Traditions of Peru and four other Latin American countries aspire to be Intangible Heritage

Traditions of Bolivia, Ecuador, Panama, Peru and Venezuela aspire to be declared Intangible Heritage of Unesco this week in a list that includes 45 other candidates, the intergovernmental committee on the Safeguarding of Intangible Heritage reported this Monday.

“Latin America is a very active region every year that frequently submits candidacies. It is something to highlight ”, said Tim Curtis, secretary general of the section of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (Unesco) dedicated to Intangible Heritage at a press conference from Paris.

Bolivia aspires to register the Fiesta Grande de Tarija, an ancient tradition in gratitude to San Roque with dances, songs and unique clothing, while Ecuador wants to include the musical genre of the Pasillo, a rhythmic system of song and poetry.

On the part of Panama, there are the dances associated with the Corpus Cristi festival; for Peru, the tradition of ceramic production of the indigenous Awajún people and, for Venezuela, the festivities of San Juan Bautista.

Chilean Ernesto Ottone, a member of the Intangible Heritage commission, pointed out that Latin America presents these traditions as “something from the present, not just from the past,” and highlighted the link in the region between intangible and tangible heritage.

Spain will not have any individual candidacy this week, but it does participate in a group with twenty-three other countries in Europe, Asia and Africa on the ancient art of falconry with falcons.

The representative list of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity aims to give visibility to traditions and knowledge of the communities and, with the new inscriptions of these days, it will have just over 500 members.

Entering it facilitates access to grants and gives greater international visibility.

It also serves to bring together countries that have had disagreements, as in the case of the current candidacy of the Congolese rumba, which unites the Republic of the Congo (Congo-Brazzaville) and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (Congo-Kinshasa).

Unesco will pronounce this week, surely starting Thursday 16, on the 45 applications for inscription to the list of Intangible Heritage, five for urgent inscription and five for the registry of good practices.