Denoting ""carpet-washing ceremony"" (qāli""carpet""-šuyān""washing ceremony""), Qālišuyān manifests as a huge gathering in Ardehāl, at a 800m-long site, between Emāmzāde Soltān Ali ebn Mohammad Bāqer Mausoleum (abbreviated as Soltān Ali) and the holy stream beside Šāhzāde Hoseyn Mausoleum yard, where a holy carpet is washed as part of a live ritualistic procedure. Unlike the majority of Iranian rituals that follow a rotating lunar calendar, Qālišuyān is attended according to a fixed solar-agricultural calendar, requiring it around the nearest Friday to the 17th day of the month of Mehr (October 8th), called Jom'e-ye Qāli (""carpet Friday""). Thousands of people of Fin and Xāve constitute the practitioners; a greater crowd attends as witnesses. On Jom'e-ye Qāli morning, the people of Xāve gather at Soltān Ali to sprinkle rose-flower on a donated carpet they select. Having done the wrapping rituals, they, then, deliver it to the people of Fin outside. Holding neatly cut and beautifully decorated wooden sticks, the people of Fin run to take the lead in getting a grasp of the carpet, and carrying it to the running water, cleaned of pollutions and mixed with rose-water. A corner of the carpet is rinsed; the rest is covered with drops sprinkled with the sticks. The carpet is, then, returned to the mausoleum and delivered to the servants inside. The rituals are to express love and loyalty toward Soltān Ali, who is claimed to have been martyred in the same place and carried to his resting place on a carpet, instead of a shroud. Asserted, mainly, through oral history, Soltān Ali enjoyed a holy stance among the people of Kāšān and Fin of 1,300 years ago, who depended on his spiritual guidance. He was, finally, murdered by jealous governors. The story continues that the corpse was found, three days later, by the people of Fin who carried it in a carpet to the stream of Šāhzāde Hoseyn Mausoleum, Ardehāl, where the people of Xāve joined in washing and burying him. The present-day carpet-washing rituals are to commemorate the sad burial. A number of peripheral activities have emerged alongside Qālišuyān, too: - J ār: Oral proclamation of the ""carpet-Friday"" date by an elder; - Donated food: Distributed by witnessing people - Ta'ziye and other ritualistic performing arts: Performed peripheral to the main rituals; - Gatherings of people on the site, which last for several days.

Iran 2012

Ensuring solidarity and collective identity, national and religious holidays, celebrations, feasts, commemorations are of great significance as regards to social values. The providers, the distribution and the consumption of the food are strictly determined on these special days. Traditional ceremonial keşkek is one of the social practices which sustain its significance from the past to our present day. Keşkek tradition is practiced at circumcisions, wedding ceremonies, religious holidays such as, Ramadans, sacrifice Aid, Muharram Month (first month of the Islamic calendar), charities, pilgrimage feast, prayers for the rain, Mevlid (Islamic poetry reading), Hıdrellez (a kind of seasonal celebration) and similar practices. Preparation and consumption process of keşkek bears a collective character. Particularly in village communities, preparation of ingredients and cooking process of keşkek are actualized through collective work. The villagers contribute to keşkek ceremony by providing the ingredients and participate in cooking process. Wheat and meat are the basic ingredients of keşkek. The main ingredients are provided by the household on special days for the family and the dwellers of the village provide the work force if needed. The wheat for keşkek, of an amount proportional with the number of participants, is washed with prayers a day before the wedding ceremony. Accompanied by davul-zurna (traditional Turkish musical instruments) the wheat is carried carefully to a large stone mortar. The wheat is hulled on the large stone mortars by two or four persons using gavels in a fixed rhythm. The rhythmic sound is a sign for the start of wedding ceremony. The hulled wheat is one of the main ingredients of keşkek to be prepared on the wedding morning. Meat is the other main ingredient for keşkek. Cooking keşkek requires specialized knowledge therefore it is carried out by experienced persons called ""keşkekçi"" (keşkek maker). Keşkekçis are trained in a master-apprentice tradition. Cooks and his assistants in charge of keşkek cooking start the preparations at early hours in the morning of the day before the ceremony. As weddings - the primary occasions for ceremonial keşkek tradition – are usually held during summer or early autumn, keşkek is usually cooked outdoors. Requiring a long-lasting source of heat, keşkek is cooked in large copper cauldrons, the bottom of which is smeared with ash to protect it before being put on a big open fire. Hulled wheat, chunks of meat on the bone, onions, spices, water and oil are all put together in the cauldron. It is important to maintain the heat at a certain temperature while cooking. Therefore, cook and the assistants take turns to maintain the cooking process as desired until morning. Watching the heat and preparation of the side dishes to be served with keşkek last all night long. This night spent around the keşkek is full of stories, friendly talks and jokes. The cook checks the keşkek cauldron in the morning of the wedding day. Towards noon, the most important phase of the keşkek tradition takes place. The strongest of the village youth, who were previously chosen for ‘keşkek dövme (keşkek beating)’, are called in to ‘beat’the keşkek with a wooden tool which can be named as ağaç kepçe (wooden ladle) tokmak (gavel), çomça or şişe. This is in a way a mashing process. The rhythm while hulling the wheat goes on during the beating process as well. The wooden tools are used in a rhythmic order. The beating process of keşkek attracts great interest among the crowds. To motivate the beating youth, the crowd cheers and sings folk songs. During the beating, one or two persons apart from the beating youth take the bones out with a special kind of tongs. The neighboring towns and villages are invited and keşkek is collectively consumed in the ceremony premises (courtyard of mosque for religious holidays, bride’s or groom’s house on wedding days, a sacred venue for charities and hıdrellez). Prayers are uttered before and after the feast. The pots and pans used during ceremony are collectively washed. A special set of equipments are necessary for the preparation of keşkek. The stone mortar, a collectively owned product of particular craftsmanship, a copper cauldron made especially for such ceremonies and tinned regularly. Hand made ladles and gavels made of wood are among the most important tangible elements of the keşkek tradition. The most significant aspect of the tradition is unifying all people in this ceremony regardless of age, ethnic origin, gender and culture even being invited or not. The hosts of the ceremony check whether all the guests are at the dining table for keşkek. Each person attending to keşkek ceremony is considered as an element of this cultural environment. All individuals within the community through participating in such a ceremonial event have a sense of belonging. This ‘sense of belonging’ reflects itself with the common expression ‘our keşkek is better’, which is a bare evidence of considering keşkek as an important element of cultural heritage. Keşkek ceremony should be practiced with all the components of the tradition or else it loses its traditional aspect for the bearers. In Zonguldak-Ereğli on the west coast of Black sea Region, there is a village named ‘Keşkek’. People from the neighboring villages go to this village, which is a developed locality among the surrounding places, in order to worship on Holy Friday and the visitors are served keşkek there. This clearly explains why the village is called ‘Keşkek’. The villagers see keşkek as a major part of their cultural identity and they are glad to have the name keşkek for their village. Today, this ceremonial tradition, through organizing keşkek festivals and festivities has been preserved by the intimate efforts of city and district municipalities and the hemşeri (locality fellowship) associations, founded by fellow citizens for creating a kind of solidarity. It is observed in these occasions unifying aspects of ceremonial keşkek tradition continues in the cities as well. Preservation of this tradition in the cities is particularly important in terms of how much this tradition is embraced by the communities concerned.

Turkey 2011

Inscribed in 2009 (4.COM) on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity Jeju’s harsh environmental features have made the islanders’ lives tough, inspiring respect for the sea. Dongguk Yeoji Seungnam (Augmented Survey of the Geography of Korea) of the Joseon Dynasty records, “As there is the custom of valuing licentious sacrifices, rites are held to honor the gods of forests, ponds, hills, trees and stones.” It can thus be inferred that many religious activities are conducted in Jeju. For Jeju islanders, the Yeongdeunggut rite is of special significance. When the time of Yeongdeung arrives, the rites are held throughout the island to plead for calm seas and abundant sea catches. Of all these rites, the one at the Chilmeoridang Shrine called the Jeju Chilmeoridang Yeongdeunggut is the most important. Its name implies that it is a rite for the goddess of wind only, but it is also a rite to worship village guardian gods and the Dragon King of the sea. While venerated, Yeongdeung also instills fear as she threatens people’s lives by stirring the sea. From early to mid-February when the goddess is present on the island, the sea is particularly turbulent. The islanders believe that as she leaves she removes all the contents of the shellfish. On the day of departure, however, the goddess also sows seeds along the shore to ensure people’s livelihood and the sea is purified to help the growth of the seeds. As such, importance has been attached to the time of her stay and people began to mark the occasion by performing a rite at the Chilmeoridang Shrine in supplication for safety and good sea harvests. Named after the village where it is located, the Chilmeoridang Shrine serves the goddess Yeongdeung and a couple, the Magistrate god and the sea goddess known as the Dragon King's Wife. The couple’s responsibilities are divided between the needs of the local residents (managed by the god) and the livelihood of fishermen and female divers (the domain of the goddess). The Chilmeoridang Shrine is where the Yeongdeung Welcome Rite is held on the 1st day of the second lunar month to mark the arrival of the goddess as well as the Yeongdeung Farewell Rite performed on the 14th. During this period, rituals for the mountain gods (dangje), which are performed in the first lunar month elsewhere in Korea, are carried out in other villages on Jeju Island. Only on Jeju are rituals for the mountain gods and rites for the goddess Yeongdeung combined into one shaman ritual, Yeongdeunggut. Compared to the simple Yeongdeung Welcome Rite, the Yeongdeung Farewell Rite is a sumptuous and more significant event. It is considered one of the most important of the shaman rituals and includes a rite for the Dragon King. The Welcome Rite begins with chogamje, a “calling of the gods” ceremony which involves greeting and inviting the gods to the shrine as well as reciting the participants’ names, followed by pungeoje, a “pleading for a good catch” ceremony, and ends with seoksalrimgut, a gut (shaman ritual) with a three-act play to entertain and appease the ancestral gods. The Farewell Rite also begins with the chogamje ceremony, but it also includes bonhyangdeum, an “entering the Village Shrine” ceremony. This involves asking the God and Goddess Couple to plead for the wellbeing of the village. The ritual includes three village officials offering drinks to the Couple and villagers asking that their wishes be granted. This is followed by chumul gongyeon, an “offering” ceremony in which drinks and rice cakes are offered to all the gods, a yowang maji, a “welcoming the Dragon King” ceremony, which is a special welcome for the Dragon King and the goddess Yeongdeung to ask them to ensure an abundant catch and safety at sea for the fishermen, and then by ssidrim, an “offering of seeds” ceremony in which fortunetelling is done with millet seeds and the sowing of seaweed seeds. Next comes the doaek mageum, “preventing disasters” ceremony that involves the throwing of a rooster to prevent disasters from happening in the village. There is also fortunetelling for the villagers and female divers. This is followed by the yeonggam nori, a play in which the village’s senior men launch a straw boat into the sea. The rite ends with the dosin, “sending the gods back” ceremony. Chilmeoridang Yeongdeunggut began to be widely known in 1980 as simbang (senior shaman) Ahn Sa-in was recognized as Skill Holder. At the time, the waves of modernization had resulted in a negative view of gut as being a dangerous superstition. However, the fishing people of Jeju, along with simbangs, went into deep valleys and sea caves to secretly offer up fervent prayers. Then, the ritual’s designation as an important intangible cultural heritage paved the way for its survival. Determined to revive the rite, Ahn Sa-in established an association with simbangs to safeguard the heritage. Among the founding members are the current Skill Holder Kim Yun-su, adviser Yang Chang-bo, and trainer Goh Sun-An. As Ahn, who had prevented the gut from disappearing on Jeju, passed away in 1990, Kim Yun-su was recognized as the second Skill Holder in 1995. There are currently 40 members. Although the rite is conducted by shamans, its real owners are female divers and ship owners, together called “dangol,” who prepare food for the rite and offer sacrifices to the gods. Starting from their early teens, the divers continue their work of collecting marine delicacies from the ocean floor, so their safety and abundance of the sea are their lifelong wish; and their existence helps maintain the Yeongdeunggut. Sending off the goddess Yeongdeung, the dangol prays: “When you leave, please sow seeds of turban shells, abalones, octopi and sea cucumbers so that we, the people who believe in the sea, can have an abundant sea catch.”

South Korea 2009

Inscribed in 2018 (13.COM) on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity As one of the popular Korean folk tradtion, ssireum is a type of wrestling in which two players wearing long fabric belts around their waists and one thigh grip their opponents' belt and employ various techniques to send the opponent to the ground. It is played on diverse occasions, including traditional holidays, market days, and festivals. Ssireum games occur on sand in any available space around a neighborhood, and are open to participation by community members of all ages, from children to seniors. The winner in the final game for adults is awarded an ox, which symbolises agricultural abundance, and the title of Jangsa. When the games are over, the Jangsa parades around the neighborhood riding the ox in celebration. The customary practice of providing an ox as a prize is meant to allow the winner to farm more effectively.

South Korea 2018