The French baguette, Algerian Rai music and Tunisia\u2019s harissa condiment are among this year\u2019s contenders for recognition as intangible cultural heritage by UNESCO, which started deliberations Monday in Morocco. The United Nations\u2019 cultural agency is examining 56 proposals for items to add to its Lists of Intangible Cultural Heritage, including four in urgent need of preservation \u2014 including the pottery of the Cham people of central Vietnam.<\/p>\n
This year\u2019s meetings in Morocco, which holds the organisation\u2019s rotating presidency, are the first to be held in person since the coronavirus pandemic. UNESCO will tweet its decisions starting from Tuesday afternoon. Other contenders include a French-Belgian application for fairgrounds, the chai (tea) culture of Azerbaijan and Turkey, traditional Chinese tea-processing technique and a central Asian lute called the Rubab.\u00a0 Cuban light rum and the Serbian plum brandy known as Slivovitz also make the list.<\/p>\n
The organisation stresses that the list honours traditions, practices and knowledge and all such forms of culture that are \u201chuman treasures\u201d that cannot be touched. Rai music is on the list not just as a form of music but as a whole cultural tradition.<\/p>\n
The 2003 Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage aims to safeguard and raise awareness about the \u201cintangible cultural heritage of the communities, groups and individuals concerned\u201d. \u201cIntangible cultural heritage, transmitted from generation to generation, is constantly recreated by communities and groups in response to their environment, their interaction with nature and their history, and provides them with a sense of identity and continuity, thus promoting respect for cultural diversity and human creativity,\u201d it says.<\/p>\n
The French baguette, Algerian Rai music and Tunisia\u2019s harissa condiment are among this year\u2019s contenders for recognition as intangible cultural heritage by…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":50,"featured_media":64157,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[10,14],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-64156","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-art","category-historyheritage"],"yoast_head":"\n