The Rai communities of the eastern hills of Nepal celebrate the Siruwat festival during April and May, on the Nepali first full moon day of the year. Siruwat is celebrated to mark the season of plantation, also called dhule puja, which means worshiping the earth or soil. It is believed that the deities travel to the Himalayas after they are worshiped to avoid the summer. The festival is also called Ubhauli, referring to deities’ movement towards the upper hills/Himalayas. Every Rai household practices this ritual. Deities are offered eggs, alcohol, chicken, water, and freshly harvested rice. There is a belief that if people do not perform this ritual, they will get sick and go mad. Therefore, even people who live far away or are traveling make efforts to return to their village to perform this ritual.

Hawker culture in Singapore comprises hawker centers, hawkers, and hawker food. It is a living heritage shared by those who prepare hawker food and those who dine and mingle over hawker food in “community dining rooms” called hawker centers. It encompasses people from all walks of life, a wide range of affordable multicultural food, and common shared spaces. While similar food practices can be found in neighboring countries and internationally, they each have their respective historical contexts, cultural influences, and sociocultural functions.\nHawker centers in Singapore are naturally ventilated premises that are accessible and integral to the everyday lives of people in Singapore. Hawker stalls, selling food from different cultures, usually line both sides of the center, with an open communal dining space in the middle. At a typical hawker center, one can often experience sights and sounds, such as the sizzling of wok fire and rising steam from boiling pots, as hawkers whip up freshly cooked, made-to-order dishes at their hawker stalls. It is common to hear friendly exchanges between hawkers and patrons in the various languages spoken in Singapore, over a bustling atmosphere as families, colleagues and friends chat and bond over hawker meals.

The Tharu people, who predominantly cover the east to west region of southern Nepal, have always worshiped nature and natural resources. These have been a significant part of their livelihood, contributing to their culture, economy, and ecology. Tharu women have age-old basket-making and weaving practices with vegetation and raw materials available in the area. The majority of these women are engaged in continuing this craftsmanship. While the history of basketry is not well documented, it is believed to have started from a primeval age, being an integral part of the community’s sustainability. Since there is no direct evidence on how these baskets have originated, we rely on mythological tales. One story tells us that a woman named Jasu taught a man, Ishu, how to irrigate the land during the human civilization. She also taught basket making and other forms of crafts, which is how it has been able to be passed down through generations.

Ali Haleyalur of Lamotrek Island, Yap State, Federated States of Micronesia, is one of the few remaining people with the knowledge and skills to journey long distances on the open ocean in traditional voyaging canoes without using modern instruments. He and the small community of palu (Carolinian master navigators) alive today learned this wayfinding knowledge through years of apprenticeship with the master navigators throughout the Caroline Islands of Micronesia. Customarily, the knowledge and practices required to navigate over what can be treacherous waters have been passed along to only a few select descendants of ancestral lineages that have protected the valuable practice for thousands of years.\nNavigation between the small inhabited islands continues to be a valuable practice that helps islanders sustain clan ties and obtain resources for survival. Traditional navigation is also seen as a vital form of intangible cultural heritage since it is a distinct facet of many Pacific Islander cultures and identities. Unfortunately, however, the knowledge and practices associated with traditional navigation are disappearing rapidly mainly because modern technologies and lifestyles make it much more difficult for palu to find young apprentices. With only a handful of master navigators still alive today, it is crucial to find new ways to safeguard this precious cultural practice.