RTT News (United States)
November 27, 2014 Thursday
Armenian Bread-making Among Cultural Practices Added To UN Heritage List
(RTTNews) – Brazil’s martial art of Capoeira, Burundi’s ritual dance
of the royal drum and the preparation of Lavash – a popular flatbread
integral to Armenian cuisine – are among the eight elements added to
the United Nations-endorsed list of the world’s intangible cultural
heritage – part of the world body’s ongoing efforts to highlight
global diversity and raise awareness of its importance.
The traditions recognized by the UN – which also include the ritual
and ceremonies of Sebeïba of Algeria; the traditional art of
Azerbaijan’s Kelaghavi silk headscarves; the Pujillay and Ayarichi
music and dances of Bolivia’s Yampara culture; Bosnia and
Herzegovina’s Zmijanje embroidery and Bulgaria’s Chiprovski kilimi
carpet-making tradition – were inscribed on the UN Educational,
Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Representative List of
Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity, after being chosen by a
UNESCO committee that is meeting at the agency’s headquarters in Paris
this week.
According to UNESCO, the importance of intangible cultural heritage is
not the cultural manifestation itself but “rather the wealth of
knowledge and skills that is transmitted through it from one
generation to the next.”
The agency added that as older generations pass away and younger
generations adapt to a more globalized and modern world, ancient
traditions – and the know-how necessary to maintain them – often
vanish from the collective memory of a people, their only trace left
in anthologies and history books.
In a press release marking the opening of the 24-member Committee for
the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage, Irina Bokova,
UNESCO Director-General, commended the body’s role in preserving
cultural elements at risk and projecting the importance of culture as
an instrument for developmental progress.
“Many countries now recognize intangible heritage as a tool that can
ensure sustainable development and that they integrate ever more fully
its safeguarding in their development and planning programs,” she
said.
The ritual and ceremonies of Sebeiba in the oasis of Djanet, Algeria,
for instance, bring together male and female dancers in a nine-day
contest aimed at symbolically warding off potential inter-communal
violence. Armenia’s Lavash similarly functions as a cultural glue,
bringing together men and women for the preparation of this bread
commonly used in weddings, while Azerbaijan’s Kelaghavi
headscarf-making tradition helps to ‘reinforce the role of women and
strengthens the cultural unity of Azerbaijani society.”
For its part, Capoeira – a martial art which unites fight and dance –
promotes the mutual respect and social cohesion of its members.
During the course of its week-long gathering, the Committee, chaired
by Jose Manuel RodrÃguez Cuadros of Peru, also inscribed three
traditions on its list of Intangible Cultural Heritage in Need of
Urgent Safeguarding aimed at preserving endangered practices from
fading into extinction.
The practices include the Isukuti dance of Isukha and Idakho
communities of Western Kenya, the male-child cleansing ceremony of the
Lango of central northern Uganda, and the oral tradition of
Venezuela’s Mapoyo people and its symbolic reference points within
their ancestral territory.