A unique female-dominated performance held only on the 8th and 9th day of the 7th lunar month in the two communities of Ura-ma-krong (main village of Ura) and Shingkhar, the farthest settlement under Ura gewog (block) in Bumthang Dzongkhag (district). In Ura dialect, Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH) is usually called Saang (smoke offering). It is said that in the old days, when there were yak herders who usually came from their village to raise the yaks at Purshey la (one of the mountains overlooking Ura village), they welcomed the female performers by burning sang at Korgang (the place believed to be the place where the deity descends or dwells and where the female performers circumambulate the stupa). Hence, community members refer to the festival as Sang or Sang na gai-sang (on the way to the Sang offering). Another interpretation states that the female participants begin their offering by making various medicinal herbs and other fresh offerings go up in smoke while appeasing the main female deity named A-shey Lhamo and her entourage, namely Gawa Lhamo, Kiba Lhamo, Champa Lhamo, and Dropa Lhamo. However, in addition to the aforementioned attendant goddesses, Shingkhar A-zhi (pronounced locally) Lhamo has Lam-dron Lhamo forming five attendant goddesses. Therefore, the festival and performance were called Sang from the first offering. \n\nThe other name of the festival, A-shey Lhamo, is interpreted literally by outsiders and some learned community members as the lyrics of the religious song sung and danced in honor of the deity A-shey Lhamo. Colloquially, the term A-shey is addressed to either the queen or the elder sisters, and Lhamo is a general term for the divine goddess.\n\nThe origin of Sang or A-shey Lhamo is that during the Dung Lhawang Rabgay (local ruler), not long before the emergence of the Dung caste system in Bhutan around the 10th-11th century, there was a misfortune of Shey-ned (diarrheal infection) that spread among the children of the Ura community. People sought the advice of their ruler as there was no tradition of performing rituals or treatments. Thus, Dung Lhawang introduced Drakpa, who had a divine bloodline, to appease the female local deity by performing dances. He composed the lyrics in the typical Ura dialect and ordered that they be performed by female members of the community. The Lord also determined the place: Pur-shey la (written Pur-gyal la) along with the things to be sacrificed and also the steps. Following the advice, the women performed the dance, which gradually helped the children recover from the epidemic. After that, the performance of A-shey Lhamo was practiced.\n\nAccording to the origin, A-shey Lhamo and the goddesses accompanying her are both the deities of the place and deities of the Bon khar tradition. Perhaps they are the other form of Tshering chey nga (the five sisters of longevity) who appeared in the Bon tradition before they were introduced by Guru Padsambava as the tutelary deity of Buddhism, just as many Bonpo deities were later transformed as protectors of the sacred teachings of the Buddha. In the poetry of A-shey Lhamo, it is mentioned that they reside in the high mountains Gang-toed thoen po. The road to their citadel is like a mule track, filled with the sweet fragrance of Ba-loo (Rhododendron ciliatum) and Su-loo (Rhododendron setosum). She delights in the first share of Mar-chang Ara (locally brewed wine) and Kara and Buram (honey and brown sugar) and sits down on the white sheepskin mat. She resides gracefully in a palace of precious gems with golden columns and silver windows. Apart from the above description of her residence, there is no text describing her appearance, only the names of her sisters and the goddess herself.

A unique female-dominated performance held only on the 8th and 9th day of the 7th lunar month in the two communities of Ura-ma-krong (main village of Ura) and Shingkhar, the farthest settlement under Ura gewog (block) in Bumthang Dzongkhag (district). In Ura dialect, Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH) is usually called Saang (smoke offering). It is said that in the old days, when there were yak herders who usually came from their village to raise the yaks at Purshey la (one of the mountains overlooking Ura village), they welcomed the female performers by burning sang at Korgang (the place believed to be the place where the deity descends or dwells and where the female performers circumambulate the stupa). Hence, community members refer to the festival as Sang or Sang na gai-sang (on the way to the Sang offering). Another interpretation states that the female participants begin their offering by making various medicinal herbs and other fresh offerings go up in smoke while appeasing the main female deity named A-shey Lhamo and her entourage, namely Gawa Lhamo, Kiba Lhamo, Champa Lhamo, and Dropa Lhamo. However, in addition to the aforementioned attendant goddesses, Shingkhar A-zhi (pronounced locally) Lhamo has Lam-dron Lhamo forming five attendant goddesses. Therefore, the festival and performance were called Sang from the first offering. \n\nThe other name of the festival, A-shey Lhamo, is interpreted literally by outsiders and some learned community members as the lyrics of the religious song sung and danced in honor of the deity A-shey Lhamo. Colloquially, the term A-shey is addressed to either the queen or the elder sisters, and Lhamo is a general term for the divine goddess.\n\nThe origin of Sang or A-shey Lhamo is that during the Dung Lhawang Rabgay (local ruler), not long before the emergence of the Dung caste system in Bhutan around the 10th-11th century, there was a misfortune of Shey-ned (diarrheal infection) that spread among the children of the Ura community. People sought the advice of their ruler as there was no tradition of performing rituals or treatments. Thus, Dung Lhawang introduced Drakpa, who had a divine bloodline, to appease the female local deity by performing dances. He composed the lyrics in the typical Ura dialect and ordered that they be performed by female members of the community. The Lord also determined the place: Pur-shey la (written Pur-gyal la) along with the things to be sacrificed and also the steps. Following the advice, the women performed the dance, which gradually helped the children recover from the epidemic. After that, the performance of A-shey Lhamo was practiced.\n\nAccording to the origin, A-shey Lhamo and the goddesses accompanying her are both the deities of the place and deities of the Bon khar tradition. Perhaps they are the other form of Tshering chey nga (the five sisters of longevity) who appeared in the Bon tradition before they were introduced by Guru Padsambava as the tutelary deity of Buddhism, just as many Bonpo deities were later transformed as protectors of the sacred teachings of the Buddha. In the poetry of A-shey Lhamo, it is mentioned that they reside in the high mountains Gang-toed thoen po. The road to their citadel is like a mule track, filled with the sweet fragrance of Ba-loo (Rhododendron ciliatum) and Su-loo (Rhododendron setosum). She delights in the first share of Mar-chang Ara (locally brewed wine) and Kara and Buram (honey and brown sugar) and sits down on the white sheepskin mat. She resides gracefully in a palace of precious gems with golden columns and silver windows. Apart from the above description of her residence, there is no text describing her appearance, only the names of her sisters and the goddess herself.

A unique female-dominated performance held only on the 8th and 9th day of the 7th lunar month in the two communities of Ura-ma-krong (main village of Ura) and Shingkhar, the farthest settlement under Ura gewog (block) in Bumthang Dzongkhag (district). In Ura dialect, Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH) is usually called Saang (smoke offering). It is said that in the old days, when there were yak herders who usually came from their village to raise the yaks at Purshey la (one of the mountains overlooking Ura village), they welcomed the female performers by burning sang at Korgang (the place believed to be the place where the deity descends or dwells and where the female performers circumambulate the stupa). Hence, community members refer to the festival as Sang or Sang na gai-sang (on the way to the Sang offering). Another interpretation states that the female participants begin their offering by making various medicinal herbs and other fresh offerings go up in smoke while appeasing the main female deity named A-shey Lhamo and her entourage, namely Gawa Lhamo, Kiba Lhamo, Champa Lhamo, and Dropa Lhamo. However, in addition to the aforementioned attendant goddesses, Shingkhar A-zhi (pronounced locally) Lhamo has Lam-dron Lhamo forming five attendant goddesses. Therefore, the festival and performance were called Sang from the first offering. \n\nThe other name of the festival, A-shey Lhamo, is interpreted literally by outsiders and some learned community members as the lyrics of the religious song sung and danced in honor of the deity A-shey Lhamo. Colloquially, the term A-shey is addressed to either the queen or the elder sisters, and Lhamo is a general term for the divine goddess.\n\nThe origin of Sang or A-shey Lhamo is that during the Dung Lhawang Rabgay (local ruler), not long before the emergence of the Dung caste system in Bhutan around the 10th-11th century, there was a misfortune of Shey-ned (diarrheal infection) that spread among the children of the Ura community. People sought the advice of their ruler as there was no tradition of performing rituals or treatments. Thus, Dung Lhawang introduced Drakpa, who had a divine bloodline, to appease the female local deity by performing dances. He composed the lyrics in the typical Ura dialect and ordered that they be performed by female members of the community. The Lord also determined the place: Pur-shey la (written Pur-gyal la) along with the things to be sacrificed and also the steps. Following the advice, the women performed the dance, which gradually helped the children recover from the epidemic. After that, the performance of A-shey Lhamo was practiced.\n\nAccording to the origin, A-shey Lhamo and the goddesses accompanying her are both the deities of the place and deities of the Bon khar tradition. Perhaps they are the other form of Tshering chey nga (the five sisters of longevity) who appeared in the Bon tradition before they were introduced by Guru Padsambava as the tutelary deity of Buddhism, just as many Bonpo deities were later transformed as protectors of the sacred teachings of the Buddha. In the poetry of A-shey Lhamo, it is mentioned that they reside in the high mountains Gang-toed thoen po. The road to their citadel is like a mule track, filled with the sweet fragrance of Ba-loo (Rhododendron ciliatum) and Su-loo (Rhododendron setosum). She delights in the first share of Mar-chang Ara (locally brewed wine) and Kara and Buram (honey and brown sugar) and sits down on the white sheepskin mat. She resides gracefully in a palace of precious gems with golden columns and silver windows. Apart from the above description of her residence, there is no text describing her appearance, only the names of her sisters and the goddess herself.

Wood-carving. Process of carving orna-ments in the wood, stone, plaster, animal bone and etc. This craft is used more in the contrition of buildings and decoration of doors and windows.

ICHCAP hosted an international forum, ‘Unlocking the Potential of Tertiary Education for ICH Safeguarding’ on 17 July in Seoul, Republic of Korea, in cooperation with UNESCO Bangkok Office and the Korea National University of Cultural Heritage.\n\nICH education experts from twelve Asia-Pacific countries attended the forum to discuss the main subjects of ICH education in universities in the Asia-Pacific region and community-based approaches for ICH safeguarding. Participating experts shared ICH-related curricula of regional universities and discussed the roles and importance of tertiary education institutions in the safeguarding of ICH through community-based curriculums.

ICHCAP, together with the Digital Heritage Lab, Graduate School of Culture Technology, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, organized an international seminar entitle “Protecting the Past for the Future: Digital Documentation as One of the Imperative Tools for Safeguarding of Cultural Heritage,” 20 July 2019.\n\nThe seminar consisted of three sessions: the first covered the archiving and visualization of intangible cultural heritage; the second focused on digital documentation methods for tangible cultural heritage; and the third discussed the challenges faced by Korea in establishing cultural heritage-related digital data.

This book is a collection of the eight selected NGOs’ ICH safeguarding activities in accordance with achieving Sustainable Development Goals, especially Goal 4: Quality Education. With the inclusion of NGOs from Azerbaijan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Indonesia, Mongolia, and the Philippines, this book provides an opportunity to look into the current ICH safeguarding status and environment of the seven countries and to seek measures to overcome the many different challenges involved with ICH safeguarding.

2020 World Forum for Intangible Cultural Heritage