The region of Bay of Bengal has been an important part of maritime activities, including trading and fisheries from very ancient times. The significance of the region continues even at present. The massive \nwaterbody is a representation of a busy network of trade and commerce and the basis of livelihoods for thousands who surround it from all sides from various countries. Fishing as an occupation is an important \nsector of food and nutritional security and India alone, has more than nine million active fisherfolk across its coastline, who are directly dependent on fisheries for their livelihood, amidst which 80 % are small scale fishers. The sector of fisheries employs over 14 million people and contributes to 1.1 % of the Indian GDP. Though the number remains unaccounted for in most countries, but amidst the number of \nfishermen, there is a substantial number of fisherwomen, who have been contributing through generations in various ways, including supplementing the family income through alternative methods of income, as well as being the main conduits of maintaining various elements of intangible cultural heritage, including traditional methods of fishing. This research paper is an attempt to look into the contribution of the fisherwomen community around the western fringes of the Bay of Bengal, especially looking at the countries of Bangladesh, India and Sri Lanka and the vital contributions of these womenfolk. The fisherwomen \nnot only help to sustain the families through the main profession of the family, but also helps financially through various subsidiary modes of income, like handicrafts and artwork. This is extremely helpful for sustaining the family in time of the lean seasons of fishing, as well as during periods of disaster, like the present Covid-19 pandemic situation. These attempts of the fisherwomen, thus, connects various factors to \noverall social cohesion and development, including sustaining various channels of intangible cultural heritage which directly connects to their main profession and also helps in transmission of community values \nand also redefines gender roles within the community.

Building a canoe for the palolo rise, an event that occurs twice in a year, is rarely described and documented in moving and still images. With accompanying text capturing knowledge shared by a Master Craftsman, Lesā Motusaga of Sa‘anapu village in Samoa, this paper provides insights into the Intangible Cultural Heritage associated with the building of a paopao, dugout canoe, for a rich fishing tradition. \nPalolo, a delicacy that rises pre-dawn from coral beds seven days after the full moon in October and November, is known as the caviar of the Pacific, an apt description given the high price people are willing to \npay for this rare seafood. Briefly, it is a seafood with significant socio-cultural value now enjoying high, if not inflated, economic value. \n\nThe natural environment is not a typical classroom but is, insofar as Intangible Cultural Heritage is concerned, an important setting where knowledge is transmitted, particularly knowledge of the environment and tapu or sa, the sacred laws or forbidden acts designed for its protection and conservation.

The Ganges Delta that makes up almost 90 percent of present day Bangladesh is one of the most ancient human habitats in the world. The vast alluvial plain of Bangladesh is watered by the great rivers of the Padma, the Meghna, and the Jamuna. The land is so fertile that little diligence is required to produce crops, and blessed with monsoons from the Bay of Bengal, the climate is very pleasant. In a word, it is a land of abundance. That is why this land has beckoned people from the furthest corners of the world, thus becoming a crucible of diverse cultures. People of different castes and creeds have been living in this part of the world for thousands of years. Numerous heritage sites and colorful lifestyles of its people bear the testimony of the rich and varied culture of this land.

The hallowed musical art form known as Tuong or Boi—Vietnamese traditional opera—is one of Vietnam’s major classical performance genres. According to an important document from our early royal archive collection, while in battle with Mongol invasion forces in the thirteenth century, one of Vietnam’s greatest military heroes, Commander Tran Quoc Tuan of the Tran emperor’s army, captured a noted Chinese musical luminary named Ly Nguyen Cat. This artist was handed over General Tran Nhat Duat, and it is thanks to the general that the art of Tuong was introduced to Vietnam as a source of entertainment for the nation’s soldiers and officials.

During Dan-o, Daeboreum, and Chuseok, pre-modern Koreans used to hold celebrations composed of rituals to the communal deity, communal games, and various folk arts. Among the communal games, the tug-of-war was the most common. It was widely distributed around the central southern region of Korea and played simultaneously or in rotation with other communal games.

As one of the most complete surviving historic city centers with a multicultural living heritage on the Straits of Malacca, George Town was inscribed as a World Heritage Site by the UNESCO World Heritage Committee in 2008, together with Melaka. To manage, monitor, and promote the George Town World Heritage Site, George Town World Heritage Incorporated (gtwhi.com.my) was established in 2010 by the state government of Penang.

Learning oral epic traditions means learning people’s lifestyle, traditions, customs and history, their present and future, their way of thinking and their spirit. Specifically, it means understanding the originality of a nation, its qualities, wishes, way of living and outlook or, in other words, learning the oral traditions of a nation means to study the nation itself. The process of modernising our present morals depends on how we have studied literary heritage, including the originality and degree of mythology in oral epic traditions. For this, initially we need to learn, investigate and research ancient mythological imaginations of our people and their oral narrative traditions, which are the base for art and literature. Oral epic works present the literary history of any nation.

The Phnom Penh Vientiane Workshop and Charter were driven by participants who represented museum and heritage leadership from linguistically and culturally diverse communities of South-East Asia and Timor-Leste. Its integrity, from preparation to follow-up, has been overseen by a leadership of entirely Asian linguistic and cultural backgrounds. It was the first of such major initiatives in Asia by the International Council of Museums (ICOM). It addressed the concern that models and methods from developed or rich countries, where heritage contexts are well resourced, may not necessarily work for cultural communities and groups in low economic indicator countries. This concern was prioritised with the significance given to stakeholder or carrier and transmitter communities in the UNESCO 2003 Convention.

Enrichment, inclusion and empowerment. Why these concepts and why in that order? Are they, next to “sustainable development” of course, the key concepts for the 2020s in heritage policy and practice? Do these concepts already appear in the universe of the Blue Book, the nickname of the Basic Texts of the 2003 Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage 2018 Edition? This set of texts includes among others the 2003 UNESCO Convention text itself, the most recent version of the Operational Directives (ODs) approved by the General Assembly, the 12 Ethical Principles and the new Overall Results (Based) Framework/ORF (2018).1)\nThe word “empowerment” cannot yet be found but the verb “empower” is used twice: OD130 and OD133. Two times to empower the Director General of UNESCO so she can authorize the use of the emblem of the 2003 Convention. \nThe word “enrichment” cannot yet be found but the verb “enrich” is used twice: in the preamble of the 2003 UNESCO Convention. First in the statement that communities, groups and, in some cases, individuals (CGIs), play an important role in (safeguarding) intangible cultural heritage “thus helping to enrich cultural diversity and human creativity”. Then in a statement that international agreements concerning heritage “need to be effectively enriched and supplemented by means of new provisions relating to the intangible cultural heritage.”\nThe word “inclusion” is used twice. Once in the Rule of Procedure (22.4) in a warning/request to delegates of State Parties or observers not to advocate for granting financial assistance or the inclusion on

We are accustomed to considering how the participation of communities, groups, and individuals in safeguarding their own intangible cultural heritage (ICH) is both a practical necessity and an ethical imperative. Implicit in the 2003 Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage is a bolder claim: that because intangible cultural heritage plays a vital function within society, its safeguarding is a powerful strategy for communities, groups, and individuals to fortify themselves in the face of rapid sociocultural, economic, and environmental changes. Theconvention is not concerned with safeguarding ICH for its own sake, and neither is it concerned with the past. Instead, the convention looks resolutely forward, its mission being to safeguard ICH as a means of strengthening the viability and resilience of the communities, groups, and individuals concerned. Our goal in safeguarding ICH is to ensure that future generations will continue to have access to the practices, expressions, representations, and knowledge that we enjoy today, and will remain able to utilize them to strengthen the social fabric of communities and groups, even as they face new and unforeseen challenges.

Performed in villages and closely attached to water rice agriculture, water puppetry is a unique performing art and is the intangible cultural heritage of the Viet people in the Northern Delta region of Vietnam. Created in the tenth century, the first historical record on water puppetry was inscribed in an ancient stele in 1121 called the Sung Dien Dien Linh in the Long Dọi Buddhist Temple of Ha Nam Province. The inscription reads that water puppetry was performed to entertain the king on the occasion of his longevity ceremony.

Beijing opera dates back over two hundred years to the Qing dynasty, although its roots can be traced back to the Tang dynasty (618–907 CE). While there are many aspects that make Beijing opera a unique cultural asset, the facial makeup used on performers is world renowned for its exquisiteness and mystique.