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

Puppets have been a metaphor in Indian literature for ages. One’s deftness in getting something done is often compared with the skills of a puppeteer. Puppets reflect the helplessness of people in situations beyond their control, like a puppet dancing to the whims of the one pulling its strings. The metaphor, incidentally, is also applicable to the lives of string puppeteers of Muragacha in the Nadia District in the eastern Indian state of West Bengal.

Throughout the years, I have been researching Korean recreational activ-ities, and among them, the tug-of-war was definitely the most central theme. According to my research, the Korean tug-of-war has many different fea-tures following the different regional characteristics, but they also have similar patterns. Although it is possible to speculate that the diverse characteristics of each region’s tug-of-war is due to the area’s geo-ecological, sociocultural, and magi-co-religious factors and culture exchange, it is difficult to prove these factors in depth. Thus, this paper examines the diverse features present in the tug-of-war through studies completed up to now. Also I would like to add that the only intent for the tug-of-war studies was to compile and examine them in this report. Despite many methods in examining the diversity of tug-of-war, this paper sets a few standards to reveal the present features, and with these standards, the meaning of Korean tug-of-war can be understood.

The ASB Polyfest is an iconic Auckland festival filled with color and culture. It celebrated its 43rd anniversary in 2018, with more than 12,000 secondary school students from across the Auckland region performing on six stages and a record 241 performing groups from 68 schools.

People living in the Phuket area of Thailand come from many provinces, allowing many opportunities for cultural exchange, including in the areas of food, clothes and dialects. Through such exchange, people develop an appreciation for their own heritage as well as for cultural diversity. As in many schools in Thailand, Ban Ku Ku school’s teachers incorporate elements of local culture and heritage into the curriculum to increase children’s interest in the lessons.

This paper begins by reviewing the current implementation of the 2003 Convention at the international level, notably its ratification status and the inscriptions on its two lists—the Urgent Safeguarding List and the Representative List—as well as on the Register of Best Safeguarding Practices. It then examines how procedures to process nominations and inscriptions on the lists and register have been improved and rationalised since drawing up the first version of the Operational Directives in 2008.The paper takes note of the significance of the capacity-building activities undertaken by the UNESCO Secretariat. It then addresses the implementation of the Convention at the national level on the basis of the First Periodical Reports on the implementation of the Convention that have recently been submitted to the Committee. Various fundamental issues are brought to light.Finally, the paper discusses the importance of distributing tasks among the three East-Asian Category 2 Centres for the implementation of the 2003 Convention in the Republic of Korea, the People’s Republic of China, and Japan and underscores the significant roles that have been entrusted to the information and networking centre in the Republic of Korea.

Cultural heritage is a synchronized relationship involving society (systems of interactions connecting people), norms, and values (ideas such as belief systems that attribute relative importance). Symbols, technologies, and objects are tangible evidence of underlying norms and values. Thus, they establish a symbiotic relationship between the tangible and intangible. Intangible heritage should be regarded as a larger framework in which tangible heritage takes on shape and significance within.

Beijing opera dates back over two hundred years to the Qing dynasty, although its roots can be traced back to the Tang dynasty (618–907 CE). While there are many aspects that make Beijing opera a unique cultural asset, the facial makeup used on performers is world renowned for its exquisiteness and mystique.

If beliefs in fertility associated with aspiration of reproduction remains as a cultural sediment; beliefs in ancestor worship exist in various forms not only in the Việt communities but also in the lives of many ethnic groups; beliefs in village titulary worship make communal houses to become special space for religious activities; then beliefs in the Mother Goddesses has not only spread widely, but also formed large worship centers exceeding a village’s and a commune’s space. In other words, the development of beliefs in the Mother Goddesses is a spatial expansion from the North to the South, from coastal region across the delta to the mountains; from remote areas to urban centers in Viet Nam. Beliefs in the Mother Goddesses is a process of integrating and combining folk beliefs and religious activities of the Việt people and of other ethnic groups such as the Tày, Nùng, Tai, Dao, Cham, Khmer, etc which forms a specific type of Vietnamese folk belief sustainably developed for a long time.

I started the Manipuri Theatre group when I was 20 years old. Our first production was held in Ghoramara, and the experience and feelings of it were inexplicable. The word ‘theatre’ was alien to us until then. We realized that the villagers were not accustomed to such an indigenous production. It was not like traditional folk theatre on religious tales—the subject delved into vagaries of everyday life and struggle. However, the idea was incepted in a casual way. At that age, our usual recreation was sports or picnic. Drama production had never been an option. The idea came from watching traditional Manipuri religious drama Ras Leela.

People have lived on the small atolls that make up the Central Caroline Islands, now part of the Federated States of Micronesia, for over a thousand years. Micronesia, as it is commonly referred to, is made up of four mountainous states: Kosrae, Pohnpei, Chuuk, and Yap, with hundreds of small raised coral atolls. Yap is considered still to retain much of its cultural heri\u0002tage. Life on these remote, outlying islands could for some, especially those from more developed countries, prove lonely and isolating, if not downright difficult. For one thing, the typical size of these atolls is around 2.6 square kilometers (1 square mile) with an average population of 200. Being sur\u0002rounded by the vast Pacific, they appear on maps as nothing more than tiny dots in the deep blue ocean.

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.