In 2013, the UNESCO Office in Bangkok, in collaboration with the Islamabad, Hanoi, Apia, and Tashkent offices, undertook a project to experiment how intangible cultural heritage (ICH) could be used as part of a pedagogical approach to raise awareness about sustainable development. Activities, implemented thanks to the generous support of the Japanese government, were framed around the themes of the Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (2005-2014). The pilot project produced guidelines and sample lesson plans for teachers to guide them into developing educational materials grounded in local knowledge and practices. Seventeen schools in four countries—Pakistan, Palau, Uzbekistan, and Vietnam— participated in the pilot. The emphasis was not on teaching pure cultural content, but rather on using ICH as a vehicle to enrich the teaching of existing school subjects.

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.

Prabartana is a social enterprise working in diverse sections for revival which includes: arts, crafts, food security, and community-led responsible tourism. The organization provides training to weavers and has contributed to technical enhancement through documentation of patterns in computers instead of the manual style of Jacquard pattern design. As safeguarding action, they involve artisans in exhibitions and workshops for cultural exchange, audio-visual documentation and publication of books, social media-based promotions and audience development through the Web, newspaper articles and festival-relevant brochures. The organization also promotes community-led responsible tourism through AJIYER, where the community has the rights and knowledge to operate tours and promote and conserve cultural heritage, apart from safeguarding their environment.

Today in this brief presentation, I’d like to talk about the concept of sea ethics as intangible cultural heritage based on two of my previous studies on cultural heritage in Japan. Both relate to specifically spiritual practices and knowledge about the ocean gained through traditional fisheries, one diving fishery and other whaling. It so happens that both are practiced by women. I’ve also discussed this in the context of SDG Goal No. 5 and 14 in my publication if anyone is interested. Clearly, discussion of sustainability is even more relevant today, as we navigate ourselves through the unprecedented global uncertainty.\n

The intangible cultural heritage is without borders but it has owner and sovereignty because the heritage is associated with people, their residence, and practice (Le Thi Minh Ly 2020). Hence, Émile Durkheim (1912), a French social anthropologist, in his famous book of the Australian tribal religious life, convincingly argued that the study of festive events was an essential element to understand people’s social life. He wasprobably the first scholar to conceptualize festivals as central social events in the life of “primitive societies”. Cau ngu festival recreates the traditional cultural space of a coastal fishing village, customs as well as traditional rituals, games and knowledge of the fishermen. In addition, the festival expresses people’s aspiration of an age-old philosophy of living in harmony with the sea, maritime spiritual beliefs and cultural nuances to be preserved and promoted in our life.

The culture in the East Coast of Malay Peninsula are rich in visual and performing arts inherited over time immemorial. The art is also found to have similarities in three different states, despite their geographical gap. The similarities are shared in dialects, languages, presentations, builds, and past legacy artifacts. The Malay craftsmanship is also dominated by the Malay community in the East Coast and it is also produced in the form of art and fashion. Artifacts such as boats, houses, and furniture are still visible until now and they have high artistic value. This paper is aimed at displaying the various type of Malay traditional boats and symbols produced by the Malay community on the craft of the boat. There are several name of the boats produced by local craftsmen based on their function and usability. For example, a small line boat is used in river and coastal areas, the payang boat used by deep-sea fishermen, and the jokong boat is used to transport heavy goods. The art can be seen in the carvings and paintings produced on traditional Malay boats craftsmen in the East Coast. This art does not only serve as an ornament and for its aesthetics, but also has its own symbolism. The decorative art produced shows that the three main aspects necessary in Malay art are function, aesthetics, and ethics. The belief in the existence of supernatural powers – which preserve and safeguard their safety at sea and their ability to get income from marine products – underpins the craft of this decoration art.

Long known as the cradle of civilization, the area that bounds from the fertile valleys of Al-Hasakeh, across the ancient deserts of Palmyra, and westward to the Mediterranean Sea, includes present-day Syria. Due to the vastness of the region, it is no wonder that Syrian cuisine boasts a rich culinary heritage dened by exceptional diversity and human creativity.

In 1942 (Myanmar Era -1305),, a musician from Hsipaw founded the Shan traditional musical troupe in Namhkaik village. He taught singing, dancing and playing musical instruments during the 3 months of Buddhist Lent. One of his descendents is Shew Cherry Theatrical Performance Troupe which is renown today. This troupe gives performance in charity events and monk funeral ceremonies.

It has been used for about 1000 years ago. Jade flute is proof that is excavated in Kan Su State,at china.\nThis flute was Kachin traditional instrument.\nBamboo joint that grows from hill-side cultivation is chopped and dried. It is perforated by using drill.\nThere are a total of 8 perforated holes including 6 finger holes, two vent holes for enunciation. The flute with no reed is called flute and the flute with reed is called whirling flute. It has to be blown from air holes and the finger holes are made for opening and closing to produce traditional melody. It has to be played together with oboe, drum, gong and cymbal. Pyi Htaung flute is played for all kinds of Manao house-warming ceremony, grating party and honorable ceremony.

The lacquer craft is one of the traditional crafts with tangible manifestation of intangible cultural heritage (ICH). Hence, it can play an important role in representing the culture and traditions of any country and considered an effective way to preserve of rich traditional arts, cultural heritage, traditional skills and talents which are associated with people’s lifestyle as well as history. As a typical ICH in Asia, traditional lacquer craft contains a system of knowledge, perspectives, emotions, creativities, and a great way to document historical periods around the world and throughout the times. Over time, the lacquer craft is not only an ICH with an admirable historical length, but it has also been pushed up into a creative art form based on wisdom of stakeholder communities.

For Buddhists all over the world, Vesak (Vaisakha, Buddha’s Birthday or Buddha Day) is the holiest day of year. It commemorates the birth, enlightenment, and death of Siddhartha Gautama, or the Buddha. It is celebrated on different days in many countries, mostly on the first full moon day of May or 8 April of the lunar calendar.\n\nWhile cultural influences have characterized various differences with regards to the treatment of celebrations, a common thread binds them together, making this unbroken 2500-year-old tradition one of the world’s oldest birthdays.\n\nOfferings of prayers, joss sticks, and incense, as well as giving food to the needy and making donations reflect the more traditional aspects of the occasion, whereas the popular festivities that accompany them, such as parades and processions of vibrantly decorated floats add a contemporary flavor to one of the world’s longest standing birthday celebrations.\n\nPlace of Birth, Where Buddhist Pilgrims Gather (Nepal)\nNepal is the birthplace of the historical Buddha in the fifth or sixth Century BCE. Jammed packed with festivities, Buddha Jayanti (Buddha’s Birthday) observances in Nepal, commemorate not only his birth but also his enlightenment and demise and runs for a single day. At the Maya Devi temple in Lumbini, where Queen Maya Devi, the mother of the Buddha, gave birth, large numbers of national and international monks, including pilgrims from different cultures and religions, make the journey to offer prayers and to soak up the carnivalesque atmosphere resulting from the temple’s World Heritage status.\n\nIn Kathmandu, thousands flock to ancient Buddhist sites such as Swayambhunath temple, the oldest temple in Nepal, and the Boudhanath, the biggest stupa in Nepal, to join the colorful processions of musicians and dancers while prayers and offerings are made by Tibetan monks in much the same way as when it was part of a trade route between Lhasa and Kathmandu. Full moons are always auspicious occasions, but lighting butter lamps, spinning prayer wheels, and chanting mantras on this particular one is considered extra special.\n\nKasone Festival, Watering of the Bodhi Tree (Myanmar)\nIn Myanmar, Buddha’s birthday celebration is known as the full moon Kasone Festival. In the festival, water is a dominant feature, with devotees pouring water on Bodhi trees, the same species under which the Buddha gained enlightenment in Bodh Gaya, India, more than 2,500 years ago.\n\nPouring water on statues is a regular ritual in Myanmar, particularly on full moon days, and symbolizes purification, goodwill, and good luck. Kasone is an exceptional full moon, with religious verses recited at temples or pagodas throughout the country. Particular reverence is observed at the Golden Pagoda (Shwedagon Zedi Daw, the most sacred Buddhist pagoda in Myanmar) in Yangon, where devotees dressed in white chant mantras and circumambulate the pagoda clockwise while pouring water on the statue according to one’s day of birth.\n\nIn keeping with the water theme, fish are also released into cooler waters of lakes and rivers during the dry season, with the nearby Kandawgyi Lake and Inya Lake in Yangon being the most popular spots to observe this ritual.\n\nYeon Deung Hoe, Lantern Festival (Republic of Korea)\nIn the Republic of Korea, the most popularly celebrated event honoring Buddha’s Birthday, is the Yeon Deung Hoe (Flower Lantern Festival). Generally held on a Saturday night a week before the nationwide public holiday, the main artery of downtown Seoul is illuminated by vividly decorated lanterns in all shapes and sizes in a parade, drawing a crowd of enthralled onlookers.\n\nThis annual tradition is listed on their national intangible cultural heritage inventory. These days, this has become one of the country’s most popular festivals, pulsating with an eclectic blend of traditional and contemporary Korean culture.\n\nIn the days leading up to the public holiday, devotees hang colorful lanterns containing their heartfelt wishes in local temples. The piece of paper attached to the base of the lantern usually contains one’s wishes for good health, or prosperity, or for academic achievement.\n\nOn the day itself, which falls on 3 May in 2017, devotees visit local temples to make offerings of flowers, incense, and candles. Interpreted symbolically as radiating warmth into darkness, here the Buddha becomes a manifestation of the lantern light.\n\nPhoto : Buddhist monks march through downtown Seoul during a celebration for Buddha's birthday

To professionals in the sector of cultural heritage and stewards who recognize its significance to us all, tangible objects and intangible traditions both possess more power than many realize. There is a reason why in times of conflict, historic buildings and the rites and rituals related to these tangible elements are targeted as a means of violence: because as a direct line to identity, community, solidarity, belonging, unity, and connection to the past, both tangible and intangible heritage are an easy target for those who seek to obtain control by dismantling those rudimentary building blocks. Extremist groups, political regimes, and global institutions are all well aware that one of the most fundamental ways to injure a people is to separate them from the elements of cultural heritage that otherwise connect us, fill us up, and provide us with a sense of self, place, and purpose—and ultimately make us human.\n\nThe power that cultural heritage holds over entire nations, vastly spread ethnic groups, and displaced people across the globe does increase the vulnerability of the precious manifestations of that heritage—everything from architecture marvels to the surprisingly meaningful trinkets laying around peoples’ houses to the recipes, fairy tales, figures of speech, and traditional melodies passed down from generation to generation. But this strong influence can also be harnessed as a more positive asset, especially in the aftermath of conflict and trauma.\n\nAs communities heal from the wounds carved by violence and destruction in contexts like war, political upheaval, civil unrest, or natural disasters, cultural heritage may be a lifeline to which they can cling. Programs offered by global organizations like ICCROM and grassroots movements alike are mobilizing cultural heritage in the aftermath of destructive conflicts, fashioning it into a tool that will help to re-establish a sense of unity and identity. Honoring traditions by telling stories, revisiting significant locations, cooking recipes, and documenting intangible heritage offers an arena in which current pains can be momentarily soothed by the comfort of familiar customs and the reunification of a community. The education of local history has offered a similar sense of togetherness through the remembrance of a shared past, in which our identities the present day are so deeply rooted. But furthermore, history adds a layer of perspective, accounting for many of the grudges and lingering pains in which modern conflicts are often steeped.\n\nOutside of conflict zones, heritage can continue to pull its weight in the post-conflict recovery process. As refugees navigate displacement in new environments, collections at museums containing heritage objects that hail from their home countries can become touchstones of familiarity and opportunities for intangible heritage to be remembered and maintained. Through both the tangible objects themselves, which may hold particular significance and meaning to the people who come from the same cultural background, and through the elements of intangible heritage, memory, and identity that the items invoke, historical artifacts can be instrumental in establishing new communities and connections among immigrants and refugees.\n\nSeveral museums have recognized their role as meeting places offering programs in which displaced communities are trained as museum guides and deliver tours in their native languages, projects like this enable displaced people to be connected to their heritage while participating in the exchange of diverse cultural experiences within the museum. Although the tangible collections are the base of such initiatives, they also provide a venue for language, memory, culture, and identity to be expressed and kept alive.\n\nBoth on the ground as the dust settles in post-conflict zones and in widespread corners of the globe where displaced persons start new lives, cultural heritage has great potential to serve as a steppingstone as individuals and communities take steps forward in their healing process. In reconnecting individuals to the traditions, memory, community, shared history, and identity that shapes every one of us, heritage is undoubtedly powerful. But beyond this, in its appeal to the part of the human psyche that inherently yearns to belong to something, to know where we have come from, and to feel safely held by the cultures, which serve as a placeless home, some would argue that heritage is essential.\n\nPhoto : Science Photo Library, CC BY NTB scanpix