Độ Hà ceremony for MỘC DỤC (STATUTES CLEANING) ON MID-LUNAR JANUARY - the elderly practice the ritual of asking for permission to take water from the river in the Red river bank _Va Temple Festival

The largest from the tools and equipments for animal husbandry crafted by Mongols is a cart with wheels. Our predecessors have produced the cart with wheels from the old ages. As stated in the “Secret History of Mongols”, Mongols have produced and used a variety of carts such as mukhlag tereg (cart with booth), khagaatai tereg, öljigtei tereg, tömör tereg (metal cart), tsuurgatai tereg (cart with socket) and tenkhlegtei tereg (cart with axle). Only a handful of skilled master artisans crafted these varieties of carts in different sizes.

Altar dedicated to Hùng Kings in Trẹo Village, Hùng Sơn Town, Lâm Thao District, 2011; Photo by Từ Thị Loan; © 2011 Vietnam Institute of Culture and Arts Studies

Ritual of seizing sacred paddy for seeds and for good luck, Trẹo Village, Hùng Sơn Town, Lâm Thao District, 2011. Photo by Hoàng Sơn; © 2011 Vietnam Institute of Culture and Arts Studies.

Millions of people go on pilgrimage to Hùng temples on the Ancestral Anniversary, 2008. Photo by Nguyễn Việt Thắng; © 2011 Vietnam Institute of Culture and Arts Studies.

4. Cord and ironwood stake at tug-of-war ground & The rattan cord will be tugged back and forth through a ironwood stake' s hole. Rattan cord used in Hương Canh tug-of-war festival must be at least 45m in length and has a diameter of 3-4cm

9. Tug-of-war of Giáy ethnic minorities in Lào Cai province at Xuống đồng (starting a new crop festival)

Three Mother Goddesses: Mother Goddess of Heaven (in the middle, red color), Mother Goddess of Forest (on the left, green color), and Mother Goddess of Water (on the right, white color). \n2014. Photo by Dương Hồng Đức; \n©2014 Viet Nam National Institute of Culture and Arts Studies

The petition ceremony before a spirit possession ritual at Vân Cát Palace, Kim Thái commune, Vụ Bản district, Nam Định province. \n2014. Photo by Nguyễn Văn Huynh; \n©2014 Viet Nam National Institute of Culture and Arts Studies

The band of the singers of the songs for spirits at a spirit possession ritual at Tiên Hương Palace, Kim Thái commune, Vụ Bản district, Nam Định province \n2014. Photo by Nguyễn Trung Bình ; \n©2014 Viet Nam National Institute of Culture and Arts Studies

The culture of making and sharing flatbread in communities of Azerbaijan, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Turkey carries social functions that have enabled it to continue as a widely-practised tradition. Making the bread (lavash, katyrma, jupka or yufka) involves at least three people, often family members, with each having a role in its preparation and baking. In rural areas, neighbours participate in the process together. Traditional bakeries also make the bread. It is baked using a tandyr/tanūr (an earth or stone oven in the ground), sāj (a metal plate) or kazan (a cauldron).

'Tether a foal' - this is the rite and a part of the Terisakkan Spring Festival of Horse Breeders.\nTraditional spring festive rites of the Kazakh horse breeders – taking place in Terisakkan Village – mark the end of the previous and the beginning of the new yearly horse-breeding cycle. Rooted in traditional knowledge about nature and the age-old relations between man and horse, the rites involve skills inherited from nomadic ancestors, adapted to present-day reality. The rites take around three weeks in total, until the koumiss sharing ceremonies, which take place in every household, are over. The rites open a new yearly cycle of reproduction and manifest traditional Kazakh hospitality. Faced with the forced transition in the twentieth century from a nomadic way of life to a settled one, bearers have adapted the traditional form of horse breeding to meet present-day conditions to ensure its continued viability.