Linguists predict that if nothing is done, then by the end of the twenty first century or shortly thereafter, 90 percent of the world languages will face extinction. This phenomenon has a direct impact on intangible cultural heritage in that such a loss may lead to all local wisdom and knowhow being lost. Linguists at Mahidol University have, therefore, established the Resource Center for Documentation and Revitalization of Endangered Languages and Cultures to preserve and revive Southeast Asian languages and cultures in crisis and on the verge of extinction. The center operates on the assumption that linguistic and cultural diversity are the heritage for all humankind and deserve to survive for future generations. The Center started operation on 29 July 2004 with the original mission to document and revitalize fifteen severely endangered languages of Thailand. Subsequently, the center’s operations were extended into other domains, both geographically and thematically. This has given rise to new developments in applied linguistics and new challenges in applying an interdisciplinary approach to documenting and revitalizing languages at various stages of crisis.

Historically, Malaysia (the Malay Peninsula) was known as the Golden Chersonese, and in the past, Malay populations lived in riverine and coastal settlements, which were some of the most important trading hubs in Southeast Asia. The Malay maritime empire was once a large kingdom, stretching from the coast of Vietnam and Cambodia to Southern Thailand, the Malay Peninsula, Singapore, Borneo, Sumatra, Riau, Sulawesi, and Southern Philippines. Across the Malay-speaking world, fabrics embellished with gold were for the rich and powerful, such as the ruler of the kingdom. Besides the golden fabric, songket, Malay embroideries were mostly used by nobility and royals. In the fifteenth century, the Melaka Sultanate instituted sumptuary laws governing the types of ornaments and colors for interior and soft furnishings, such as curtain fringes, bolster ends, cushions, prayer mats and other items. Across the Malay world, the numbers of dais, bolsters, and layers of siting mats, were associated with a certain hierarchy, varying across the regions.

The culture of the Central Asian steppes expresses itself vividly in the lifestyle of traditional nomadic practices. Mongolian culture has been in practice in the nomadic life and the traditions surrounding the nomad’s home (ger). And it is present in religious celebrations, national festivals, art and crafts, music and dance, language and literature, which form the backbone of Mongolian intangible cultural heritage of Mongolia. Mongolia is filled with valuable cultural properties and intangible cultural heritage of humanity that have been kept or practiced for thousands of years.\n\nGer, Mongolian Traditional Dwelling\nThe traditional architecture of the Mongols differed strongly from that of the settled peoples of Asia and other continents. Centuries ago, there the ger, also known as a yurt, appeared. It still offers shelter to nomads in particular places in Central Asia. Its development and fundamental principles are determined by the specific features of the way of life of Mongol tribes, which made it necessary to evolve a light and collapsible structure to be used as a dwelling or for public functions.\n\nMongolian Language and Literature\nMongolian is the language of most of the Mongolian population and inner Mongolia. By origin, Mongolian is one of the Altaic family of languages, and the history of the Mongolian language is long and complicated. Significant literary work of early Mongolia includes The Secret History of the Mongols, which was published in 1228).\n\nMongolian Religion and Beliefs\nThe Mongols have practiced several religions, of which Shamanism and Buddhism were the most common. The faith in Mongolia is Buddhism, though the state and religion were separated during the socialist period, but with the transition to the parliamentary republic in the 1990s, there has been a general revival of faiths across the country\n\nMongolian Art and Crafts\nMongolian arts and crafts have been passed down across generations from the Paleolithic times to today, leaving behind deep impressions on all facets of life and conscious, aesthetic, and philosophical thinking. Highly developed Mongolian arts and crafts come from the second millennium BCE. The works included sculptured heads of wild animals with exaggerated features. Other items include knives, daggers, and other items of practical and religious use.\n\nMongolian Music and Dance\nMusic is an integral part of Mongolian culture. Among Mongolia’s unique contributions to the world’s musical culture are the long songs, overtone singing, and morin khuur (the horse-headed fiddle). The music of Mongolia is also rich with varieties related to the various ethnic groups of the country. Among the most popular forms of modern music in Mongolia are Western pop and rock genres and the mass songs written by contemporary authors in the form of folk songs.\n\nHorse Culture of Mongolia\nIt is famously known that horses play a large role in the Mongols’ daily and national lives. Common sayings are, “A Mongol without a horse is like a bird without wings,” and “Mongols are born on horseback” these are arguably true words. Even today, horse-based culture is still practiced by nomadic Mongolians.\n\nVisit https://www.toursmongolia.com/tours for additional information about Mongolian culture.\n\nPhoto 1 : Prairie meadow grass inner Mongolia traditional clothing © Batzaya Choijiljav\nPhoto 2~7 : © Batzaya Choijiljav

Navruz (Nowruz) is not just about the first day of spring, but it is also not just a celebration of the New Year marked by indulging in a feast; it has a much wider historical and cultural context with deep doctrinal significance.

Performed in villages and closely attached to water rice agriculture, water puppetry is a unique performing art and is the intangible cultural heritage of the Viet people in the Northern Delta region of Vietnam. Created in the tenth century, the first historical record on water puppetry was inscribed in an ancient stele in 1121 called the Sung Dien Dien Linh in the Long Dọi Buddhist Temple of Ha Nam Province. The inscription reads that water puppetry was performed to entertain the king on the occasion of his longevity ceremony.

Marking the beginning of spring, Navruz (meaning March equinox) is one of the largest traditional holidays in Central Asia. Located in the heart of Central Asia, Kyrgyzstan has been celebrating Navruz (Nooruz in Kyrgyz) for a long time as its national holiday. When the Navruz holiday comes, Kyrgyz families gather to make holiday desserts: sumolok and boorsok.\n\nIn the old times, sumolok was a ritual dish prepared before the start of spring sowing. Sumolok is a sweet paste made from germinated wheat and stir cooked in a kazan, a large traditional pot in Central Asia. Sumolok has become an important cuisine in Kyrgyz culture since almost all of Kyrgyzstan celebrates the holiday by making it. In villages and towns, families gather around a kazan full of sumolok and take turns to stirring the sumolok. Usually it takes a whole day and night to finish the cuisine, which is why a typical Navruz scene in Kyrgyzstan is pictured as a group of families sitting around a Kazan while singing and stirring sumolok.\n\nBoorsok, on the other hand, is cooked faster than sumolok. Also a traditional sweet in Central Asia, boorsok is a type of fried dough in various shapes. Kyrgyz boorsok is typically shaped like a pressed doughnut.\n\nThis year, Boorsok National Record was held in the Arashan village near the capital city, Bishkek. The event was organized by Ethnographic Complex Kyrgyz Aiyli (meaning Kyrgyz village), successfully attracting an estimated 1,500 local residents and tourists. The main programs included making boorsok, singing songs, and competing in horse riding and other national games. The participants in the boorsok cooking competition used about a ton of flour and made more than 800 kg of boorsok. Later, boxes of boorsok were sent to nearby orphanages and the elderly in Arashan Village.\n\nMarking the beginning of spring, Navruz (meaning March equinox) is one of the largest traditional holidays in Central Asia. Located in the heart of Central Asia, Kyrgyzstan has been celebrating Navruz (Nooruz in Kyrgyz) for a long time as its national holiday. When the Navruz holiday comes, Kyrgyz families gather to make holiday desserts: sumolok and boorsok.\n\nIn the old times, sumolok was a ritual dish prepared before the start of spring sowing. Sumolok is a sweet paste made from germinated wheat and stir cooked in a kazan, a large traditional pot in Central Asia. Sumolok has become an important cuisine in Kyrgyz culture since almost all of Kyrgyzstan celebrates the holiday by making it. In villages and towns, families gather around a kazan full of sumolok and take turns to stirring the sumolok. Usually it takes a whole day and night to finish the cuisine, which is why a typical Navruz scene in Kyrgyzstan is pictured as a group of families sitting around a Kazan while singing and stirring sumolok.\n\nBoorsok, on the other hand, is cooked faster than sumolok. Also a traditional sweet in Central Asia, boorsok is a type of fried dough in various shapes. Kyrgyz boorsok is typically shaped like a pressed doughnut.\n\nThis year, Boorsok National Record was held in the Arashan village near the capital city, Bishkek. The event was organized by Ethnographic Complex Kyrgyz Aiyli (meaning Kyrgyz village), successfully attracting an estimated 1,500 local residents and tourists. The main programs included making boorsok, singing songs, and competing in horse riding and other national games. The participants in the boorsok cooking competition used about a ton of flour and made more than 800 kg of boorsok. Later, boxes of boorsok were sent to nearby orphanages and the elderly in Arashan Village.\n\nMore information about Navruz is available in ICHCAP’s e-Knowledge Center.\n\nWatch Other Navruz Videos\nNavruz is celebrated throughout Central Asia, with each ethnic group having its own take on the holiday. The videos of Tajik and Uzbek celebrations below are from ICHCAP’s Central Asia ICH Collection.

Located Northern Vanuatu, Pentecost Island is home to a unique traditional marriage practice, different from practices on other outer islands of Vanuatu. Traditional marriage practices begin between families of future spouses with food gifts offered from the groom’s family to the bride’s family. If a marriage agreement is reached between the two families, the groom’s father will return later with mats for the future bride. Future gifts are exchange between the two families to prepare for the wedding ceremony, signaling respect and a sense of community between the families.

In many cultures, there is a concept of expected gendered roles where people perform certain functions, parts, or kinds of a cultural or social activity according to their gender. Men are expected to be strong and masculine, and employ the roles which are more related to hard labor, leadership, and literacy. Women, traditionally, assume feminine and maternal characteristics and roles in supporting men in their social events. Although these notions of gender qualities and roles differ from culture to culture, it is often found that the traditional customs which dictate who can and cannot participate in specific parts of the culture are often bounded by gender stereotypes and taboos.

For centuries, Korea had been a predominantly agricultural society; the overwhelming majority of its population engaged in farming. As a result of the rapid industrialisation that began in the 1960s, however, much of the population migrated from farming villages to cities. And during this period, Americancentred, Western culture had an enormous impact. Owing to this simultaneous industrialisation, urbanisation, and westernisation, the older way of life was rapidly disappearing. The older arts, rituals, and other kinds of intangible cultural expression that articulated the formerly prevalent way of life were also in jeopardy of rapidly disappearing. The instigation of the intangible cultural heritage system was intended to designate the valuable forms of expression that were being pushed to extinction by modern civilisation, to protect them, and to ensure their continued transmission.

Masks and mask dance exist through which they try to realize equality and be free from judgement, allowing you to express yourself as an equal in society regardless of class. The mask dance festival starts on the last Friday of September and lasts for ten days, and over a million people visit domestically and internationally. It has garnered attention from world leaders. Queen Elizabeth II of the UK, George H. Bush and George W. Bush of the USA, UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon, and other influential leaders have attended. The festival is about mixing modernity with tradition coming together, creating a mosaic of different colors and cultural significance. They use the mask dance festival as a collaborative tool that can bring various cultures together. The mask dance festival also plays a large role in transmitting the heritage to younger generations through various associations that function as a network.

According to CIOFF policy, an international folklore festival will be fully accomplished as a meeting place for cultures when it is organized in the spirit of friendship and promoting a culture of peace. ICH is an excellent culture inherited over generations, a source of cultural development, and a manifestation of cultural diversity. The new management mechanism realizes the integration of ICH and tourism. The launch of “One Belt and One Road” strategy actually provides an important strategic opportunity for the protection and development of ICH. At the beginning of a new civilization cycle, to open a new window of civilization with people of the world. While there are four main cradles of civilization, which, moving from East to West, are China, India, the Fertile Crescent, and the Mediterranean, specially Greece and Italy, India deserves a larger share of credit because it has deeply affected the cultural life of most of Asia. India has also extended her influence, directly and indirectly, to other parts of the world.\n\nAn International Folklore Festival is one of the means to safeguard, to promote and to diffuse ICH, mainly through such genres of expressions as music, dance, games, rituals, customs, know-how of handicraft and other arts. To be a significant contribution to the maintenance and enhancement of cultural identity and diversity, a folklore festival has to be implemented in an appropriate cultural context. The reflections presented aim to develop a pertinent cultural context in existing and in new international folklore festivals. The following items constitute and describe what CIOFF sees as important elements of the term cultural context.

Dibya Jyoti Borah, President of ARHI introduces the role of ARHI in safeguarding of ICH. Established in 2008, ARHI is collaboration of individuals belonging to the indigenous tribe, activist working for the cultural-educational rights of native people. It is a wider platform for all indigenous communities to discuss and reflect upon challenges and problems faced by indigenous communities as well as finding the best means to address those concerns. It is a grassroots organization comprising all small & big indigenous communities.