Intangible Cultural Heritage Convention
Also called: 2003 Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage · Topic: Studying Indian History: Sources, Dating and Historiography · NCERT: Beyond NCERT
Meaning
The Intangible Cultural Heritage Convention is a UNESCO treaty adopted in 2003. Its full name is the 2003 Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage. "Intangible" means something you cannot touch. Here it means living traditions that people pass from one generation to the next.
The Convention covers five areas:
- oral traditions, including language
- performing arts
- social practices, rituals and festivals
- knowledge about nature
- traditional crafts
It keeps lists of these traditions. The best known is the Representative List. Another list is for traditions in urgent danger. The Convention matters because a tradition survives only while people keep practising it, and it can fade away with no one noticing.
Example
In 2017, India's Kumbh Mela was inscribed on the Representative List. The Kumbh Mela is a mass pilgrimage and bathing festival held in turns at Prayagraj, Haridwar, Ujjain and Nashik. Other Indian entries include Vedic chanting and Yoga (inscribed in 2016).
Don't confuse with
- 1972 World Heritage Convention: protects physical places, such as monuments, sites and natural areas (for example, Abu Simbel after the Nubian rescue). The 2003 Convention protects practices and skills, not places.
- Memory of the World Register: a UNESCO programme for documentary heritage, such as old manuscripts and archives. These are recorded objects, not living practices.