Why is it relevant for the safeguarding of intangible cultural heritage (ICH) over the long term that non-government and community-based organizations apply what they do locally to needs globally? Already, several years before the UNESCO 2003 Convention on the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage is ten years old, our ICH community must address needs and concepts that it is still somewhat unfamiliar with.

At altitudes of 3,525 and 2,973 meters, the Merak and Sakteng communities, respectively, are two separate settlements, yet because of their identical culture and traditions, people tend to refer to these communities as a single entity, as one village. The two settlements are separated by a high pass called Nyak-cung La, and traversing this land involves a strenuous day-long trek between these two settlements. The people of these settlements are believed to have migrated from Tshona to Tibet in the fourteenth century, led by ’Lama Jarepa. Ever since their arrival, they have been wearing distinct dress and speaking a unique language, and they have become accustomed to the lifestyle associated with inhabiting the higher altitudes of eastern Bhutan and living as nomads.

The small sun-soaked village of Molela, located approximately fifteen to twenty kilometers from the city of Udaipur in Rajasthan, is home to a vibrant community of terracotta clay artists. Over the years, Molela has emerged as a focal point in the art of making attractive votive plaques or idols of gods, with terracotta. While the early creations were originally cast as standing idols of local deities and various forms of the Hindu god Vishnu, today these figures are often mounted on tiles or plaques and are hung from the walls of homes and temples. These votive figurines can be multicolored or can have a terracotta hue, as is represented in the various temples in Rajasthan and Gujarat.

The Maranao are a southern Philippine ethno-linguistic group living along the fringes of Lake Lanao in the Lanao provinces of Mindanao. The Maranao are best known for their love of beauty as shown in their ukil art, poetry—the epic Darangen, inscribed on the UNESCO Representative List—and the torogan, the grandest type of Philippine architecture.

A small crowd is standing on a bridge across the canal that brings water to the village. The canal diverts some water from the Syr Darya River, the only source of irrigation water in the region. There are several cars parked on the banks of the canal and a medium-size truck with a two-year old bull is parked right on top of the bridge. A group of young men take the bull on the bridge and tie him up. The crowd gathers around and the people present lifts their palms up at the chest level. The most respected elder loudly starts making a wish: “May there be plenty of water this year for our crops and livestock; may there be peace and prosperity in our lands; may there be accord and respect in our community….” The wish, which is also a blessing, goes on for several minutes. After every sentence, the crowd univocally utters “amen” to show that every person seconds that wish. Then, bull is solemnly sacrificed on the river bank, and its blood flows into the current turning it red for a little while.

The birth of a child is considered auspicious and sacred in every culture. India, being multicultural in its beliefs and customs, has diverse traditions of local cuisines at all occasions, be it childbirth, or even death. Although the recipes have grown in number as a result of shared practices in modern times, traditional food items and their variants are still popular and can be found in almost all mandatory rituals.

Lunar month festival of the Mongols or holiday celebration of the first day of “White Moon” or “White Month” symbolizes the departure of winter and welcoming the spring of the new year. This festival and its rituals and traditions are unique and naturally accorded with a specific lifestyle of Mongolian nomadic culture. Therefore, during this festival, there are no gatherings of masses on the street to participate in folk parades and street carnivals as in urban cities and villages.

Ethnobotany is an area of scientic studies investigating practical uses of indig-enous plants by people in a particular culture and region, which are inherited through traditional knowledge (www.fs.fed.us/wildflowers/ethnobotany). The term was first conceived by John William Harshberger, but the area really became well known by Richard Evans Schultes beginning with his Amazon expedition (Balick 2012). The use of plants as food sources and medicines date back to origin of human life, although the type of uses was not sophisticated as the modern forms. Overtime it has evolved into many forms in diverse cultures by local peoples. Since the first uses, people have learned to identify and classify the plants and understand the features and roles of plants. All the priceless knowledge has improved the uses of plants, and the knowledge has passed on across generations in the local cultures, which makes usage of plants even more sophisticated.

Once upon a time, a beautiful young woman wandered into a jungle carrying her little baby girl in search of food. She was very tired, so she made a soft bed from the petals of flowers and laid the baby on it. Then she left to search for fruits to satisfy her immense hunger. Two great birds who had no babies of their own found the little human baby in its nest of flowers and carried it away on their backs to their own nest. Their nest was very large; many strange birds lived together there in harmony. There was a parrot, a myna, a hen, a stork, a kingfisher, and a tailorbird in their nest.

One passageway can have different meanings due to the different mind-set of different persons. Likewise, a change in a viewpoint transforms an ordinary object into something symbolic. The reasoning is the same when a thing nothing more than a ‘movement’ lastly becomes a ‘flower’ and ‘significant’ once it is called by its name.

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.

Dhamrai, the main center of metal casting in Bangladesh, is located about thirty-nine kilometers northwest of Dhaka, the capital city. A visitor to the quiet rural setting was once greeted by natural sounds and bustles of sounds, the clanging of metals, which made a wonderful rhythm of working melodies. This transpires the existence of metal crafts being an important part of Bengal’s rich artistic tradition that dates to before 2000 BCE on the Indian peninsula. History suggests that some of the greatest metal craft masterpieces of all times, made here by skilled artisans and sculptors, were magnificent in design, exclusivity of details, and workmanship. But over time, the cultural heritage, exceptionally rich in aesthetics and artistry, has fallen from its glory and only a few artisans are toiling to revive this millennium-old art form.