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Armenian Bread-making Among Cultural Practices Added To UN Heritage

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  • Armenian Bread-making Among Cultural Practices Added To UN Heritage

    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 Rodríguez 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.

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