Venerated from a time before antiquity as life-giver, water has been held in the highest esteem in all cultures and eras. Water-related mythologies show as much the divine character associated with it, as its qualities that lie beyond the material. In our time, the intangible cultural heritage (ICH) and traditional knowledge that surround water still give us an entryway to a fuller understanding of the great life-giver.

Taumako, one of the Duff Islands, is a Polynesian island within the Santa Cruz group in Temotu Province to the southeast of the Solomon Islands, in the southwestern Pacific. Taumakoans speak the Veakau-Taumako language, which comes from the Samoic branch of Polynesian languages. Taumakoans still practice ancient navigational techniques and are known for building a type of proa sailing canoe, the Tepuke, using local materials. They maintain traditional ways of living, relying heavily on subsistence farming and fishing.

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.

Teyyam is a divine dance that is prevalent in the northern districts of Kerala, such as Kannur and Kasargod. The name teyyam is derived from daivam, a Sanskrit word meaning ‘god’ or ‘deity’. Performed in shrines, sacred groves, houses, and open places, teyyam represents mythological, divine, ancestral, animal, and heroic characters, each with its own distinct shape and form of origin. There are over 350 of these teyyams.

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

Bhutan is a small country in the Himalayas roughly the size of Switzerland (38,394 Km) with a population of 817,054. The people of Bhutan are called Drukpas a term that comes from druk (dragon), and Druk Yul (the country of the Dragon) is the name of Bhutan in Dzongkha, the national language.

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.

Gandharba, also written Gandharva or Gaine is one of the musician communities of Nepal. This community has their own unique culture, musical instruments, music, traditions, festivals, language, rituals and social practices perpetuated from their forefathers. Long before the postal networks and the use of electronic communications in Nepal, the musicians of this unique community would roam all over the nation to spray the news in the form of songs and music. The Gandharba were the sole entertainer and the information disseminator of the numerous isolated communities across the mountains of Nepal. Thus they are also wknown as the messenger of the nation. But due to the Modernization, Urbanization, Socio-economic challenges, limited Education and other changes seen in the society; the present status of the Gandharba community’s identity and the intangible cultural heritage is at risk. The outcome of this research have identified the major challenges of the survival of the community’s identity and possible solution and suggestion for building effective networking system among the Gandharba communities of Nepal to confront the challenges and to support, revitalize, reconstruct and safeguard their intangible cultural heritage and their identity in a long run.

"Before starting this project, it was necessary to agree upon some definitions and concepts. Without understanding these concepts, it might have become difficult to create a suitable structure for the fieldwork. With this in mind, at the beginning of the project, which is based on a theoretical framework, we discussed the concept of agriculture.\n\n“To what we call culture in pre-established way is nothing but agriculture,” says Dr. Saheb Khandare in his 2012 book Krushi Sanskruti (Indian Agriculture), written in the Marathi language. Elaborating on this statement, he says, “in prehistoric times the word ‘clan’ was derived from kus. Kus means tilling, in the "

Nepal boasts an abundance of temples, monasteries (or viharas), and other socio-cultural places where various ICH practices are performed. Here, various forms of religious and non-religious activities take place on a daily basis; but during special festivals and occasions, they are transformed into workshops of ICH practice. This article will touch upon the annual activities at the Buddhist viharas of Kathmandu Valley during the holy month of Gunla (August–September).

Korean shamanism is a collective term to designate a religious folk tradition that includes private, domestic, and communal rituals. Shamanism is an accumulation of five thousand years of Korean life, thought, and culture, so it is a representative folk belief of Korean society. It also has played a key role as a carrier of traditional culture, such as music, dance, myth, and epic poetry. Furthermore, most Koreans, even though many of them are skeptical about shamanism these days, believe that shamanism helps preserve the deep-rooted national ethos. Indeed, the influence of shamanism is so prevalent that one might say that the worldview and symbolism found in shamanism constitutes Korea’s fundamental religious system.

The Masion des Cultures du Monde (World Cultures Institute) The Maison des Cultures du Monde (“World Cultures Institute”), has been founded in 1982 in Paris by Chérif Khaznadar and Françoise Gründ with the support of the French ministry of Culture. Its goals, the promotion and the enhancement of world performing arts - as witnesses of human inventiveness, \n\n- as landmarks of a historical continuity - as factors of cultural diversity \n- as sources of inspiration and creative renewal. Its method: the on-stage presentation of musical, dramatic, choreographic and ritual expressions from all over the world and mostly unknown to the French public. Since the creation of the United Nations, a new vision emerged that international solidarity should be based on the knowledge of other cultures and on a “dialogue of cultures”. In France several initiatives were conducted such as : - the Theatre of Nations with the support of UNESCO\n- foreign cultural seasons such as the Year of India, the Year of China, the Year of Korea, the Year of Vietnam etc. \n- a Traditional Arts Festival which promoted world traditional arts in a spirit of open-mindedness, awareness raising, aesthetic pleasure and cultural enrichment.