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Traditional Performing Arts in Times of a PandemicThe novel coronavirus fears have affected various sectors of the economy, politics, society, and culture. Notably, the cultural sector has been directly and substantially affected by the coronavirus crisis. Most of the public cultural facilities, including museums and art galleries, were temporarily shut down, and many cultural events and performances have been canceled or postponed due to the outbreak. The crisis has wreaked havoc on the performing arts industry. With measures taken to curb the spread of the coronavirus by preventing mass gatherings, concert halls, and theaters have been closed to help people avoid close contact with others.\n\nThe pandemic is also tough on traditional performing arts. It should be noted, however, how the performing arts community is trying to overcome this difficult time and use the crisis as an opportunity. They are looking for various ways to get through the health crisis. The National Gugak Center (https://www.youtube.com/user/gugak1951) and the Seoul Donhwamun Traditional Theater (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCr2aWbG8Hz-EAl7cznvGO5Q), for example, are streaming live performances without audiences via Naver TV and YouTube. And several classical music companies around the world, including the Paris National Opera and the Bolshoi Ballet, are trying to bond with fans, using advanced technologies, by, for example, sharing videos of dancers practicing within the confines of a studio.\n\nLivestream performances provide audiences with virtual content they can partake in from home. Artists can have a live chat with viewers and be inspired to perform free improvisations, making audiences feel as if they were sitting in the front row. By using video technologies, online concerts offer audiences various views, unlike in-person theaters, where spectators can watch the stage from specific angles and distances. Livestream performances also enhance audience convenience. Viewers can enjoy great art while enjoying snacks and drinks from the comfort of their own homes. They can also talk to the people beside them and share their feelings with other audiences in real time while watching shows.\n\nHowever, there are some downsides. Audiences might find it difficult to concentrate on a performance when they experience it via screens and speakers. And although the latest technologies are used to deliver high-quality images and sounds, there are still limitations in bringing the full force of actual performances. This situation raises doubts about whether live streams can appeal to audiences with the same intensity that they might have in physical theaters.\n\nThe coronavirus pandemic has changed many aspects of life. It has also led to noticeable changes in the performing arts. Although there are still varying opinions about the audience’s absence, which is one of the most fundamental elements of performances, the recent proliferation of live streams can be considered a significant leap forward and have shown the possibility of further development.\n\nLivestreaming of traditional performances via online platforms is expected to play a significant role in lowering physical and emotional barriers and increasing accessibility to traditional culture, especially among young people who are more exposed to pop culture. Traditional performing arts will hopefully survive this crisis and come out of it stronger.\n\nPhoto : ‘Ogomu’ Traditional Performing Arts of Korea ⓒ Shutterstock/Jack Q.Year2020NationSouth Korea
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TWO-PART SINGING OF THE NUNG ETHNIC GROUP IN VIETNAMOf the fifty-four ethnic groups in Vietnam, the Kinh (also known as the Viet) people account for 85 percent of the entire population of Vietnam while the remaining 15 percent of the population is made up of the other fifty-three minorities. Within the group of minorities are the Nung people who have a population of around one million and reside in the northern mountainous provinces on the border with China.Year2015NationSouth Korea
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Lialiaci Volume 3, 2022Lialiaci is a publication of the iTaukei Institute of Language and Culture, Ministry of iTaukei Affairs. Lialiaci means to ponder or reflect upon deeply. That is the intent of these articles and perspectives on culture. \n\nThe publication have 3 research articles;\n\n1. Bulu, The Spirit World by Mr. Anasa Tawake - \nThis brief research will try to explain Bulu or the iTaukei concept of the spirit world.\nIt is important to define Bulu or the spirit world because it can be a foundation to which our beliefs are derived from. It is understood that our culture is ‘fixated on Bulu’ (Sekove Bigitibau). If this is so, then our culture, customs and ethos are focused towards the spirit world known as Bulu.\n\n2. The Sunken island by Mr. Inoki Kaloumaira -\nA few islands in Fiji and the Pacific are said to have submerged in the last hundred to thousand years ago. The island of Vuniivilevu is believed to have submerged in the year AD1200 in the Motoriki waters, Lomaiviti (2005). It is one of the islands that is regarded to have been inhabited first before other settlers arrived. Early migrants were said to be tall, muscular and tough and this could be proven with the skeleton that was found in Naturuku, Motoriki in 2002. What was also remarkable about this skeleton was the excellent state of preservation of the skull. It was of a female who would’ve been tall, muscular and tough and was believed to have lived in Motoriki around 800BC (2007). \n\n3. Ancient Sounds in Fiji by Mr. Ulaiasi Taoi-\nAncient sounds in Fiji is still echoed in traditional chant, traditional dances, polyphony, and sacred psalms. It is found to be unique from western sounds and sounds in many parts of the world. Most current Fijian music has adopted western sounds, this includes church hymns, folk songs, serenades, and also Tongan sounds which is practiced in serevakalau known as Polotu and also pesi (Lauan folksongs). Aporosa a traditional cartographer form Beqa stated that there was no Fijian alphabet, but instead was the practice of oral transmission through traditional dances. Lyrics, cartographer and sound were transmitted through vision (Bulivou, 1985). Once ancient sounds were not composed, it was inherently transmitted through the vanua as a gift, and intrinsically maintained its mana in the vanua livelihood. \n\n\n\nYear2022NationFiji
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Memory and ICH in KyrgyzstanKyrgyzstan, a landlocked country the territory of which is more than 94 percent mountainous, is among the most attractive lands located at the heart of Asia on the ancient Silk Road trade routes. The cultural heritage of the Kyrgyz people has been greatly influenced by their nomadic history. Kyrgyz people occupy a unique cultural environment and have a rich ICH. The vitality of this cultural heritage is safeguarded and transmitted from generation to generation as collective memory, orally or through practice and expression.Year2021NationKyrgyzstan
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Thruebab, the Blessed Rainy Day in BhutanAmong fifteen national festivals celebrated in Bhutan, Thruebab or Thrübab is considered a grand event observed not only by the Bhutanese but also by Tibetans. It is a spiritual event that roughly falls between 20 and 25 September coinciding the early date of the eighth month of the Bhutanese calendar. Based on the etymology of Thruebab (thrue—wash, bath, holy water; bab—descend), the Buddhist term literally means “holy water descending”. Due to climate change, however, there is an unexpected shower and sometimes not a single drop of rain (or holy water as it were) from the sky. Regardless, the day of Thruebab is widely known as Blessed Rainy Day. The significance of the day is well connected to the view of both astrological and philosophical texts of Tibetan Buddhism. A special star, believed to be Rishi, is formed by crystal (chu-shel) and a gemstone (ketaka). With similar precious stones, an image of Vairocana Buddha was said to be erected by the great yogis with prayers to fulfill the wishes of all sentient beings. While the star Rishi revolves around the mythological mount Meru, it’s calculated that the star reaches directly above the Buddha’s figure exactly on the early date of the eighth lunar month emitting divine water drops from the collusion of rays from the star and from the Buddha’s crest. Both the rays and water drops permeate the streams and rivers of the world with immense healing power and blessings.\n\nThruebab, as an officially declared holiday, is observed by the whole of Bhutan. Various media platforms predict the beginning of the descent of the holy water and cover the entire event. However, the descent may happen early morning, after dawn, or sometimes even at noon. If it happens early in the morning, people would fill a container of flowers with the water falling down and keep it outside their house to receive the light of Rishi. As the descent happens, people use the water in taking a bath and drinking. Although Thruebab is primarily a spiritual event, people also take advantage of it to celebrate. They would take shower in open streams, ponds, or water taps and wash their clothes. Elderlies merrily shout Thrue! Thrue! Thrue! It means “cleanse us of sins and diseases”. Taking a bath is certainly the highlight of the day.\n\nThe program is then followed by making offerings and prayers. After supplication, family members gather in the dining room to eat rice porridge called thugpa as served either by the mother or eldest daughter. After this, families either visit temples and monasteries or go out for a picnic with relatives, friends, and neighbors. While men often play traditional games like archery, women sing and dance to give the game more elements of entertainment. Thruebab is considered as an integral part of intangible cultural heritage of Bhutan, fortifying social cohesion among the people. It engages people with religious activities and connects them to natural resources.\n\nPhoto : CONTRIBUTED BY YESHI LENDHUPYear2017NationBhutan
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MUSE SG Magazine Showcases Singapore’s Intangible Cultural HeritageThe National Heritage Board of Singapore (NHB) recently published the first issue of a two-part series of MUSE SG that focuses solely on Singapore’s intangible cultural heritage (ICH). MUSE SG is NHB’s outreach magazine that features museum and heritage related articles and is distributed to museums, schools, libraries, and public institutions free-of-charge.\n\nFor the two-part series on Singapore’s ICH, NHB has partnered with History Society students from the National University of Singapore (NUS HISSOC) to conduct research and co-create content. The partnership is part of NHB’s youth engagement efforts to interest the younger generation in different aspects of Singapore’s heritage.\n\nThe first ICH issue of MUSE SG introduces readers to the different categories of ICH as defined by UNESCO and explains how the ICH elements in these categories have become an integral part of Singapore’s multicultural identity. The issue is part of NHB’s continuing efforts to promote greater public awareness and appreciation of Singapore’s ICH.\n\nThe National Heritage Board of Singapore (NHB) recently published the first issue of a two-part series of MUSE SG that focuses solely on Singapore’s intangible cultural heritage (ICH). MUSE SG is NHB’s outreach magazine that features museum and heritage related articles and is distributed to museums, schools, libraries, and public institutions free-of-charge.\n\nFor the two-part series on Singapore’s ICH, NHB has partnered with History Society students from the National University of Singapore (NUS HISSOC) to conduct research and co-create content. The partnership is part of NHB’s youth engagement efforts to interest the younger generation in different aspects of Singapore’s heritage.\n\nThe first ICH issue of MUSE SG introduces readers to the different categories of ICH as defined by UNESCO and explains how the ICH elements in these categories have become an integral part of Singapore’s multicultural identity. The issue is part of NHB’s continuing efforts to promote greater public awareness and appreciation of Singapore’s ICH.\n\nVats containing soy beans undergoing fermentation in the production of soya sauce at Tai Hua Food Industries, 2020. Image courtesy of National Heritage Board, Singapore\nIt also features articles on selected ICH elements including traditional Malay dance, traditional Eurasian cuisine, traditional crafts such as effigy making, the production of soya sauce, the practice of rearing songbirds, the ancient healing practice of Ayurveda, and local practices in the commemoration of Easter.\n\nThe second ICH issue of MUSE SG, to be published in January 2021, will focus on the practices and rituals of Jewish Passover by the local Jewish community and the Zoroastrian faith as practiced by the Parsi community in Singapore.\n\nIt will also cover dondang sayang (a poetic art form associated with the Malay and Straits Chinese communities in this region), traditional Chinese music, traditional Nanyang breakfast (comprising toast with kaya spread, half-boiled eggs and a cup of hot tea or coffee) and the craft of Indian goldsmithing.\n\nTo access the first ICH issue of MUSE SG, please click on the following link: https://www.roots.sg/learn/resources/publications/education-and-community-outreach/MUSE-SG-Volume-13-Issue-01\n\nPhoto 1 : Muse Cover © NHB\nPhoto 2 : Vats containing soy beans undergoing fermentation in the production of soya sauce at Tai Hua Food Industries, 2020. Image courtesy of National Heritage Board, SingaporeYear2020NationSingapore
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Basanta Utsav: Festival of Colors Celebrating HarmonyThe Festival of Colors adorns the season of spring in north, east, and west India, and Nepal. While it is generally called Holi, and is a public holiday, it is celebrated as Basanta Utsav, or Dol, in the eastern Indian state of West Bengal. This is the biggest festival in the entire Indian sub-continent, transcending castes, communities, and religions to celebrate friendship and harmony. Incidentally, Mughal Emperor Akbar (1542 to 1605 CE) was the first Muslim ruler of India to play Holi with his Hindu subjects, striking a deep bond of faith and friendship with them.\n\nPeople smear each other, even strangers, with different colors and sprinkle colored water, with pink, red, green, and yellow being the favorites. This results in villages, towns, and whole cities turning into a canvas of bright colors during the festivities. In many parts of north India, the celebrations, including religious rituals, begin a week ahead of the first full moon in the Hindu calendar month of Phalgun. The main festival, though, is on the full moon day.\n\nBasanta Utsav has its own unique traditional charm with songs and dances playing a key role. It is one of the two main festivals celebrated at Visva Bharati University in Santiniketan, founded by poet-philosopher-educationist Rabindranath Tagore, India’s first Nobel laureate. During spring, with red Palash flowers in full bloom, the entire plateau landscape of Purulia acquires a bright red hue, casting an earthy romantic spell all around. The local communities traditionally celebrate the full moon night of Holi with songs and dance.\n\nPhoto : A scene during the Festival of Colours Celebrating Harmony © Banglanatak dot comYear2018NationIndia,Nepal
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Roles of Shared Heritage of South Korea and North Korea Based on the Viability of ICHCultural heritage had been defined and maintained centered around physical structures or tangible features. It is only recently that the focus has shifted to nonphysical and intangible values of heritage, which incorporate natural, social, and cultural elements. Roles of intangible cultural heritage (ICH) are increasingly emphasized, as it involves the respect for cultural diversity and the representativeness of each cultural heritage, rather than just recognizing excellent universal values accepted by all. ICH has been created, practiced and used by people and has been inherited through generations in a cultural context. The viability of ICH is like a person’s life cycle. As our life is the finite period between birth and death, heritage is also doomed to disappear without a conscious effort to continue the viability of created heritage. Heritage has a finite life and transmission is the force to keep it alive.\n\nKorea is the only divided country in the world. Seventy years have passed since the Korean War, but the wounds of the war and the pain of the division still remain in the hearts of displaced people and dispersed families. Even amidst such a tragedy, there are intangible cultural properties of North Korea that have been transmitted in the South. One of them is “Aewonseong,” a song that has been designated in South Korea as an intangible cultural property of the ibuk odo (which literally means five northern provinces). “Aewonseong” (哀怨聲) reflects the joys and sorrows of life and expresses sounds of sadness and lamentation as the name suggests. People living in the barren areas of Hamgyeong-Do in the North used to hum the song when things were hard and tiring. Currently in South Korea, the song is transmitted by displaced people as a form of a musical performance accompanied by instruments and dance. It allows those people to find consolation and ease their longing for their hometown, thus providing a special sense of identity. Although the song is being practiced differently compared to its original version performed in the North, it still has the same function of consoling people now living in the southern part of the peninsula.\n\nDuring the thirteenth Intergovernmental Committee for the Safeguarding of the ICH, which was held in Mauritius in November 2018, Traditional Korean Wrestling, ssirum/ssireum was jointly inscribed on the Representative List of the ICH of Humanity. The joint inscription was especially meaningful as it was intended for ‘peace and reconciliation.’ Since 2014, ICHCAP has organized biennial sub-regional meetings of five Northeast Asian countries (South Korea, Mongolia, China, Japan, and North Korea). The participants looked at the status of ICH safeguarding in North Korea and discussed the necessity for stronger exchange and cooperation in the fields of ICH in the region, laying a collaborative foundation for support for North Korea. This year in October, the fourth sub-regional meeting will take place in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, under the subject of the safeguarding of shared heritage in East Asia.\n\nAccording to the ‘Kit of the Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage’ published by UNESCO, safeguarding activities promote reconciliation through intercultural dialogue and respect for cultural diversity around the practice of living heritage and thus constitute an effective and sustainable way to restore peace and security within society. Even in the situation of national division, the viability of ICH can bring together different parties beyond the border to share a collective memory and the values of heritage. As such, shared heritage can play a vital role in maintaining peace and security in the two Koreas. ICH, which has survived to date and can be shared by both peoples, could hopefully help achieve inter-Korean cooperation and further establish a culture of peace in Northeast Asia.\n\nPhoto : Joining two Koreas © Shutterstock/eamesBotYear2020NationSouth Korea
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TattooingThe arc of cultural heritage is far broader than many realize. For many, the term calls to mind the physical remains of the past, often in the image of ancient buildings and ruins, or the history of a collective. If prompted to define what heritage encompasses in a personal sense, one might think of their own family’s lineage and ancestry. But in either sense, many of us understand heritage to be something outside of the self rather than something that we are a living part of. We are vehicles for living cultural heritage, not just ethnically, socially, or culturally, but physically. Tangible heritage might be best understood as very much alive, close to home, and applicable to each of us when we consider the body as a context for it.\n\nFrom the way we style our hair and the makeup we paint on our faces to the clothes we choose to wear and the adornments we dress up in, we all adopt insignias of culture and express our identities on the physical plain in modes that have been shaped by heritage. Tattooing is one of these mediums. Inking the skin as to permanently brand ourselves with a visual marker communicates something about who we are or what has touched our lives, to others as much as to ourselves. In this practice, the unseen intangible heritage and identity we know and feel is transformed into something tangible and corporeal.\n\nWe are hardly the first people to manipulate the body in such a way. Tattooing has a long history, a tradition adopted from ancient cultures from the Alps to Mongolia, from Greenland to China, from Egypt to Mexico, from Russia to the South Pacific. Whether marking the skin of a newly initiated member of a group, a tribe leader, a spiritual worshipper, a loyal warrior, or an outcast criminal, tattoos carried their potential to express diverse meanings into more recent history and the modern day. We’re all familiar with the sailor’s anchor, the Indian bride’s henna, the biker’s skull and crossbones, the adoption of the tribal tattoo or Chinese character in Western popular culture. But what stands out is not so much the range of meanings and contexts that tattoos might indicate, but rather the instinct to mark one’s skin in a permanent way, a tale as old as time.\n\nIt is striking to me that no matter where in the world these practices developed, so many diverse groups of indigenous ancestors were inclined to physically demarcate themselves and others, developing a technique of self-expression that would live on. I wonder why.\n\nMaybe they all recognized how powerful the skin can be as a medium for message-bearing. Upon this visible and undetachable bodily canvas, the way one is seen by others is manipulated from the first glance. As we dance through this ancient-turned-modern ritual today, whether the symbols we choose speak for themselves or inspire questions about who we are or where we’ve been, we consider ourselves branded for life.\n\nBut ‘for life’ and forever are not the same thing. In the past and at present, tattoos represent an attempt at permanence that is almost endearing in its falsehood. Though the ink on the skin itself may be unremovable, the skin and body itself is not eternal. The corpses discovered across Europe, Asia, the Americas and Oceania that attest to the long history of tattooing remind us that ‘undoable’ physical manipulations we make will last only as long as the body does. Whatever we regard as permanent is never really such, and after a time the tangible becomes intangible, whether we are referring to body or brick. Palpable proof becomes a fairy tale, man becomes myth. The physical is not perpetual, and tangible heritage does not last forever just because it takes material form.\n\nIt’s within this ongoing cycle of permanence and impermanence that cultural heritage is situated. Though we feel compelled to preserve the flesh of the past on personal and broader scales, matter is more delicate than we often accept, and the risk of disintegration is always looming. Tattooing is a poignant example of one of the most effective ways to retain the substance of the past as centuries go by: to keep it alive in practice, even if not in the exact form it once took, with the stories of where it came from accessible for inspiration.\n\nMore of Issabella’s work is available at museandwander.co.uk\n\nPhoto : Traditional Tattooing ToolsYear2020NationPacific Ocean,China,Egypt,Mexico,Russian Federation
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Virtual K-Culture: Promotion of Korean Culture During COVID-19Normally, the summer season is a busy time for the Korean Cultural Centre (KCC) in Canada’s capital city of Ottawa. KCCs are a global initiative that were started in 2009 by the Korean Culture and Information Service, a subdivision of South Korea’s Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism. As of this moment, there are 32 KCCs in 27 countries. The KCC in Canada was created in 2016 under the jurisdiction of the Embassy of the Republic of Korea to Canada and its mandate is “to enhance Korea-Canada relations by promoting mutual understanding between Koreans and Canadians through the sharing of Korean culture, and facilitating bilateral cooperation between arts and cultural institutions.” The KCC does this through a number of engaging and interactive cultural activities which include exhibitions, performances, film screenings, festivals, cultural/language classes and outreach programs. This all had to be put on hold due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, which has resulted in the temporary closure of a number of cultural institutions around the world, including the KCC in Canada.\n\nHowever, the KCC has managed to find a way to continue to deliver their programming. According to Mr. Jung Joon Rhee, Public Relations Coordinator to the KCC and the Embassy of the Republic of Korea, the KCC shifted its activities online and created “Virtual K-Culture”.\n\n“We launched the ‘Virtual K-Culture’ initiative to bring light to the variety of digital cultural content produced by our partner institutions in Korea, and provide Canadians an opportunity to experience Korean culture from the comfort of their homes,” says Mr Jung Joon Rhee.\n\nVirtual K-Culture includes a combination of their longstanding initiatives such as the promotion of K-Cinema as well as new content. There are three components to the Virtual K-Culture series: audio-visual, participatory and educational.\n\nThe audio-visual content is focused on videos that showcase Korean culture such as art exhibitions and performances as well as film screenings.\n\nThe participatory content requires the contribution of the audience, for example, in the form of K-pop cover dances, which are then used by the KCC to produce compilation videos. Another example of the participatory content are food “webtoons” (a digital comic format that originated in South Korea) that teach the audience how to cook different Korean food while talking about the cultural history of the dish.\n\nThe educational content is aimed at enhancing people’s knowledge about Korea and Korean culture through such means as Korean language learning resources and hosting online Korean culture workshops.\n\nThe shift to virtual content was quite natural for the KCC.\n\n“We already had those digital channels to complement our offline activities prior to COVID-19, so it was just a matter of searching for content and items and executing them with our audiences in mind,” says Mr. Jung Joon Rhee.\n\nAs a global leader in the field of ICT (information and communication technology), South Korea is one of the most digitally connected nations in the world with nearly every household having high-speed Internet access. South Korea’s success with ICT is due to their government’s policies aimed at promoting the use of digital technologies as well as Koreans’ enthusiastic response to them. South Koreans have a “balli balli” (meaning hurry up/faster in Korean) approach to life which also transcends to their use of technology as the majority of people are known to be early adopters of new digital technologies and services.\n\nTherefore, it is no surprise that along with the KCC, other cultural institutions in South Korea have transferred their programming online. One notable example is the National Gugak Center (located in Seoul). The National Gugak Center is focused on promoting traditional Korean music and dance by offering classes and showcasing performances. With the Center being closed due to COVID-19 and all performances currently cancelled, the organization has started to host concerts on their YouTube channel.\n\nAs the future surrounding COVID-19 remains uncertain, the KCC in Canada is planning on prioritizing their digital outreach as they look for new ways to allow people to experience Korean culture while adhering to the regulations concerning COVID-19.\n\nPhoto : VKC Logo © VKZYear2020NationSouth Korea
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Guthi System: Tracing Indigenous Practices of Heritage Conservation in Kathmandu ValleyKathmandu Valley is also known as the city of temples with stupas, shrines, and statues in every nook and corner of the historic centers. Festivals and rituals unfolding throughout the year make the place even more outstanding. It would be interesting to know how most of these monuments and festivals have survived for over hundreds of years.\n\nThe Newar people, or indigenous people loosely identified as those living in Kathmandu Valley, are accustomed to caste, locality, and the system of guthi. Guthi refers to social associations with objectives similar to a format of trusts that play an important role in safeguarding both tangible and intangible heritage. It is still a backbone for the continuity of most festivals, rituals, and traditional practices in Kathmandu Valley.\n\nIn Nepal, every household is a member of at least one guthi formed for a specific purpose, like taking care of temples, performing mask dances, playing musical instruments, lighting butter lamps, taking care of stupas or bridges, and many more. Among many types of guthi is si guthi or sana guthi, which means being in charge of the cremation ceremony. Another example is twa guthi or the responsibility of male family members to be serve a certain function for their caste—teaching traditional musical instruments and taking care of specific temples, rituals, and festivals are exemplary functions of twa guthi.\n\nOne of the important aspects of the guthi system is the land endowment for sustaining guthis. In ancient times, wherever the temples were built or whenever festivals were initiated, the land was endowed to guthi. From the revenue generated from the given land, guthis paid priests, masons, craftsmen, artists, and others. In Nepal, it was not only kings and royals who did such endowments but also regular people. There were several reasons for this. People donated land for various purposes, such as religious piety or to fulfill the obligation one’s social status affords; moreover, this was done to avoid the state confiscating the land in times of political unrest. Once it was endowed to the god, to revoke it would be considered a great sin. Due to these reasons, there were many guthis and sufficient funds to safeguard several hundred temples, festivals, and rituals.\n\nIn the early phases of Nepali history, land endowments were taken by the state and rulers for their personal use; eventually repossessed lands were used to construct public buildings. The nationalization of guthi lands was a major setback to the indigenous community. Many guthis disappeared due to lack of the funds and rapid modernization of Nepal. The guthi system is not taken seriously in formal heritage conservation practices. If timely measures are not taken, then this unique practice will not survive long.\n\nPhoto : The guthi belonging to farmer Kilagal community performing the mask dance called Devi Pyakha during the Yenya Punhi Festival © Monalisa MaharjanYear2018NationNepal
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“Tết Trung thu” – an element contains traditional intangible cultural valuesWhen the festive activities of Lunar July ends, it is the beginning of “Tết Trung thu” (or “the Mid-Autumn festival”). It usually falls out on the 15th day of Lunar August when the weather turns a little cooler after the unpleasantly hot summer. In Vietnam, this event has many humanistic meanings such as: regarding as “family union holiday”, thanksgiving to the nature Gods for the harvest and growth of life, praying to ask the blessings for families and relatives. As time went by, it is known as the Children’s festival because of its pureness and closeness to the natural world. Moreover, watching the moon’s color on that day can predict the harvest as well as the national destiny: namely, the successful silk-making season (golden moon), natural disasters (blue moon), peaceful country (orange moon).\n\nAlthough the origin of “Tết Trung thu” is not really clear, Vietnamese people still practice it as an intangible cultural heritage (ICH) belonging to ancient wet-rice civilization. There have been several folktales about it: the story of Hằng Nga (Moon Lady), the legend about the woodcutter named Cuội, the tale of the king went to visit the moon, ect. And the oral tradition of Cuội was the most popular story and it reflects the Vietnamese folk identity. It is said that Cuội’s absent-minded wife poured dirty water on a magic tree which caused it to fly towards the moon. He failed to pull the tree back and stuck with it on the moon. Therefore, children often carry colorful lanterns on the full moon night of Lunar August to help him find the way back to Earth.\n\nVietnamese people spend whole a month preparing for the celebration. Some outstanding customs indispensable on the brightest moon night include:\n\n– Worshiping the natural Gods: This practice demonstrates knowledge concerning nature and the universe of indigenous people. The mid-autumn day is the occasion to show their respect to the natural Gods and ancestors. Besides, the worshiping tray with five kind of fruits (representing the universe’s five elements), moon-cakes with many unique shapes including two main types: “bánh dẻo” (symbol of reunion) and “bánh nướng” (meaning of life’s taste), toys which expressed the desire for a good harvest year, a happy and reunited family.\n\n– Enjoying traditional mid-autumn specialities: After the full moon rises, when the Gods and ancestors have received the devotion of living people, it will be time for everyone to enjoy the fruits and cakes together. It can be said that gathering in the moonlight is a traditional practice and also a rare time of year for everybody to gather and show the connection between family members.\n\n– Carrying lanterns: For Vietnamese children, the traditional lantern is the most meaningful gift to parade in the Mid-Autumn festival. The making lantern is considered as one of the famous traditional craftsmanship of agricultural residents as well. Traditional lanterns are made from bamboo and cellophane, going through many stages. There are many lantern shapes designed with folk symbolic meanings: the star lantern shows the purity of children, the rabbit lantern represents the moon, the toad lantern describes a desire about favorable weather for crops, the carp lantern stand for wishing peace and prosperity, ect.\n\n– Performing the unicorn dance: This performance art originated from the folk legend about the unicorn. Legendarily, unicorn was very aggressive and often caused trouble for human. Then “ông Địa” (the character incarnated by Maitreya Buddha) appeared and tamed it into a sacred animal to bless everyone in annual Mid-Autumn festival. Hence, the simulation of “ông Địa” hanging out with his unicorn among the children’s lantern lights is an unforgettable image in this festival.\n\nIn general, “Tết Trung thu” in Vietnam retains positive traditional elements in the modern time. It still has attracted the younger generation and directed them to the values of truth – goodness – beauty which are inherent to the festival. As an element that covers most of the specific domains of ICH, Vietnam’s Mid-Autumn festival has its own identity despite the great impact of globalization in its culture and the recent transformation of customs.\n\nPhoto : The worshiping tray with an identity of agricultural residents © Hoang The PhucYear2019NationViet Nam