Tais, Timor-Leste’s traditional textile, is a cultural heritage that has been passed from the ancestors, from generation to generation. Tais has an important role in Timorese people’s life, starting from their birth until death. They use Tais to welcome guests, as well as to show their cultural identity and social class. It is also used as an object of value, for example, 'barlake' (dowry) which is given from family of bride to family of groom. Tais is used not only as an element to tighten the relationship between families, but also to pay penalty when people did not follow the rule within the community. Tais is traditional clothes, which has men's style and women's style. In Timor-Leste, Tais has a variety of colors and motifs varying by ethnic groups. These days, cultural creative industry using Tais with respect to the tradition, is also growing. Tais is made from cotton and natural plants are used to dye color. Production of Tais has been mainly done by women, since the past until now. Normally, Tais is woven manually using simple equipment such as 'atis', 'kida', and others. Process of producing Tais is complex and takes long time. Traditionally, Tais has been woven by individuals. However, some family members also contribute to mitigate the work of women weavers, such as in process of preparing cotton, 'kesi futus' (tie-dye) and dying cotton. These days, weavers also began to form groups to facilitate their weaving activities.

Timor 2021

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

The Kate Festival of the Cham people is the most important festival of the Cham community in Ninh Thuan, taking place in the 7th month of the Cham calendar every year (around October of the Gregorian calendar). This festival is to commemorate gods such as Po Klaung Garai, Po Rame... and ancestors. The Kate Festival of the Cham people in Ninh Thuan province usually takes place in a large space at the temples and towers: Pô Klong Garai Tower (Do Vinh ward, Phan Rang - Thap Cham city), Pô Rômê Tower (Hau Sanh village, Phuoc Huu commune, Ninh Phuoc district) and Po Inư Nưgar Temple (Huu Duc village, Phuoc Huu commune, Ninh Phuoc district), in order from the temple, tower to the villages and finally to the family, creating a rich and diverse Cham festival flow. The Kate Festival consists of two parts: the ceremony and the festival. The ceremony includes rituals such as: The ritual of receiving clothes from the youngest Raglai brother down from the mountain at 7am; Opening the tower door to invite the gods to attend and enjoy the offerings; The ceremony of bathing the statue of the god; The ceremony of dressing the statue of the god Anguei Khan Aw Kapo; The most important Adaoh Tâm ceremony, starting from 9am - 11am; Kate festival at the temple, tower: The beginning of the Kate festival in Ninh Thuan is the worship ceremony at the temple tower directed by the high priest. The celebrant will play the Kanhi and sing a hymn, offering the gods. After that, the high priest will preside over the statue bathing ceremony performed by some Brahmin priests. The offerings in the Kate festival in Ninh Thuan at the temple tower include: 3 chickens, 1 big goat, 3 loaves of rice cakes, 1 tray of rice with sesame salt, 5 trays of rice with goat meat and soup with fresh fruit. In addition, the offerings also include eggs, wine, sticky rice, betel and areca nuts... After completing the above rituals, people will return to the village and continue other rituals. When the sacred dance in the tower has just ended, the festival outside the tower begins. The Kate festival is similar to the Lunar New Year of the Kinh people. The festival is vibrant with dances, Cham folk songs, Gi Nang drums, Saranai trumpets, brocade weaving performances, pottery making, water carrying competitions, drum beating... Kate festival in villages and families: The worship rituals and the festival part of the Kate festival in Ninh Thuan are held in parallel. Before the festival, villagers will clean the temple together, decorate the village house, and prepare food, drinks, and the yard. According to beliefs, each village will worship a god, but all are village gods. The celebrant - a prestigious person, trusted by the villagers, will represent the people to offer offerings to the gods to pray for good things, luck, and peace. After the Kate Festival in the village, the Cham people will return to their homes to perform the ceremony. The celebrant is the oldest person in the clan. This is the person who will represent the whole family to offer offerings to the ancestors. At this time, all family members are present, dressed neatly and sincerely pray for the ancestors to wish for peace. The Kate Festival expresses the desire for fertility, praying for growth, good crops towards a peaceful and prosperous life. With its great historical and cultural value, the Kate Festival of the Cham people in Ninh Thuan province was recognized as a National Intangible Cultural Heritage by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism in 2017.

Choe-lhag-ni is a Dzongkha (National Language) term for recitation of Buddhist scriptures especially Sanskrit Tripitaka at the various religious institutions or at the individual houses by either a monk, lay monks or by ourselves. Reading scripture is not only one a virtuous act (ge-wi-la) in accumulating merits to oneself but also helps other to arouse faith and aids in realizing the Buddhahood nature. It also a ritual (rim-dro) which helps in clearing and overcoming the obstacles and hindrance created by malicious spirits our daily activities and purifies our sins and defilements as well. While conducting Choe-lhag-ni program, the reader or the reciter is normally called Choe-neb and Choe-yon or Jin-dha for sponsors and patrons. Normally, such program can be conducted or organized as an annual program or carryout as and when there are sicknesses or can when an astrologer or a Spiritual masters either advices or make divination. This Dharma activity is always conducted in consultation with astrologer or a Spiritual masters seeking favourable elements that coincides Lha-za (spirit/vital-day) and if not possible, then on the Sog-za (life-force day) of either a sick person or the main family member. Performing on that particular day is said to be more effective and beneficial than conducting on other days which are called Gang-tong (neutral days). It is instructed and also believed not to conduct any virtuous activities be it the Recitation of Scriptures on Shey-za (bad days) as it causes harm than benefiting oneself and the patrons. As mentioned above, recitation of whole set of Tripitaka comprise two sets namely; Kan-guyr (direct word of Buddha) with 99-108 volumes and Ten-gyur (its commentaries) with 200-228 volumes is a great and enormous activity which one need huge number of readers as well as enough financial assets for an individual therefore, Institutions such as; Monastic body, government’s initiative or a joint private individuals can only organize such program intendent for wellbeing of sentient beings and particularly to the people of the country. In a rare case, out of interest, benefit the sentient beings or to enlighten oneself, an individual sometimes engage themselves in reading whole Kan-gyur volumes. Normally, Buddhist followers who want to clear the unforeseen obstacles, ward off illnesses, counterforce mishaps and sometimes as a routine basis reads mostly either 16 volumes of Skt. Prajnaparamita (Perfection of wisdom Sutras) and more often the single volume called Do-mang or Zung-due, where there is numerous collection of important Buddhist texts. Reciters or readers can be a person or more depending on the sponsor’s wish nevertheless, often if the recitation is not in haste or an emergency then, a person will stay in the sponsor’s house until the completion of the scripture. But, in case a ritual of a sick person and have limited time, the patron will invite numbers of Reciters as to complete the whole set in a day. The tradition of reading Buddhist scriptures for wellbeing and performing meritorious deeds had been common from the days of Buddha Shakyamuni in India. Having translated these teachings translated into Tibetan as early as 7th century and thereafter, introduced the tradition of reading them. Later in the 8th century, when King Thrisong Detsan (755-797 or 804) was having the Indian Dharma translated into Tibetan, the translator Ba Ratna Manju (?) was translating the greater Prajnaparamita Sutra. In his dream, he saw the entire land of Tibet was filled with the scripture of Prajnaparamita. This was an omen that there would be purely Mahayana practitioners born in the land of Tibet. When looking at the Prajna of hearing and contemplating in the mountainous land of Tibet, though training was done in all the schools, the experiences in Drub-jue sing-ta-gyed (Eight Chariots of Practice Lineage) in all the four Schools of Dharma Tradition are essentially Mahayana, and particularly the practice in the Sa-ngag (Secret Mantra) is as per the prediction of this omen. When Ba Ratna Manju offered this to the King, the king was pleased, brushed his hand over his head and gave great rewards for his services. It also shows the King’s deep faith in the Prajnaparamita Sutra. As much as his faith in this outstanding text among all the excellent teachings, it was King Thrisong Deutsan who had started the tradition of reading the scriptures in Tibet. It is said that the twelve volumes of Bum (hundred thousand stanza) scripts used to be read, from beginning to end every morning by dividing the scriptures among some 300 monks at Samye Monastery, Tibet. From Tibet, the tradition gradually flourished to the neighbouring countries including Bhutan which the people of Bhutan still practice the culture not only for remedial purpose but also to uphold the sacred doctrine and inculcating the faith to the future generations. However, the modernization couldn’t make much affect for this reading culture while it had somewhat impacted other ICH for its survival.