Mataginifale Women's Group

Mataginifale Women's Group

The one and main principle for upbringing and educating children and youth is to direct them to have respect towards their elders and to follow and venerate their teachings. It is accustomed to employ the combination of variety folk upbringing and educating methods such as approving and supporting, encouraging and praising, disapproving and prohibiting, reproving and criticizing, serving as an example and causing to follow. Folk aphorisms, proverbs, folk oral literature, traditional games and toys are commonly used as well. Mongol herders have been educating and nurturing their children and youths from very young age by engaging in the labor activities which appropriate to their age, and working together with their parents and siblings; playing traditional games, engaging with nature and to make a disciple of well-educated person.

In a small lakeside village in central Kazakhstan, a former history teacher and journalist, Togaybay Nurmuratuly, has dedicated his life to reviving the lost traditions of Kazakh craftsmanship. Disturbed by the decline of authentic handmade wooden goods and the disappearance of ancestral knowledge, he left a successful career in the capital to found a free school of traditional crafts in the village of Ozernoye.\n\nWorking primarily with birch, Togaybay carves dishes, trays, and cultural items adorned with ancient Kazakh ornaments like qoshqar muyuz (ram’s horns), a symbol of vitality and prosperity. Despite having no formal training, he taught himself the techniques of woodworking and has since passed on his knowledge to over a hundred students across Kazakhstan.\n\nAlongside him, his wife Gulbarshyn Zaitzhankyzy—an ethno-designer and expert in felting—teaches women to sew traditional Kazakh clothing and accessories using ancient materials and motifs. Together, they have created a community that reconnects Kazakhs to their cultural roots while helping learners build sustainable livelihoods.\n\nTheir school offers not only craft training but also guidance on entrepreneurship, production, and promotion—helping modern artisans blend tradition with technology. With ambitions to expand into blacksmithing, build an ethnographic village, and establish a Kazakh national brand of handmade products, the couple’s vision is reshaping cultural preservation in Kazakhstan.\n\nThis is more than a story about wood and wool—it's about identity, resilience, and the belief that tradition, when nurtured with passion, can forge a future as strong as its past.

This film is about rituals related to children. Included are kyrkyn chygaruu, a ritual celebrating the fortieth day after a child’s birth; beshike saluu, a ritual of placing baby in the cradle; tushoo kesuu, a ritual of cutting rope tied around a baby’s ankles; and bata, a blessing ritual. Knowledge holders talk about the significance of each ritual in a child’s life cycle. The film shows how these rituals are conducted now and how they have evolved over time.

Bhatiyali Song\nBhatiyali music is inspired by the confluence of nature and life. It is the music of mystic rivers and the lives of boatmen. The boatmen also hum songs of leisure and peace, performed while comfortably rowing downstream. The songs gained popularity in the Mymensingh and Sylhet districts of Bengal (now in Bangladesh), as well as in the Sunderban area. These songs are performed solo and in chorus.

The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, adopted by the UN Member States on 25 September 2015, is an action plan for tackling the most challenging issues of our world today. The hope is that within the next fifteen years, the sustainable development goals (SDGs) will encourage universal efforts to end all forms of poverty and ensure that no one is left behind.\n\nThe methods and practices to accomplish these goals will vary depending on the context. In the Pacific region, incorporating intangible cultural heritage (ICH) is crucial to accomplish any of the SDGs since it plays an important role as a “driver, enabler and guarantee of sustainable development.\n\nAlthough each nation in the Pacific has its own diverse ICH, they all share a sense of longing for sustainable development and community well-being. Traditional and local knowledge have always played a pivotal role in protecting clean water supplies, coral reefs, and rainforests; healing the sick through traditional medicine; and building homes resistant to climate change. Ensuring the success of the SDGs in the Pacific will require an understanding of how ICH can be incorporated in the SDGs from the local perspective.

Lialiaci is a publication of the iTaukei Institute of Language and Culture, Ministry of iTaukei Affairs. \nLialiaci means to ponder or reflect upon deeply. \nThat is the intent of these articles and perspectives on culture. \n\nThe publication has 3 articles:\n1. Bulu, The Spirit World by Anasa Tawake\n\nThis brief research will try to explain Bulu or the iTaukei concept of the spirit world.\nIt is important to define Bulu or the spirit world because it can be a foundation to which our beliefs are derived from. It is understood that our culture is ‘fixated on Bulu’ (Sekove Bigitibau). If this is so, then our culture, customs and ethos are focused towards the spirit world known as Bulu. Prior to Christianity, who’s to say that the beliefs of our ancestors were inaccurate? It is a common belief that Christianity was the best thing to happen to our vanua. On the contrary, Christianity brought about the demonization of iTaukei belief system. At the offset, the missionaries knew that there was an existing belief system unfortunately they chose to disregard this and not use it as a foundation for Christian faith.\n\n2.The Sunken island by Inoki Kaloumaira:\nA few islands in Fiji and the Pacific are said to have submerged in the last hundred to thousand years ago. The island of Vuniivilevu is believed to have submerged in the year AD1200 in the Motoriki waters, Lomaiviti (2005). It is one of the islands that is regarded to have been inhabited first before other settlers arrived. Early migrants were said to be tall, muscular and tough and this could be proven with the skeleton that was found in Naturuku, Motoriki in 2002. What was also remarkable about this skeleton was the excellent state of preservation of the skull. It was of a female who would’ve been tall, muscular and tough and was believed to have lived in Motoriki around 800BC (2007). \n\n3. Ancient Sounds in Fiji by Ulaiasi Taoi:\nAncient sounds in Fiji is still echoed in traditional chant, traditional dances, polyphony, and sacred psalms. It is found to be unique from western sounds and sounds in many parts of the world. Most current Fijian music has adopted western sounds, this includes church hymns, folk songs, serenades, and also Tongan sounds which is practiced in serevakalau known as Polotu and also pesi (Lauan folksongs). Aporosa a traditional cartographer form Beqa stated that there was no Fijian alphabet, but instead was the practice of oral transmission through traditional dances. Lyrics, cartographer and sound were transmitted through vision (Bulivou, 1985). Once ancient sounds were not composed, it was inherently transmitted through the vanua as a gift, and intrinsically maintained its mana in the vanua livelihood. \n\n\n\n \n

Promote Transformative Education Through Integrating Living Heritage in Schools\n\nIntegrating living heritage in school teaching and learning can enhance education quality, enliven the experiences of students and teachers, and contribute to keeping this heritage alive for current and future generations. In addition, as the ongoing pandemic Covid-19 has also demonstrated, living heritage can play an important role in ensuring the well-being and resilience of the communities.\nUNESCO encourages countries to safeguard living heritage through formal and non-formal education. From the end of 2019 to early 2022, UNESCO has been working with partners to implement a pilot project “Teaching and Learning with Living Heritage in Schools” in six countries in Asia and the Pacific - including Cambodia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Nepal, Republic of Korea and Thailand. Over 1900 students from 21 schools had the opportunity to participate in these innovative classes. Throughout the process, 86 teachers, with more than two thirds being women, have developed and tested 101 lesson plans and activities.\nThis Resource Kit provides step-by-step guidance and key resources on why and how to integrate living heritage in lessons and extracurricular activities in schools. \nWhoever you are – policy-maker, school director, teacher, student, parent, heritage practitioner – you have a vital role to play in this process.

Promote Transformative Education Through Integrating Living Heritage in Schools\n\nIntegrating living heritage in school teaching and learning can enhance education quality, enliven the experiences of students and teachers, and contribute to keeping this heritage alive for current and future generations. In addition, as the ongoing pandemic Covid-19 has also demonstrated, living heritage can play an important role in ensuring the well-being and resilience of the communities.\nUNESCO encourages countries to safeguard living heritage through formal and non-formal education. From the end of 2019 to early 2022, UNESCO has been working with partners to implement a pilot project “Teaching and Learning with Living Heritage in Schools” in six countries in Asia and the Pacific - including Cambodia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Nepal, Republic of Korea and Thailand. Over 1900 students from 21 schools had the opportunity to participate in these innovative classes. Throughout the process, 86 teachers, with more than two thirds being women, have developed and tested 101 lesson plans and activities.\nThis Resource Kit provides step-by-step guidance and key resources on why and how to integrate living heritage in lessons and extracurricular activities in schools.\nWhoever you are – policy-maker, school director, teacher, student, parent, heritage practitioner – you have a vital role to play in this process.