UNESCO intangible monuments

• flymeto
• Sep 21, 2018

Good news for those who do not like standing in the queue for monuments. Yoga, Belgian beer culture, Palestinian storytelling, Greek gingerbread or folk dance Slovácko verbuňk and celebrations of death in Mexico are all official UNESCO sites. The List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity includes hundreds of traditions, crafts and food, and is pretty long. These traditions are just a tasting of heritage that you can truly experience and take with you from the house.

Traditional fabrics of Taquile Island, Peru

Brightly colored Peruvian fabrics once in a while dominate the front pages of travel magazines and photo competitions. The tradition that the locals have preserved since the Incas is lively in many villages and is devoted to both women and men. But from all the places in the Peruvian Andes, the village of Taquile is on the list. In this long-isolated village on the shores of Lake Titicaca, almost everyone of all ages spins and confuses. There is also a school focused on teaching traditional patterns and methods of weaving. And, of course, to make souvenirs for tourists who then take chullos from Peru - caps with ear muffs, or wide belts with an agricultural calendar that still fascinate anthropologists.

Tango, Argentina, Uruguay

The Argentine and Uruguayan traditions came from slums and a mixture of European immigrants and slaves brought from Africa. Tango is not just a dance. It is a manifestation of a passionate community of dancers, choreographers, musicians, artists and teachers. Tango is now at home in different parts of the world, but its roots. And it’s not the only popular dance on the UNESCO list. You will also find Spanish flamenco, Brazilian fandango, Dominican merengue or Cuban rumba. Salsa, on the other hand, did not reach him as a mixture of these dance styles.

Silk production and silk-growing, China

Boar larvae and silk production grow through the history of the cities of Zhejiang and Jiangsu near Shanghai, and the cultural revolutions and all the political storms that China has suffered have not changed. Tradition consists of a closed cycle, where the wastes from the rearing of fish feed on fish in local ponds, mud from their bottom is mulberry trees, where they feed the storms and they in turn provide food to fish and the circle is closed. At the beginning of the lunar year, the growers of the booths invite local artists to ensure high yields with their ode to the goddess of silk worms. In April, local women decorate the traditional festival with silk or paper flowers and offer tourists the opportunity to try out a collection of thugs.

For interest. In connection with silk, UNESCO has one more interesting tradition - Kelaghaya, the weaving of silk scarves, by which women in Azerbaijan hide their hair.

Human towers in Tarragona, Spain

Numerous teams and their smaller or larger castells can be seen at various festivals all over Catalonia. More than 200 years old tradition continues. What really matters is just winning the Concurs de Castells competition, which takes place every two years in the port of Tarragona. From the crowd crowding, human towers grow up cautiously, floor to floor, at the top of which must be a 12-year-old child. The goal is to erect and then unfold the largest and most remarkable tower in the structure without collapsing in the construction process. This normally happens. Surprisingly, however, there are fewer injuries in building castells than you would expect. The next contest will start in 2018, but Tarragona is worth a visit beyond the time of the competition. The town itself is also a UNESCO World Heritage Site due to its architectural wealth, which has been preserved here since the Middle Ages and Roman rule.

Falconry

United Arab Emirates, Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Kazakhstan, South Korea, Mongolia, Morocco, Pakistan, Portugal, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Spain, Syria

Even the Czech Republic contributes many interesting traditions and crafts. Besides the production of beer or puppets and the Ride of the Kings, it is perhaps surprisingly falconry. In this respect, he is listed with a number of other countries. Falconry seems to be a favorite pastime, regardless of geographical location. However, only predators from the Middle East can indulge in a first class flight. Falconry is a status issue in this area. The rich owners of the show pieces have therefore become accustomed to taking their winged pets with them everywhere, and for airlines like Qatar, Emirates, Etihad or Royal Jordanian Airlines there is no problem to set up a falcon on an aircraft next to you. And without a cage.

Puppet theater Wayang, Indonesia

Indonesian puppetry has its roots mainly in Java and Bali. Puppets and performances are sophisticated and accompanied by music telling strong stories, often with moral instruction and elements borrowed from mythology. Wayang has not only one form. They differ in the design of puppets, which can be plastic and beautifully painted or, on the contrary, flat and carved so that light can pass through them in the right places in the shadow theater. Tradition is passed on orally in Indonesia and the puppeteer is expected to know countless stories and songs by heart. With the advent of video, television and karaoke, the theater begins to absorb modern elements that may or may not be to the benefit. It depends very much on the story given by the puppeteer.

Camel ritual, Mongolia

The Camel Cunning Ritual is a very old technique that Mongolian herdsmen have been generating for generations to persuade a camel female to accept her newborn chick or take on a strange orphan. The shepherd-man ties the young close to the female and then, by singing, playing a musical instrument and sophisticated hand gestures, convinces and creates a bond between the animals. It may sound funny, but experienced sophists are really able to change the key or rhythm of the camel female calm and celebrate success. Tradition is beginning to disappear among herdsmen. Younger generations move to cities more often in winter, use motorcycles to transport and are no longer dependent on camels.

Production of cowbells, Portugal

Although Portugal is not the only country where you will hear idyllic clinking bells from large pastures, the Alentejo region has become synonymous with a craft that is over two thousand years old and yet enthusiastically passed on to generations to come. The production of bells requires precision and knowledge of the old techniques, most masters taken to the word live in the area of Alenteja, where they have their family manufactories. The suspension of heavy bells on the necks of cows has its opponents and has disappeared a little from the Portuguese and Swiss pastures. Their peculiar melody, thanks to which they also got on the list of heritage, is accompanied by a surprisingly high volume, which may not all local residents like.

Kimchi, North Korea

Traditional production and recipes for this spicy fermented goodness are attributed to North Korea. Right Home but you can taste kimchi as well in the southern and virtually anywhere in the world. People who left Korea in the 1950s and after it took their family recipes with them. Recipes vary from region to region and are a strictly guarded secret that the bride usually takes over from a new mother-in-law. Preparing kimchi is a community affair and runs throughout the year. In spring, shrimp and seafood are bought, which are then loaded into brine. In the summer it is dried and crushed to red pepper powder. Most of the work is in the autumn, when the whole community comes together, cutting up piles of vegetables, which are then fermented with other ingredients. Kimchi must be made so that each family has a guaranteed dose of vitamins for the whole winter.

Arganový oil, Morocco

The cultivation and production of argan oil is concentrated in the region of southwestern Morocco. Elsewhere these trees don’t even grow. Local men and women learn to cultivate trees from a young age, harvest fruits and get every drop of oil from them. Argan oil is part of the local people’s kitchen and a secret trick on the youthful skin and shiny hair of local women. The worldwide popularity of oil has boosted demand and has ensured that the craft itself survives, even as modern technology is beginning to increase in its processes. However, you should take Argan oil as a souvenir from Morocco.