Getting listed on the UNESCO World Heritage list is one of the greatest honors that can be bestowed on anything treasured by a nation.  That immediately elevates whatever building, area, park, or activity that lands on the list and ensures that the government of the particular nation has to preserve it.  That’s why the UNESCo list of “intangible heritage” activities is one of the most valued list, as it provides much-needed boost to the weirdest, rarest, and most obscure folk singing, folk dancing, and folk art traditions for a host of cultures and regions.  A staggering 51 activities from 30 nations have applied for the UNESCO World Heritage list, which includes everything from music styles and theater to architecture styles and manufacturing methods.

Four of the 51 activities have already been granted UNESCO World Heritage protection.  Three of these activities are Chinese:  a Uighur cultural festival known as “meshrep,” the technology behind the construction of watertight bulkheads in traditional Chinese junks, and one of the world’s oldest printing techniques involving wooden movable-type printing.  The other approved activity is Croatia’s Ojkanje throat singing.  They join such protected heritage items as Argentina’s tango, Mexico’s Day of the Dead festival, and Sicily’s puppet theater.

“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, head of UNESCO’s intangible heritage section.  “It is living heritage, transmitted from generation to generation, and it gives people a sense of identity.”

Tags: UNESCO, United Nations, UNESCO World Heritage list, weird folk rituals, weird folk customs, folk dancing, folk singing, obscure hobbies, weird hobbies, intangible heritage list, Cecile Duvelle

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