial levels. The presentation analyses more specifically the inventories undertaken in Quebec since 2003 and 2004, revealing their benefits and drawbacks. I conclude by demonstrating how international cooperation has strengthened efforts to develop ICH in Canada and abroad. Important aspects of these efforts include the exchange of expertise, political legitimacy conferred by external recognition, and professional networking."