Materials
spiritual practices
ICH Materials 35
Publications(Article)
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Mongolian Culture and HeritageThe 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 ChoijiljavYear2020NationMongolia
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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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Gavari: The Unwritten Epic of a Mewari TribeKalika is a Hindu goddess. Also known as Ambav and Gauri, she is a symbol of energy and female power for which she is worshiped by Bhil tribe of Mewar in a forty-day ritual called Gavari. The timeless, spiritually-motivated, and electrifying dance-drama is a crucial part of the rich Mewari tribe tradition. Their performance—a synchronized amalgam of ritual, dance, music, myths, folklore, and theatrical plays—can be a truly mesmerizing cultural experience. It needs not a formal stage yet maintains an attraction that keeps the audience engaged and involved.\n\nGenerally, the colorful Gavari performance holds on to the theme of “victory of the divine against the demon” and creatively retells folk tales, myth, and history, incorporating satire and contemporary issues in its short episodes. Performed only by the male members of the Bhil tribe, Gavari starts with and maintains a mimesis of the female power of Kalika. It is typically performed by ten to fifty members of the tribe, who are from different age range and have varied roles in the performance. Each performance has a vital message combined with spiritual invocations, which makes its telling more effective. The rising beats of Madal intensify the atmosphere in such a way that the audience can get into trance. Members of the Bhil tribe believe that they can be cured by the blessings of the main priest or by Kali. The Gavari performance splendidly presents stories carrying tribal wisdom. It also affirms simplicity, equality, communal harmony, consciousness, art appreciation, and upmost environment protection for sustainable development.\nEffects of modernity and globalization reaching tribal areas in India, however, have molded an abrasive attitude toward practices known to be “traditional”. In the last couple of decades, it was observed that the younger members of the Bhil tribe have less interest in keeping their tradition alive. They prefer to work as laborers than learning and performing Gavari. Gavari performance is seen to have no worthy benefit and thus must not be actively transmitted. This alarming situation may banish the purest form of performing art along with its music, stories, folk tales, songs, divinity, and wisdom, all particular to the southern part of Rajasthan, India.\n\nThe biggest challenge in safeguarding Gavari is to bring its identity and pride back to restore the ignored cultural heritage of Mewar. Enhanced visibility of Gavari performance at both national and international levels could help in realizing its socioeconomic benefits. Documentation, digitization, and dissemination art are very much needed to relocate this Gavari and its wisdom to next generations in a systematic manner. Through efforts of NGOs working in the ICH field such as the publication of the first pictorial book on it, film, and website, it is possible for people to have vicarious access to Gavari. Notwithstanding, more efforts are needed to protect the heritage of Bhil tribe.Year2017NationIndia
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Den Zha-Oral narration textThe practice of Bon traditions was widespread in Bhutan long before the arrival of Buddhism, and it retains influence in Tshapey village. Previously people practiced animal sacrifice and had faith in nature. With the advent of Buddhism in the country, many elements of Bon dissipated even as Bon rituals continued. Taking on a fusion of Buddhism and aspects of Bon, this became known as Bo-kar, white Bon. This especially allowed Bon rituals to be performed without sacrificing human lives. \n\nDen-zha, a local festival in the village of Tshapey, is one of many such Bo-kar practices. This festival is about appeasing Ke-lha the deity of birth, or the local deity known as Nyep Dangnap, who is commonly worshipped as the protector of the Tshapey community. The deity's dark appearance is said to have given her the name Dang-nap, which is further exemplified by the deity's black mask that can be seen in the Lhakhang, temple, today. \n\nThe Lhakhang, locally known as Haa Goenpa, or monastery. It is believed that the Goenpa was built on the spot where a dove miraculously landed. The dove is considered to be the Nob Denshap, heart emanation, of the Jowo image of Buddha Shakyamuni of Lhasa, Tibet. It is located about seven kilometers from the road. The most important Nangten, or relic, at the Lhakhang is a large statue of the Jowo Shakyamuni. It is said that any wishes or prayers made before the Jowo will come true. In earlier times, the Tshapey community took care of the Lhakhang, but in 1998 it was given to the Zhung Dratshang Central Monastic Body. It was severely damaged by an earthquake and renovated in 1992. Currently, eight people live in and around the Lhakhang - five Tshampa meditators, one Kunyer caretaker, and one Lopen or Lam the spiritual master. \n\nOn this occasion, the members of the Tshapey community, including those who have moved away to other places, gather at the village Lhakhang to make Nyen-dhar monetary offerings. If they cannot come, they must come and make Shag-pa confession immediately after the festival period.YearNot yet publishedNationBhutan
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Sustainability and Cultural Diversity in Safeguarding ICH: Tools and PerspectivesThe primary value of intangible cultural heritage (ICH) lies in its ability to create locally based knowledge that performers, practitioners, and other participants use to contemplate, understand, and act upon their lives. Its scope is utilitarian as well as spiritual, ethical as well as aesthetic. Through ICH, local participants realise a wide range of benefits—ranging from practical techniques to affirmations of individual identity and group solidarity. National cultural institutions that programmatically recognise this value develop policy both to help safeguard local ICH and to promote cultural diversity, an ethical and political principle that recognises the creativity, beauty, wisdom, and legitimacy of the variety of human cultures. Cultural diversity at a national level can help safeguard local practices of ICH.Year2012NationSouth Korea
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Intertwining Indigenous Living Heritage and Biodiversity: A Holistic Framework for Sustainable DevelopmentWhile Indigenous people represent 5% of the world’s population, it is estimated that Indigenous lands account for around 20% of global landcover, which contains 80% of the world’s remaining biodiversity. Many Indigenous communities have expressed concerns that modern-day environmental conservation and land management practices often conflict with their traditional ways of life. Regulations restrict their access to the land and natural resources that they have relied on for subsistence, medicine, and spiritual well-being, in many cases for generations.Year2022NationThailand
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2 Relationships and Social Cohesion"Whether we call it clan, kin, family, tribe, or community, there are multiple ways of knowing and identifying ourselves in the Pacific. A few of these ways are captured here. This section explores how social relationships and their hierarchies within the Pacific islands are vital ways of understanding intangible cultural heritage. Social and spiritual rituals, religious ceremonies, and various other cultural practices reflect how Pacific islanders prioritize social cohesion as a pathway to sustainable prosperity, ensuring the transformation of skills, knowledge, and wisdom for survival. \nThe themes in this section are pivotal to ICH because relationships represent an important organizing principle of life among Pacific islanders and determine how intangible heritage can be safeguarded. Relationships are marked in ceremonial events and rituals such as the communal harvest of balolo in Fiji and other ceremonies such as the bel kol in PNG. Likewise, the omengat, the first-birth ceremony in Palau, brings unrelated clans and families together and is central to family ties and social cohesion. The essays on these and other topics collected in this section illustrate that Pacific islanders take care to mark and honor relationships important to them, as these relationships ensure family, clan, and tribal ties and help to achieve enhanced social cohesion and sustainability."Year2014NationSouth Korea
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Virtual Heritage Tour in the Time of CoronaAs the whole world is still gripped with Covid-19 and most people are confined within the boundary of their houses. In this time, cultural heritage has an equal impact as other economic sectors. Especially in the places where people’s social practices and everyday life is connected with heritage it has been hit hard. In case of Nepal not only the festivals, religious and social ceremonies has been cancelled or limited to formal rituals. But also the everyday practices of people visiting temples and performing rituals has been stopped. In the meantime, people are also showing resilience towards this global pandemic and finding ways to get connected with cultural heritage.\n\nEvery year the birthday ceremony of Lord Buddha (also known as Buddha Purnima or Buddha Jayanti) is celebrated on the full moon of Baishak according to lunar calendar, which usually falls on April or May according Gorgian calendar. Budha Purnima is celebrated in most of the Asian countries with various rituals, ceremonies and prayers. This year, it was celebrated on 7 May, and due to the nationwide lockdown, many people had ceremonies in their houses and small ceremonies in the monasteries and temples. In past, major temples, which used to see a huge mass of people, were limited to a few, especially the caretakers, priests, few locals, and monks/nuns.\n\nOn this day, many people from all over the world used to visit Lumbini—the birthplace of Buddha, which was not possible this year. So the StoryCycle together with the British Council organized a Virtual Heritage Tour (VHT) to Lumbini. Even though this site contains the archeological remains of Stupas, Vihara, and Temples, it still has religious and spiritual linkages with people in present time. The VHT was curated with Mr. Anil Chitrakar as a resource person. Mr. Chitrakar is a social entrepreneur, and he regularly organizes heritage walks and gives inspirational talks on conservation and development. He has worked for the conservation and development of Lumbini over the last thirty years in various capacities.\n\nThe VHT included a brief tour of the site, which included Maya Devi temple (mother of Buddha), sacred garden, and Ashok pillar (erected by emperor Ashoka in 249 BC testifying to Buddha’s birth there) as well as other important sites associated to the Buddha’s life and after his death. Also included are lesser-known sites such as Kudan, the hall where Buddha met his parents and his son Rahul (for the first time) after he became Buddha. Ramagrama—one of eight Buddhist stupas was constructed after the death of Buddha with his relics. It is the only stupa that has remained unopened to date. Mr. Chitrakar also explained the greater plan of Lumbini that includes forty-four unique monuments representing Buddhism in different countries within its boundaries. The way forward after the construction of international airport there, as well as how this important Buddhist site could connect to other important Buddhist sites.\n\nThis was an interesting event, as Mr. Chitrakar explained not only the physical structures but also the intangible aspects of them. From the mathematical explanation of the construction of stupa, stories of the Buddha’s life, and King Ashoka in spreading Buddhism as well as to the simplified and brief teaching of Buddha. Even though virtual, this tour was able to realize the calmness of site and praise its nature with canals and cranes in the surrounding.\n\nThe event was scheduled for one hour, but lasted a bit longer since around hundred people participated. At the end of which there was a question-answer session. This event also had a sign language interpreter.\n\nThe event recording can be accesses via https://www.facebook.com/storycycle/videos/253552219340656/\n\nEvent Page: https://www.facebook.com/events/730005211072259/\n\nPhoto : Lumbini © Anil ChitrakarYear2020NationNepal
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Indigenous and Other Ritual Specialists in the Philippines - Culture ChangeThe current topic of this conference is not very well studied in the Philippines. The word –shamanism- is regarded as an arbitrary umbrella-catch-all term for lack of something better because what it refers to in the Philippines is a far ranging set of practices, belief and value systems that are very specific. It is with some trepidation that these sets of practices, beliefs and value systems may not at all fit into the north-Asian concept of Shamanism, especially with reference to the structure and social organization. The latest local term used is –pagdidiwata – referring to the rituals invoking spiritual beings (diwata). The other terms used\nare bunung, baki, pagaanito, alisig, and many others depending on the culture of the some 80 different major ethno-linguistic groups in the country. Common to all is the belief in the existence of a spirit world to which the world of people should relate, through the medium of ritual specialists. There are differences, however, in the structure and social organization in the social behavior related to ethnic practice.Year2013NationPhilippines
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THE MARITIME CULTURAL LANDSCAPE OF YAP AND MARINE ECOLOGICAL CONSERVATIONThis paper and the presentation highlight the value of the Yapese fish weirs and how they, and the associated intangible cultural heritage can be used to assist modern-day approaches to marine ecological \nconservation, in addition to keeping traditional sustainable fishing practices alive.\n\nYap is located 840 km south west of Guam and 1,850 km east-south\u0002east of Manila. It consists of four volcanic islands (referred to as Yap Proper), seven small coralline islands and about 130 atolls forming the \n‘Outer Islands’ that cover about 800 km in the north west Pacific Ocean, all of which forms Yap state—one of the four States of the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM). \n\nOn the reef flat adjacent to the volcanic islands, the Yapese developed a harmonious, sustainable system of fishing that incorporated spiritual, social, cultural and environmental connectivity and awareness. This is of particular importance to the inshore fishery, which is a sensitive region for fish breeding, and needs to be well conserved, maintained and not overfished. The Yapese employed a number of cultural practices (living heritage) related to fishing, and created a number of tangible cultural heritage, and together they form the Yapese maritime cultural landscape. This system employed a number of fish traps and weirs, with the tidal stone-walled fish weirs—aech—surviving to this day.\n\nYap has now four Marine Protected Areas (MPAs). Yapese are aware that fishing is currently not implemented in a sustainable manner and are declaring ‘no catch zones’ in certain marine areas. Many of the studies associated with the need for and development of MPAs are largely science based, with little relevance and benefit given to traditional fishing (cultural practices and the material cultural). Traditional fishing practices using traditional ecological knowledge were carried out sustainably for hundreds of years and the incorporation of this knowledge into MPA management should not be overlooked.Year2020NationSouth Korea
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"Regional Collaboration for Safeguarding ICH in the Asia-Pacific Context: Overview, Tasks, and Strategies in North-East Asia"Intangible cultural heritage presents an important form of living cultural heritage. It covers fundamental, yet extremely vulnerable aspects of living culture and tradition embodied in the spiritual life, traditional knowledge, skills, and practices of communities. It presents one of the most vivid and colourful forms in which the world’s cultural diversity is expressed and preserved.Year2011NationSouth Korea
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Sea Ethics as Intangible Cultural Heritage: Traditional Fisheries and Climate Change in Japan, Australia, and the United StatesToday in this brief presentation, I’d like to talk about the concept of sea ethics as intangible cultural heritage based on two of my previous studies on cultural heritage in Japan. Both relate to specifically spiritual practices and knowledge about the ocean gained through traditional fisheries, one diving fishery and other whaling. It so happens that both are practiced by women. I’ve also discussed this in the context of SDG Goal No. 5 and 14 in my publication if anyone is interested. Clearly, discussion of sustainability is even more relevant today, as we navigate ourselves through the unprecedented global uncertainty.\nYear2020NationSouth Korea