WHAT IS INTANGIBLE CULTURAL HERITAGE (ICH) ?

ICH is living cultural heritage. Although it transforms over time, it is transmitted from generation to generation and gives us cultural identity and richness thus enhancing social cohesion.
In the text of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) 2003 Convention (Article 2(2)), the following five types of ICH are included:

Oral traditions and expressions comprise a wide variety of verbal forms, including proverbs, riddles, tales, nursery rhymes, legends, myths, epic songs and poems, charms, prayers, chants, songs, dramatic performances, and more. They are used to pass on knowledge, cultural and social values, and collective memory through word of mouth.

PERFORMING ARTS

Performing arts include numerous cultural expressions that reflect human creativity, ranging from vocal and instrumental music, dance, and theatre to pantomime, sung verse, and beyond. They can be found in many other intangible heritage domains, such as rituals, festive events, and oral traditions.

SOCIAL PRACTICES, RITUALS AND FESTIVE EVENTS

Social practices, rituals and festive events are habitual activities that structure the lives of communities and groups and that are shared by and relevant to many of their members. They　involve a wide variety of forms: worship rites; rites of passage; birth, wedding and funeral rituals; oaths of allegiance; traditional legal systems; traditional games and sports; kinship and ritual kinship ceremonies; settlement patterns; culinary traditions; seasonal ceremonies; practices specific to men or women only; hunting, fishing and gathering practices and many more.

KNOWLEDGE AND PRACTICES CONCERNING NATURE AND THE UNIVERSE

Knowledge and practices concerning nature and the universe refer to traditional knowledge, know-how, skills, practices, and representations developed by communities through their interactions with the natural environment. They include traditional ecological wisdom, indigenous knowledge, knowledge about local fauna and flora, traditional healing systems, rituals, beliefs, initiatory rites, cosmologies, shamanism, possession rites, social organizations, festivals, languages, and visual arts. They also strongly influence values and beliefs and underlie many social practices and cultural traditions. They, in turn, are shaped by the natural environment and the community’s wider world.

TRADITIONAL CRAFTSMANSHIP

Traditional craftsmanship focuses on the skills and knowledge involved in creating crafts rather than the craft products themselves. This domain encompasses a variety of expressions: tools; clothing and jewellery; costumes and props for festivals and performing arts; storage containers, objects used for storage, transport and shelter; decorative art and ritual objects; musical instruments and household utensils, and toys, both for amusement and education.

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Instances of intangible cultural heritage are not limited to a single manifestation and many include elements from multiple domains. The boundaries between domains are extremely fluid and often vary from community to community. It is difficult, if not impossible, to impose rigid categories externally.

ABOUT UNESCO

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) was founded in 1945 for the purpose of promoting international collaboration in the fields of education, science, culture, and communication.