The UNESCO has received according to the official website 57 proposals to be included on the list of intangible cultural heritage this year, and the review process will last until Saturday, December 9. Two candidates have already been selected, Paraguay and Turkiye, with the para’í poncho from the 60 lists and the olive grove technique respectively. The committee meets in Kasane, Botswana.

Dozens of candidates are still waiting. For example, Cuba and Mexico, who want protection for the bolero music genre, Italy, which seeks the same for its opera, and with them Bangladesh and its art rickshaw or light two-wheeled float, pulled by people, as well as Peru, with ceviche. There are also loincloth fabrics from Ivory Coast.

A charioteer eats during the Covid-19 lockdown in Bangladesh, 2021. Photo: AFP

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization has chosen this the Paraguayan poncho of 60 lists to authorize urgent safeguard measures unless the tradition disappears. Entire families are devoted to weaving, especially in the southern town of Piribebuy. It was given that name in memory of the sixty soldiers who took part in the War against the Triple Alliance (1864-1870), in which Brazil, Uruguay and Argentina fought against Paraguay. The patriots were buried in a mass grave with black and white ponchos in Piribebuy.

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Turkey reached 26 elements on the list of intangible heritage this year, with its olive groves, whose cultivation itself is not threatened (it is one of the five largest exporters of olive oil in the world), but the old technology, which has been replaced by industrial methods.

Other Latin American icons continue the struggle, such as the Ch’utillos festival in the Bolivian city of Potosí, the Armila Sea Turtle Festival Panama or the tradition of the Bandos and Parrandas of the Holy Innocents in Caucagua, Venezuela.

Peruvian fisherman César Melgarejo prepares a mullet ceviche for himself and his colleagues in the Bay of Lima on December 1. Photo: AFP

AND Colombiawants, in a joint candidacy with Cyprus, Germany, Kyrgyzstan, Luxembourg, Nigeria, Slovenia and Togo, to recognize skills and the practices of midwives who help women before, during and after childbirth.

On the other side of the world, Azerbaijan, Iran, Uzbekistan and Turkey want to register the tradition of iftar, the night meal that breaks the fast during the Islamic month of Ramadan.

Of the 676 traditions recognized on this list, some are very well known, such as the Neapolitan pizza (2017), the Rio de la Plata tango (2009), the Brazilian capoeira (2014) or the Spanish flamenco (2010), which are very popular. But there are others who literally have been saved from destruction, such as the ‘noken’, a traditional bag made by the Papuans of Indonesia from braided plants and leaves that saw a growth in the number of manufacturers after registration in 2012.

Syrian Mohamed al-Hallak works in his glass figure workshop in Damascus on August 26, 2020.
Photo: AFP

The same thing happened with the ‘mapoyo’, the oral story of parents to children in an ethnic group in Venezuela, strengthened since its recognition in 2014.

On the part of Ecuador they are registered as intangible heritage the cultural manifestations of the Zápara people (2008), the artisanal weaving of toquilla straw hats (2012), marimba music, traditional songs and dances from Esmeraldas and the Colombian South Pacific region (2015) and the last was He aisle, in 2021. (JO)