During Dan-o, Daeboreum, and Chuseok, pre-modern Koreans used to hold celebrations composed of rituals to the communal deity, communal games, and various folk arts. Among the communal games, the tug-of-war was the most common. It was widely distributed around the central southern region of Korea and played simultaneously or in rotation with other communal games.

Tug-of-war is a universal cultural phenomenon all around the world. Especially in Asia, the tug-of-war is related to rice farming and is thus commonly found in the farming cultures of Northeast and Southeast Asia. As practiced in Asia, the tug-of-war is performed either as a prayer for rain, or for a good harvest, or to foretell whether the year’s harvest will be good or bad. Tug-of-war activities have similarities that include two teams pulling at the opposite ends of a rope. They also have distinctness, individuality, and creativity interactivity with the climate or environment, making tug-of-war events worth preserving as a common element of Asian intangible cultural heritage (ICH).\n\nRecognizing the universality and distinctness of tug-of-war traditions in Asia, Cambodia, the Republic of Korea, the Philippines, and Vietnam prepared a multinational file to nominate “Tugging Rituals and Games” to the UNESCO Representative List of the ICH of Humanity through mutual communications and meetings. The Republic of Korea submitted the nomination file to the Convention Secretariat on behalf of the four countries on 31 March 2014. The nomination file was eventually recognized on 2 December 2015 during the tenth session of the Intergovernmental Committee held from 30 November to 4 December 2015 in Namibia.\n\nThe inscription of Tugging Rituals and Games to the UNESCO Representative List of the ICH of Humanity has brought about a sensation in each country. The news of the multinational inscription was covered in a slew of media outlets in each country, and in particular, Vietnam selected the multinational inscription as one of the top ten cultural news events of 2015. The Republic of Korea, which led the multinational inscription, conducted commemorative events, such as holding an exhibition and publishing books in Korean and English.

Intangible cultural heritage presents an important form of living cultural heritage. It covers fundamental, yet extremely vulnerable aspects of living culture and tradition embodied in the spiritual life, traditional knowledge, skills, and practices of communities. It presents one of the most vivid and colourful forms in which the world’s cultural diversity is expressed and preserved.

Kutch is a frontier district in the state of Gujarat in western India, situated on the border of India and Pakistan. Covering an area of 45,674 km², it is the largest district of India. It is surrounded by the Great and Little Rann of Kutch on the North, South, East, and the Arabian Sea on the West. In the beginning of the twelfth century, Kutch was ruled by Chavda, Sama, Sanghar, Kathi, and Solanki dynasties. From 1147 AD to 1947 AD, Kutch was ruled by the Jadejas, whose ancestors migrated to Kutch from Sindh (now in Pakistan). Sindh is one of the four provinces of Pakistan. Located in the southeast of the country, it is the third largest province of Pakistan. Sindh is bordered by Balochistan province to the west and Punjab province to the north. Sindh also borders the Indian states of Gujarat and Rajasthan to the east and Arabian Sea to the south. The influence of Sindhi culture is very prominent in Kutch due to the history of migration of pastoralists as well as artisanal communities. The current paper aims to explore the cross border cultural relationships between local communities of Kutch, India and Sindh, Pakistan by critically examining their shared oral tradition of Gujharat and a significant traditional textile craft practice called Ajrakh.

"Comprising more than 17,500 islands, 1,300 ethnici- ties, and over 500 vernacular languages, Indonesia is blessed with an incredibly diverse heritage, both nat- ural and cultural, tangible and intangible. However, this also poses a tremendous challenge, particularly when it comes to safeguarding and conserving such a colorful collection of heritage. Badan Pelestarian Pusaka Indonesia (BPPI, the Indonesian Heritage Trust) was founded to answer the challenges of safeguarding Indonesia’s diverse heritage. It is a nonprofit organization comprised of heritage practitioners and advocates who share the common goal of safeguarding the sustainability of Indonesia’s natural, cultural, as well as landscape."

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.

A major part of the Iranian Plateau consists of vast deserts with low precipitation ratios. Interestingly, the land has been home to numerous settlements since prehistory. To all these settlements, water constituted, as it is still is, a vital natural resource with economic, social, and cultural values.

These children attend a Sámi kindergarten, and as the example above shows, they are learning—in the practical way—about traditional Sámi food as a part of their day in the kindergarten. This article will look into the importance transmitting traditional knowledge about food and the food-chain process, from raw nature materials to cooked dishes served on the table to the young generation, and highlight some examples of good and healthy traditional food.

This paper accompanies a shorter presentation to the ICHCAP Forum ‘Unlocking the Potential of Tertiary Education for ICH Safeguarding’, held in Seoul, Republic of Korea in July 2018. \n\nAlong with other speakers from the Asia-Pacific Region, I have been asked to outline and explain the educational approach to intangible cultural heritage safeguarding in the post-graduate teaching courses in the Cultural Heritage & Museum Studies program at Deakin University, located in the Australian State of Victoria. Deakin is a relatively young university within Australia, established in 1974, and named after Alfred Deakin, leader of the Australian federation movement and Australia’s second Prime Minister. \n\nDeakin University is located in the Australian State of Victoria and has four physical campuses as well as its ‘Cloud campus’ (for on-line delivery). The Cultural Heritage and Museum Studies program is located at the Melbourne campus, on the Country (Traditional Lands) of the Wurundjeri people, and provides both on-campus and Cloud (online) delivery of its courses. Deakin has a long-standing commitment to flexible and on-line learning. Deakin’s LIVE the Future Agenda 2020 has as its first Strategy for its ‘Learning’ objective: ‘Provide premium cloud and located learning’. The Cloud campus is the fastest growing of its campuses, with more than 13,000 students now studying predominantly on-line (Deakin University 2017: p. 5). All Deakin’s programs aim to allow students to take courses wherever they are, and to study ‘anytime’. In practice, this has allowed Deakin to be an inclusive tertiary education provider, supporting people to be able to undertake their studies, alongside work/caring responsibilities, or located in rural and regional locations (or even outside Australia).

The 2019 Sub-Regional Meeting for Intangible Cultural Heritage Safeguarding in South Asia: ICH in Education: Towards Joint Collaboration for Promoting ICH in Formal and Non-Formal Education jointly organized by ICHCAP and UNESCO Dhaka Office, was held from 24 to 26 June 2019 in Dhaka, Bangladesh.\n\nThis report is composed of nineteen presentation papers delivered at the meeting by national representatives, NGOs, and UNESCO Offices in Bangkok and Dhaka. In addition, the outcome document of the meeting is also affixed to put it on record the adopted recommendations of the participants in moving forward together.

The Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan acknowledges the importance of cultural issues at both the governmental as well as the non-governmental levels, as it promotes the significance of culture for sustainable development and cultural dialogue. Included in this concept is cultural heritage, which shapes the basic elements of identity and social cohesion among communities and minorities of the country. In our assessment report about ICH in Jordan, we were able to trace administrative strengths and weaknesses embraced in this field. For example, subjects included the government’s developed interest on ICH issues, the existence of certain Jordanian institutions, organizations that contributed in various and divergent ways to this field, and the potential and adaptability of the Jordanian laws and legislation to deal with culture related matters. Based on the information collected, it became evident that there were considerable weaknesses in integrating cultural heritage issues into the strategic planning of the nation. Additionally, disseminating the importance of ICH and its great value among Jordanians on governmental, institutional, and public levels was not carried out satisfactorily, resulting in a lack of awareness programs. If awareness efforts were carried out, this would have enabled the people to explore the value of their ICH and allowed them to become aware of its importance as reflected in the cultural diversity of the Jordanian society.

Yuen Long Community Intangible Cultural Heritage Development Project is a proposal of the Life Encouraging Fund, a non-governmental organization based in Yuen Long district. This pilot project is an exemplar of an NGO working for community-based ICH education and transmission with a holistic development model. Kai-kwong Choi introduced activities of the project implemented by the Life Encouraging Fund.