Navruz (Nowruz) is not just about the first day of spring, but it is also not just a celebration of the New Year marked by indulging in a feast; it has a much wider historical and cultural context with deep doctrinal significance.

Marking the beginning of spring, Navruz (meaning March equinox) is one of the largest traditional holidays in Central Asia. Located in the heart of Central Asia, Kyrgyzstan has been celebrating Navruz (Nooruz in Kyrgyz) for a long time as its national holiday. When the Navruz holiday comes, Kyrgyz families gather to make holiday desserts: sumolok and boorsok.\n\nIn the old times, sumolok was a ritual dish prepared before the start of spring sowing. Sumolok is a sweet paste made from germinated wheat and stir cooked in a kazan, a large traditional pot in Central Asia. Sumolok has become an important cuisine in Kyrgyz culture since almost all of Kyrgyzstan celebrates the holiday by making it. In villages and towns, families gather around a kazan full of sumolok and take turns to stirring the sumolok. Usually it takes a whole day and night to finish the cuisine, which is why a typical Navruz scene in Kyrgyzstan is pictured as a group of families sitting around a Kazan while singing and stirring sumolok.\n\nBoorsok, on the other hand, is cooked faster than sumolok. Also a traditional sweet in Central Asia, boorsok is a type of fried dough in various shapes. Kyrgyz boorsok is typically shaped like a pressed doughnut.\n\nThis year, Boorsok National Record was held in the Arashan village near the capital city, Bishkek. The event was organized by Ethnographic Complex Kyrgyz Aiyli (meaning Kyrgyz village), successfully attracting an estimated 1,500 local residents and tourists. The main programs included making boorsok, singing songs, and competing in horse riding and other national games. The participants in the boorsok cooking competition used about a ton of flour and made more than 800 kg of boorsok. Later, boxes of boorsok were sent to nearby orphanages and the elderly in Arashan Village.\n\nMarking the beginning of spring, Navruz (meaning March equinox) is one of the largest traditional holidays in Central Asia. Located in the heart of Central Asia, Kyrgyzstan has been celebrating Navruz (Nooruz in Kyrgyz) for a long time as its national holiday. When the Navruz holiday comes, Kyrgyz families gather to make holiday desserts: sumolok and boorsok.\n\nIn the old times, sumolok was a ritual dish prepared before the start of spring sowing. Sumolok is a sweet paste made from germinated wheat and stir cooked in a kazan, a large traditional pot in Central Asia. Sumolok has become an important cuisine in Kyrgyz culture since almost all of Kyrgyzstan celebrates the holiday by making it. In villages and towns, families gather around a kazan full of sumolok and take turns to stirring the sumolok. Usually it takes a whole day and night to finish the cuisine, which is why a typical Navruz scene in Kyrgyzstan is pictured as a group of families sitting around a Kazan while singing and stirring sumolok.\n\nBoorsok, on the other hand, is cooked faster than sumolok. Also a traditional sweet in Central Asia, boorsok is a type of fried dough in various shapes. Kyrgyz boorsok is typically shaped like a pressed doughnut.\n\nThis year, Boorsok National Record was held in the Arashan village near the capital city, Bishkek. The event was organized by Ethnographic Complex Kyrgyz Aiyli (meaning Kyrgyz village), successfully attracting an estimated 1,500 local residents and tourists. The main programs included making boorsok, singing songs, and competing in horse riding and other national games. The participants in the boorsok cooking competition used about a ton of flour and made more than 800 kg of boorsok. Later, boxes of boorsok were sent to nearby orphanages and the elderly in Arashan Village.\n\nMore information about Navruz is available in ICHCAP’s e-Knowledge Center.\n\nWatch Other Navruz Videos\nNavruz is celebrated throughout Central Asia, with each ethnic group having its own take on the holiday. The videos of Tajik and Uzbek celebrations below are from ICHCAP’s Central Asia ICH Collection.

Boysun district, in southern Uzbekistan, has a beautiful natural landscape and is surrounded by a mountain range. The local environment and geographic isolation created favorable conditions for unique local intangible cultural heritage forms and expressions to form and be preserved over time. The same conditions also led to the existence of various types of labor activities, such as agriculture, cattle breeding, and handicrafts.

After the Angkor was inscribed on the World Cultural Heritage List, it was necessary to establish working mechanisms to promote national and international collaboration.

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.

Afghanistan is a culturally rich and diverse country with an abundance of tangible and intangible heritage stretching back from over a millennium. The nation has suffered a lot during the long years of war and conflict and the generations of ancestors who depended on transferring their intangible cultural heritage skills and knowledge to descendants were severely affected and displaced during the years of war.\n

The Kazakh oral tradition is closely associated with the culture and lifestyle of nomadic civilisation. One of the main branches of the Great Silk Road is known to have led across Central Asia and Kazakhstan. The instrumental and oral traditions of numerous nomadic and settled nations were developing along the Great Silk Road in close interethnic contacts. In particular, many scientists and researchers note that different cultures and ethnic groups have common variations of tamboura-like instruments with silk strings and dulcimer-like instruments and traditional guttural singing.

Yap is one of four island states in the Federated States of Micronesia, boasting 134 islands spread across nearly 1,000 kilometers of ocean in the Northern Pacific. Four main volcanic islands make up Yap proper. As the westernmost state and lowest elevation, Yap’s geography creates a natural vulnerability to earthquakes, tsunamis, typhoons, storm surges, and droughts from the impact of El Nino Southern Oscillation (ENSO).

If there’s one thing that is sure in life, it is that death is inevitable. It happens to all regardless of gender, age, and socioeconomic status—even to the healthy and fit. In Fijian, the word for ‘sick’ is tauvi mate (tah-oo-vee mah-teh), which literally translates to ‘having contracted death.’ When death occurs, the universal Fijian word for funeral is somate (soh-mah-teh), with so meaning ‘gathering’ and mate as ‘death’ or ‘dead.’ Like other parts of the world, in this gathering, people come to offer and provide emotional, spiritual, physical, and even financial support towards the surviving family members in grieving and also in the farewelling of their loved one.

Lum, also called medicinal bathing, is an important part of Sowa Rigpa (Tibetan Medicine) with a long history. In Tibetan, “Lum” indicates the traditional knowledge and practices of bathing in natural hot springs, herbal water, or steam to adjust the balance of mind and body, to ensure health and treat illnesses. Lum medicinal bathing is popular among Tibetan people because of its wide indication, safety, and effectiveness.

Saint Giong (Thánh Gióng), one of the Four Immortals (alongside Tan Vien, Chu Dong Tu, and Lieu Hanh) wor￾shipped by the Vietnamese people, is a historical hero dating back to the early time of the Viet nation.1 The story of Saint Giong has been transmitted through many generations as a legend that invokes the bravery and community solidarity of the Vietnamese people in fighting against foreign invaders. Today, the tremendous legacy of Saint Giong is manifest in the spiritual belief, the annual ceremony, and the temple where past and present collide.

Dongjo Yoo, a renowned installation artist, focuses primarily on environmental projects, specifically projects related to water. His most notable work is the Water Performance Installation Project, an eleven-year project starting from 2014, involving eleven lakes and rivers in ten countries. Under the motto of “there is no ‘water’ in the presence of water, and there is ‘water’ in the absence of water,” the project has been a large success. To highlight the importance of the environment, Mr. Yoo is looking forward to expanding his project to areas along the Silk Roads where water is a scarce and valuable resource.