UNESCO world heritage list: Croatian folk singing and Uighur dancing among list of obscure rituals
The Telegraph, 18 November 2010
Croatian folk singing and ancient Uighur dancing are among a list of 51 odd but intriguing cultural traditions to have been awarded protection by the United Nations’ cultural organisation.
Turkish oil wrestling, a Peruvian scissor dance and an annual hopping procession in Luxembourg are also vying for inclusion on UNESCO’s list of “intangible heritage” – centuries-old practices which are being eroded by globalisation and urbanisation.
French gastronomy, Spain’s flamenco dance, Chinese acupuncture and the olive oil-based Mediterranean diet, which had been jointly proposed by Italy, Spain, Greece and Morocco, also joined the list.
The UN agency is better known for awarding World Heritage status to monuments and natural wonders such as the Great Barrier Reef, Egypt’s pyramids and Cambodia’s ‘lost city’ of Angkor Wat.
But since 2006 it has also recognised elements of living heritage, such as songs, festivals, religious rites and languages.
Delegates from around the world are meeting in Nairobi to consider which of 51 items from 30 countries are worthy of being inscribed on its “intangible heritage” list.
The more obscure contenders include the art of gingerbread making in northern Croatia, carpet-weaving in Azerbaijan, the folk dances of Rajasthan and Okinawan musical theatre.
A handful of the traditions are more familiar: Spanish flamenco, Chinese acupuncture, the ritual of the French gastronomic meal and the healthy Mediterranean diet, which has been jointly proposed by Italy, Spain, Greece and Morocco.
“We are not aiming to keep things stuck in the past, instead the intention is to safeguard things that have a value in contemporary life,” Cecile Duvelle, the head of UNESCO’s intangible heritage section, told the Daily Telegraph.
“It is living heritage, transmitted from generation to generation, and it gives people a sense of identity.” While securing UNESCO listing is seen by many countries as prestigious, it also obliges their governments to set out what they intend to do to ensure the long-term survival of traditions which are endangered by urban drift and ageing populations.
Among this year’s candidates is Turkey’s 648-year-old Kirkpinar oil-wrestling festival, when dozens of men daubed with cooking oil grapple in a field to win a coveted golden belt.
Luxembourg has submitted a centuries-old religious ritual based in the eastern border village of Echternach, where thousands of dancers linked by a chain of handkerchiefs perform a hopping procession through the streets.
Four items on the list were approved by the UNESCO committee yesterday (tues), three of them from China: a Uighur cultural festival from the mountainous Xinjiang region known as “meshrep”, the technology behind the construction of watertight bulkheads in traditional Chinese junks and wooden movable-type printing from Zhejiang province – one of the world’s oldest printing techniques.
They were inscribed on a list of traditions which require “urgent safeguarding”, along with Ojkanje singing from Croatia, which uses a distinctive voice-shaking technique created by warbling in the throat.
They join 166 cultural practices from 77 nations which have already been included on the intangible heritage list, including the tango from Argentina, Croatian lace-making and Mexico’s Day of the Dead festival.