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The ICH festivals in the Kyrgyz Republic are a great way to safeguard the cultural heritage. Kyrgyzstan has a rich ICH and embraces all ICH domains including the oral traditions andexpressions, performing arts, social practices, rituals and festive event, knowledge and practices concerning nature and the universe, and traditional craftsmanship. Festivals feature various ICH domains such as arts and crafts, cuisine, folklore, felt, hunting with birds, horse games, etc. For instance, the festivals Kyrgyz Shyrdagy and the Oimo International Festival are held with the aim of safeguarding and popularizing traditional knowledge and skills of handicrafts, for safeguarding and promoting traditional games, various birds of prey festivals are held, such as Salbuurun and Kok Boru. Moreover, festivals are dedicated to safeguarding oral traditions, such as Aitysh, the art of improvisation as well as many other festivals reflecting traditional cuisine, folklore, etc.

The Eagle Dance is a Mongolian folk dance expressing the movements of a white eagle flying across the sky. Dancers raise one leg and flap their arms, imitating eagles flapping their wings. They also perform powerful movements to dynamic music. The basic move of raising both arms while moving the shoulders up and down originates from the Mongolian Biyelgee dance.\n\nThe white eagle is known to be the totem bird of Genghis Khan, founder of the Mongol Empire. The Eagle Dance represents the bravery of 13th century Mongolian warriors, and is a permanent fixture in the repertoire performed at major national events.\n\nCharacteristics:\n∙Dance mimicking the movements of animals\n\nPerformed by Mongolian National Song and Dance Academic Ensemble\nDirected by Tseden-Ish Altangerel\nChoreopraphed by Davaakhuu Altangerel

The tradition of domestication of falcon, hawk and eagles, and train them to the hunting has transmitted in world countries from the ancient time until today. The tradition to hunt with eagles is widely practiced among Kazakh ethnic groups of Mongolia. The custom of hunting with eagles is not only the daily necessity of life, but a great contribution to the development of a sport, competitions and festivals. Hunters develop a strong relationship and spiritual bond with their birds, and strong commitment and care is required to train, handle and fly the eagles. Traditional equipments such as hood, bewit, jess (short strap around the leg of an eagle), gauntlet (gloves), immovable seat, fork supporter on a horse, feeding bag and cup are used for the falconry.

This book contains the presentation and discussion of the above international conference in the form of an online strategic meeting with Webinar, and the first chapter contains webinar presentations on the theme of Life, Environment and Intangible Heritage of Silk Road. In addition, Chapter 2 contains rich examples of the diversity of intangible cultural heritage festivals, and chapters 3 and 4 contain network construction methods and presentations on joint cooperation projects through networks, respectively. In addition, a summary of each presentation and discussion on each topic were included, along with recommendations to create the Silk Road Intangible Heritage Network for 2021.

ICH Courier is the quarterly magazine on ICH in the Asia-Pacific region issued by ICHCAP since 2009. Every issue has its own theme under the title of the Windows to ICH, and the theme of the Vol 37 is 'ICH and Water Management.'

Together with the UNESCO National Commissions in the Central Asia, the Seventh Central Asi Sub-regional Meeting on the Safeguarding of Intangible Cultural Heritage was held between 16 and 18 May at Dushanbe, Tajikistan.\n\nThe report includes papers of the thematic symposium on Sacred Cultural Spaces, Safeguarding ICH and Enhancing Identity and country reports.

Co-orgarnized by ICHCAP and Hue Monuments Conservation Centre (HMCC), this year’s Asia-Pacific ICH NGO Conference was held in Hue, Vietnam under the theme of ICH NGOs towards Sustainable Development of Communities.\n\n