Facing the rising sun, Va Temple in Van Gia Village, Trung Hung Ward, Hanoi, is also known as the East Palace, marking its importance as one of the four major veneration sites of the Tan Vien Mountain God, a key figure of Vietnamese spiritual tradition. According to legend the site’s tutelary divinity is the Ancestral Deity of the Southern Heavens and God of the Tan Vien Mountain, one the country’s most ancient deities and one of the principal mountain gods. As such, the Tan Vien Mountain God is venerated throughout the northern plain region of Vietnam by the Viet people and by some of the country’s ethnic minorities as well.

Johan Huizinga coined the term homo ludens to define humans as animals that play. The playful nature of Koreans as homo ludens is represented most definitively by the game, yutnori. It has been well loved by young and old and men and women alike throughout history. The game is especially important as a children’s game that helps develop strategic thinking skills while still being simple to learn.

In the Buryat tradition (and in the Mongolian as well), “shamans” were not pure shamans in the classical sense of the word. Those involved with medical affairs were considered mediums between the lower sphere of the Eternal Blue Sky (Khukhe Monke Tengeri) and land inhabitants. Eternal Blue Sky worship was a traditional religious belief of Mongolians. Cross-cultural influences with the neighboring Tunguso-Manchurian people, whose religious traditions may be identified as classical forms of shamanism, introduced the ideas of ‘shaman’ and ‘shamanism’ to the Mongols.

Cultural heritage is not limited to archaeological sites, monuments, and collections of objects. It includes tradi- tions or living expressions inherited from our ancestors and passed on to our descendants, such as ceremonies, rituals, performing arts, beliefs about the world, and enactment prac- tices. While these expressions may not be tangible, they are a continuously evolving form of living tradition, recreated and adapted in response to the environment around us. They provide us with a sense of identity, a feeling of belonging, and an inclusive, representative, collective way of expressing culture.

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.

In the days before modern medicine, severe illnesses were thought to be the mischief of spirits. Thus, the best way to cure a disease was to exorcise the disease-causing spirit through a byeonggut (shamanistic healing ritual). This ritual went by different names according to the region. In Hwanghae Province, it was known as the toesong-gut or hajik-gut; in Seoul and the Gyeonggi Province region, it was called chibyeong-gut; and in the Chungcheong region, it was known as the judangpuri-gut.

Jeju Yeongdeunggut is a shamanic ritual performed during the second lunar month to greet and see off the goddess Yeongdeung. Yeongdeung, the goddess of wind, is typically recognized in the form of Yeongdeunghalmang (Grandmother Yeongdeung). In winter, when the cold wind blows from the northwest, she brings prosperity to the land and sea. It was the custom for the Yeongdeung Welcoming Ritual to be performed to celebrate her arrival and the Yeongdeung Farewell Ritual to be performed fifteen days later to mark her departure.

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.

Those familiar with Pakistan’s history can easily appreciate the range and variety of its hand-made textiles and the sight of a humble villager using them as everyday wear. The cloth weaving and dying tradition from the Indus Valley that originated roughly five thousand years ago has continued throughout the Middle Ages and has received a tremendous boost of encouragement with the onset of new technological developments and the introduction of new motifs while under Muslim rule.

The Law on Cultural Heritage of Vietnam (adopted in 2001, revised in 2009) is the most important legal tool for safeguarding heritage, both natural and cultural, and tangible and intangible, in Vietnam. Compatible to UNESCO’s 2003 Convention on safeguarding intangible cultural heritage, the Law on Cultural Heritage of Vietnam acknowledges and protects the cultural creations of the community produced out of their own needs, through their awareness and labour. Such cultures have a strong attachment to them from one generation to another and become the identity of the community or groups of people in society and their heritage and the heritage of the nation and humankind. Lên Đồng (mediumship) is a religious practice of the Viet/Kinh, the majority group in Vietnam. This ritual originated from the worship of the Mother Goddess. Lên Đồng possibly started in the 15th century and has existed continuously in the people’s life. Yet, in some periods of time, it was not recognized and thus was not practiced openly. Today, Lên Đồng and the worship of the Mother Goddess are open, common and developed in Vietnam. Their values and practice are being studied, clarified and acknowledged for their protection as a national heritage. This work has been carried out with good results thanks to the participation of many scholars, cultural policy makers and especially the self-awareness of identifying and introducing the values of this cultural heritage of the Mother Goddess Worship community. We’d like to express our thanks to ICHCAP and the authorities of Jindo City for inviting us to this Workshop “Safeguarding Shamanism Heritage in Asia”. My paper will present a case study entitled “Together with the community identifying the values, safeguarding Lên đồng mediumship, a Shamanism heritage in Vietnam”

The subject of this study is to find out the protection and sustenance ways of Shaman heritage among the Turks of Turkey. As it is known, Turks of Turkey are shaman community in terms of ancient religions and world-views such as Kazakhs, Uighurs, Uzbeks, Turkmen, Altai, Republic of Tuva, Sakha and other Turkish tribes constituting the Turkish World. Majority of the Turks of Turkey migrated from the middle of today’s Mongolia to the shores of Aegean Sea and Balkan Peninsula in the last 1500 years. Another factor complicating this 1500-year migration is the fact that Turks accepted Manichaeism, Buddhism, Christianity and some groups accepted Judaism. Normally while it was expected that they pursued various religions and dispersed in this tens of thousands kilometer square, these Oghuz tribes weren’t assimilated and they assimilated many communities whose administration they undertook within the scope of their control.

Established in 2000, The Loden Foundation is a registered civil society organization in Bhutan with the objectives of promoting education, cultural preservation, and entrepreneurship among the Bhutanese children and young adults; promoting education and learning at the preschool, school, and post-school stages, and thereby fostering an enlightened and educated society in Bhutan; promoting awareness of the education and the needs of local communities in relation to entrepreneurship, health education, practical skills and crafts, and literacy among remote villages and communities within Bhutan; preserving and promoting the cultures and tradi- tions of Bhutan; and undertaking, if need be, other charitable work that contributes toward the welfare of the public.