Prevalent in Kyrgyzstan, the horse symbolizes nomadic culture. The country’s folk literature reflects how the Kyrgyz people harmoniously live with the animal. For example, in Manas, the epic poem, the hero was inseparable from his horse, Ak-Kula, in every battle he fought. The deep association of the Kyrgyz with horses is embodied in nomadic horse games.\n\nOccurring in summertime, nomadic horse games are usually played by men. These games are a depiction of spectacular skills and manliness. Men participating in these games demonstrate excellence in horse riding, prompt reaction, agility, and strength. There is a significant number of horse games in Kyrgyzstan collectively perceived as a traditional sport. Among the most important of these games is kok boru. Also known as ulak tartysh, it is a famous nomad horse game historically believed to train young men to be fearless. The game consists of two teams on horseback, where players have to throw a dead animal (ulak or sheep) to the opponent’s goal. The team with the most goals wins the game. Another game, at chabyish, is a long-distance horse-racing competition. Depending on the distance and age of horse, this game as classified as kunan chabysh, zhorgo salysh, or byshty zhorgo. Wrestling is also incorporated in nomadic horse games. Er enish is a good example of this. Requiring great stamina, this game consists of two horsemen who attempt to push each other off each other’s horse. The first to touch the ground loses.\n\nTo preserve and develop these traditional games of nomadic culture, the Republic of Kyrgyzstan initiated the World Nomad Games in 2012. The First World Nomad Games were held in 2014 in the Issyk-Kul Oblast of Kyrgyzstan. Around nineteen countries participated in the nomad games competitions. The Second Nomad Games were held in 2016, where sixty-two countries participated in twenty-six different nomadic sports. The Third World Nomad Games will take place this year, from 2 to 8 September in Cholpon-Ata, Issyk-Kul Oblast, Kyrgyzstan. For this year, around seventy-seven countries are expected to participate. The nomadic horse games mentioned in this article will be included in the program.\n\nPhoto 1 : Man riding a horse© National Commission of the Kyrgyz Republic for UNESCO\nPhoto 2 : Girl riding a horse © Tynchtyk Turdaliev\nPhoto 3 : Riding a horse © Tynchtyk Turdaliev

A triad of spring festive rites—biye baylau, ayghyr kosu, and kymyz murundyk, identified and documented in Terisakkan Village in the northern outskirts of Ulytau District, Central Kazakhstan—is a testimony to nomadic culture surviving up to today. Regarded by its bearers as the most important annual festive event, it starts in early May with first spring warmth, new grass, flowers, and foals, opening a new year-round cycle of life reproduction and a new season of making koumiss, an ancient sacred drink.

Salburuun is a traditional Kyrgyz hunting game with a long history. Traditionally, salburuun comes from the nomadic tradition of protecting herds from wolves. Moreover, Kyrgyz people have a long tradition of hunting with eagles and faithful dogs called taigan. During hunting campaigns, people identify the best hunters, horses, eagles, and taigans. salburrun is not only about the skills of the hunter but also his relationship and courage with eagles or taigan. Therefore, salburuun is a complex hunting game with birds of prey, taigans, and traditional bow shooting. In Kyrgyzstan, different salburrun festivals have been held and is part of the World Nomad Games held every two years in Kyrgyzstan.\n\nThe various salburuun games include burkut salu, dalba, and taigan jarysh. Burkut salu is a complex hunting activity with eagle. Usuallys, the burkut salu team consists of six people with one team leader and other five berkutchi (hunter with an eagle). Participants test their skills two exercises as chyrga and ondok. Dalba is hunting with falcon. In this competition, the speed of the falcon’s flight to lure is tested. Each kushchu (falconer) is given two minutes to test his falcon. During this time, the falcon had to imitate an attack on a lure from the air. Judges note how many times the falcon flies and imitates an attack. Taigan jarysh is another type of traditional hunting game in the form of dog racing. After the judge’s signal, dogs are released simultaneously to chase a fox or hare dummy pulled by the rider or a special apparatus. There are three competitions the initial, semi-final and final races in which each dog’s ability is determined. If a dog tries to bite or hinder another dog during the race, the dog is disqualified.\n\nSalburuun is a unique traditional method of hunting that combines the teamwork of eagles, falcons, and taigan dogs. The games draw attention of thousands of people from all over the world, which is why it is part of the World Nomad Games that are held in Kyrgyzstan. Moreover, there are a number of festivals and competitions hosted to foster salburuun as comprehensive hunting game, which is now also considered an art form as well.\n\nPhoto : Engraving of Kyrgyz traditions, created in 1880

The Rom Dance is a prominent cultural heritage originating from Ambrym Island in the Vanuatu archipelago. Ole in the Ambrym vernacular language refers to dance performances in which participants wear a rom mask. The rom, which is the mask itself, is a simpler version of the Banks Islands’ tamate mask, but it looks more similar to South Malekula masks.

Afrikan combat arts and sciences are the very oldest in the world as Afrikan people are the first human beings in the world. According to Hamblin, “the oldest discovered cemetery in the Nile Valley at Jebel Sahaba in Nubia (northern Sudan)—broadly dated to roughly 12,000– 9000—provides the earliest evidence of tribal warfare, for roughly half of the 59 skeletons at site 117 had flint projectile points among the bones, probably indicating death in battle; some had evidence of multiple healed wounds, perhaps indicating repeated fighting” (2006, p. 32). This site has since been more accurately dated to between 13,140 and 14,340 years ago (Graham, 2016). At another massacre site at Nataruk in contemporary Kenya were found a mixture of people killed with blunt instruments, sharp pointed weapons, projectiles, and so on. According to Lahr , “Ten of the twelve articulated skeletons found at Nataruk show evidence of having died violently at the edge of a lagoon, into which some of the bodies fell. The remains from Nataruk are unique, preserved by the particular conditions of the lagoon with no evidence of deliberate burial” (2016, p. 2). Researchers at Nataruk also found:

Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh, is the most populated city in the country. It is also one of the most populated cities in the world with a density of 23,234 people per square kilometer within a total area of 300 square kilometers. The Greater Dhaka Area has a population of over 18 million as of 2016 (World Population Review, 2017). According to the UN World Urbanization Prospects (2014), the population of Dhaka was only 336,000 in 1950. Dhaka has always been a center of cultural vibrancy and has a long history and tradition of both tangible and intangible cultural heritage. The cultural vibrancy and heritage that have given glory to Dhaka for centuries often get buried under different modern-day civic problems. As an ever-expanding mega city, Dhaka is losing its cultural spaces to religious and ruling coteries. Many of the city’s prime spaces are now earmarked for various public and private business, commercial, or military purposes. The situation was not so deplorable even during the Pakistan era from 1947 to 1971.

Being home to over a quarter of the world’s languages, the Pacific is a particularly good place to focus on how language records can be made accessible. The creation and description of research records has not always been a priority for humanities academics and any records that are created have typically not been provided with good archival solutions. This is despite these records often being of cultural or historical relevance beyond academia. Many cultural agencies struggle to keep track of recordings they have made, and it is the same for many researchers. Often it is only when researchers prepare recordings for archiving that they realize how many (or few) are described adequately, or have been transcribed or translated.

Around four thousand years ago, Austronesian-speaking people sailed from Taiwan into the greater Pacific. A thousand years later, they were the first people to land in Vanuatu and Tonga. Then these Austronesian voyagers mixed with Papuan populations in what is now Papua New Guinea, and those people later became the Polynesian voyagers. Evidence now suggests that the extent of Austronesian and Polynesian voyaging was greater than once thought, ranging from Madagascar to Brazil—over two-thirds around the globe. The seafaring vessels that the Austronesian voyagers created were the vehicles of the greatest human migration ever made.

The Ramanarpanam Trust established the DRIK Foundation, a value-based learning center for Indian Art and Culture, and innumerable learning and education platforms for the children and youth of oppressed and exploited communities. DRIK and DWARAKA were formed to protect the socio-economic and cultural heritage and values of rural India. All the above organizations together have launched the DRIK DWARAKA ACADEMY, integrating rights learning with community change, skill development, livelihood generation and leadership development among children, youth, and women. DRIK JEEVANOTSAVA, a cultural empowerment movement, has spread the message of human rights, values, peace, and leadership through its activities. Together with AVAS (Association for Voluntary Action and Services), this cultural network has taken root to revive traditions and heritage, giving livelihood options and rejuvenating old folk forms of songs, dances, storytelling, puppet shows and much more towards transforming communities.

There have been various cooperative activities for safe-guarding intangible cultural heritage (ICH) at the domestic, regional, and international level since the Convention for the Safeguarding of the ICH was adopted by UNESCO’s General Conference in 2003. ICHCAP, a UNESCO Category 2 Centre in the ICH field, has been working to share information, build networks, and raise visibility of ICH in the Asia-Pacific region, which shows the cultural iden-tities of relevant communities who can be a driving force of sustainable development of the societies. \nTug-of-war has also been an ICH theme ICHCAP has worked to safe-guard and raise awareness. Among a number of diverse ICH elements, tug-of-war is a cultural phenomenon found worldwide. In Asia, espe-cially, tug-of-war has been a custom deeply embedded in rice cultivation and is therefore found largely in agricultural societies. Tug-of-war was generally performed as a prayer for rain or to predict the bounty of the upcoming harvest. It has common features worldwide based on climate and environment. However, differences arise according to the distinct characteristic and the creativity of the region, which makes tug-of-war a worthwhile research subject as an Asian joint heritage.

Moderator to Participants: The participants commonly addressed intangible cultural heritage festivals’ influence and effects on local communities. Safeguarding local intangible cultural heritage is very important, and ICH festivals are key cultural events for celebrating world ICH and have had a positive effect on economic tourism as well as the social and cultural sectors of the governments hosting them. Today, for all speakers, why is community participation is important in safeguarding intangible cultural heritage? You answered that communities play an important role in production and safeguarding as well as the maintenance and recreation of the ICH. Then you also raised the question, how to strengthen the role of communities? You have answered that groups and individuals concerned should be encouraged to help them safeguard intangible cultural heritage. I would like to suggest a small question to all of you. Local community engagement is very important; however, to encourage local communities to engage in cultural heritage, there may be tasks and challenges, for example how to raise awareness of those issues and how to set priorities and draw attention. As far as the central government we need to consider how to get over dependency for financial support and how to build strategic relationships and partnerships with international institutions and communities. In sum, I am asking to facilitate local communities’ engagement in intangible cultural heritage. What would be the major challenges?

The main contents of this publication are reports from thirty-two nations collected by ICHCAP from 2009 to 2015 as part of its annual projects to collect information on intangible cultural heritage safeguarding in the Asia-Pacific region. We have also compiled information from other reports and conference materials collected by ICHCAP to present key data, such as national inventories and information on related organizations, in an easily accessible format.