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Elements from Azerbaijan and Guatemala inscribed on the List of Intangible Cultural Heritage in Need of Urgent Safeguarding
The Intergovernmental Committee for the Safeguarding of Intangible Heritage, holding its 8th session until 7 December, today inscribed two new elements on the List of Intangible Heritage in Need of Urgent Safeguarding.
The inscription of elements on the Urgent List helps States Parties to UNESCO’s Convention for the Safeguarding of Intangible Heritage to mobilize international cooperation and assistance to ensure the transmission of this heritage with the participation of the concerned communities.
The titles of the newly inscribed elements below (in chronological order of inscription) lead to web pages with information, pictures and videos:
Chovqan is a traditional horse-riding game played on a grassy field by two competing teams of five riders mounted on Karabakh horses. Players use wooden mallets to drive a small leather or wooden ball into their opponents’ goal. The game is accompanied by instrumental folk music called ''janghi''. Chovqan strengthens feelings of identity rooted in nomadic culture. The practice and transmission of Chovqan have weakened, however, due to socio-economic factors leading to a shortage of players, trainers and Karabakh horses.
The Paach ceremony is a corn-veneration ritual celebrated in San Pedro Sacatepéquez. The ritual describes the growing and harvesting of corn and includes dancing, prayers in the Mam language and a meal. Older men and women dress ceremonial corncobs, offer prayers during the ceremony, coordinate the preparation and serving of food and perform a ceremonial dance to marimba music. In recent years, the Paach ceremony has suffered from a decrease in transmission, with young people and some bearers declining to participate.
On Wednesday, the Committee will pursue the review of four other nominations for the List of Intangible Heritage in Need of Urgent Safeguarding and the 30 nominations for inscription on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.
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Photos in high resolution for the media
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Contacts:
Lucia Iglesias Kuntz, l.iglesias(at)unesco.org +33 (0)6 8024 0729, or locally + 994 55 200 6475
Nushaba Mehdizada, nushaba.m(at)gmail.com Mobile: +994 55 202 27 57
Office: +994 12 493 02 33
