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Le chant bouddhique du Ladakh : récitation de textes sacrés bouddhiques dans la région transhimalayenne du Ladakh, Jammu-et-Cachemire, Inde
In the monasteries and villages of the Ladakh region, Buddhist lamas (priests) chant sacred texts representing the spirit, philosophy and teachings of the Buddha. Two forms of Buddhism are practised in Ladakh – Mahayana and Vajrayana – and there are four major sects, namely Nyngma, Kagyud, Shakya and Geluk. Each sect has several forms...
South AsiaIndiaNot specified in UNESCO dataset
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La célébration en l’honneur de l’icône de Notre-Dame de Budslau (Fête de Budslau)
The Budslaŭ Fest takes place in Budslaŭ village, in the Minsk region. Since the seventeenth century, every year on the first weekend of July tens of thousands of pilgrims from all over Belarus and other countries have come to Budslaŭ to participate in the celebrations in honor of the Budslaŭ icon of Our Lady, with some making the...
EuropeBelarusNot specified in UNESCO dataset
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Le chant de la Sibylle de Majorque
The chant of the Sybil is performed at matins on the night of 24 December in churches throughout Majorca. The chant marks the annual Christmas Vigil, and is sung by a boy or girl accompanied by two or more altar boys or girls. During the chant they walk through the church towards the chancel, the singer carrying a sword in his or her...
EuropeSpainNot specified in UNESCO dataset
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La fête de commémoration de la découverte de la Véritable Sainte-Croix du Christ
The festival of Maskel is celebrated across Ethiopia on 26 September to commemorate the unearthing of the True Holy Cross of Christ. Celebrations begin with the building of the Damera bonfire in Maskel Square in Addis Ababa – a conical pyre of poles surrounded by bundles of branches and torches, decorated with green grass and Abyssinian...
AfricaEthiopiaNot specified in UNESCO dataset
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L’Épiphanie éthiopienne
Ethiopian epiphany is a colourful festival celebrated all over Ethiopia to commemorate the baptism of Jesus Christ by John the Baptist in the River Jordan. The commemoration starts on the eve of the main festival on 18 January. The eve is known as Ketera, which means blocking the flow of water for the blessing of the celebrants. On the...
AfricaEthiopiaNot specified in UNESCO dataset
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Le Kagura d’Hayachine
In the fourteenth or fifteenth century, when the people of Iwate Prefecture in the northern part of mainland Japan worshipped Mt. Hayachine as a deity, they began a tradition of folk performance that continues to enliven the Great Festival of the Hayachine Shrine held in Hanamaki City on the first day of August. The Hayachine Kagura is...
East AsiaJapanNot specified in UNESCO dataset
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Les processions de la Semaine sainte à Popayán
The Holy Week processions in Popayán are one of the oldest traditions in Colombia, practised since the colonial period. From the Tuesday to the Saturday before Easter, between 8 p.m. and 11 p.m., a series of processions take place. The five processions, devoted to Mary, Jesus, the Cross, the Laying in the Tomb, and the Resurrection...
Latin America and CaribbeanColombiaNot specified in UNESCO dataset
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La procession dansante d’Echternach
Each year, on the Tuesday of Pentecost (a Christian religious festival), the hopping procession of Echternach ''(Iechternacher Sprangprëssioun)'' takes place in the medieval town centre of Echternach, the oldest city in Luxembourg. Documented since the year 1100, the procession is founded on the cult of Saint Willibrord, a monk and...
EuropeLuxembourgNot specified in UNESCO dataset
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Le système de divination Ifa
The Ifa divination system, which makes use of an extensive corpus of texts and mathematical formulas, is practiced among Yoruba communities and by the African diaspora in the Americas and the Caribbean. The word Ifa refers to the mystical figure Ifa or Orunmila, regarded by the Yoruba as the deity of wisdom and intellectual development....
AfricaNigeriaNot specified in UNESCO dataset
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La dentellerie en Croatie
At least three distinct traditions of Lacemaking in Croatia persist today, centred on the towns of Pag on the Adriatic, Lepoglava in northern Croatia and Hvar on the Dalmatian island of the same name. Pag needle-point lace was originally used to make ecclesiastical garments, tablecloths and ornaments for clothing. The process involves...
EuropeCroatiaNot specified in UNESCO dataset
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Les ostensions septennales limousines
The Limousin septennial ostensions are grand ceremonies and processions organized every seventh year for the exhibition and worship of relics of Catholic saints kept in Limousin churches. Widely supported by local towns and villages, the festivities are attended by great numbers of people who gather to see the reliquaries as they...
EuropeFranceNot specified in UNESCO dataset
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La danse des masques des tambours de Drametse
The mask dance of the Drametse community is a sacred dance performed during the Drametse festival in honour of Padmasambhava, a Buddhist guru. The festival, which takes place in this eastern Bhutanese village twice a year, is organized by the Ogyen Tegchok Namdroel Choeling Monastery. The dance features sixteen masked male dancers...
South AsiaBhutanNot specified in UNESCO dataset
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Le culte et les rituels de Mazu
As the most influential goddess of the sea in China, Mazu is at the centre of a host of beliefs and customs, including oral traditions, religious ceremonies and folk practices, throughout the country’s coastal areas. Mazu is believed to have lived in the tenth century on Meizhou Island, where she dedicated herself to helping her fellow...
East AsiaChinaNot specified in UNESCO dataset
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Le Nestinarstvo, messages du passé : le panagyr des saints Constantin et Hélène dans le village de Bulgari
The Nestinarstvo fire-dancing rite is the climax of the annual Panagyr ritual on the feast days of Saints Constantine and Helena (3 and 4 June) in the village of Bulgari, in the Mount Strandzha region of south-east Bulgaria. The ritual is held to ensure the well-being and fertility of the village. In the morning, consecrated and...
EuropeBulgariaNot specified in UNESCO dataset
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La procession Za Krizen (« chemin de croix ») sur l’île de Hvar
After mass on Maundy Thursday before the Christian holiday of Easter, each of six villages on the Dalmatian island of Hvar in southern Croatia sends out a group that will proceed through the other villages in a circle, covering twenty-five kilometres in eight hours before returning home. Each party in this community-organized Za Krizen...
EuropeCroatiaNot specified in UNESCO dataset
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Le Sada Shin Noh, danse sacrée au sanctuaire de Sada, Shimane
Sada Shin Noh comprises a series of ritual purification dances performed every year on 24 and 25 September at the Sada Shrine in Matsue City, Shimane Prefecture, Japan as part of the ''gozakae'' ritual of the changing of the rush mats. The dances are undertaken to purify new rush mats ''(goza)'', upon which the tutelary deities of the...
East AsiaJapanNot specified in UNESCO dataset
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La tradition du chant védique
The Vedas comprise a vast corpus of Sanskrit poetry, philosophical dialogue, myth, and ritual incantations developed and composed by Aryans over 3,500 years ago. Regarded by Hindus as the primary source of knowledge and the sacred foundation of their religion, the Vedas embody one of the world’s oldest surviving cultural traditions. The...
South AsiaIndiaNot specified in UNESCO dataset
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Le xooy, une cérémonie divinatoire chez les Serer du Sénégal
The Xooy divination ceremony is organized in village squares among the Serer community in west-central Senegal prior to the rainy season. During this long nocturnal gathering, master seers known as Saltigues each in turn step into a designated circle, where they deliver predictions before a rapturous audience accompanied by the rhythm...
AfricaSenegalNot specified in UNESCO dataset
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Le Yeongsanjae
A central element of Korean Buddhist culture, Yeongsanjae is a re-enactment of Buddha’s delivery of the Lotus Sutra on the Vulture Peak in India, through which philosophical and spiritual messages of Buddhism are expressed and people in attendance develop self-discipline. Yeongsanjae begins with a ritual reception for all the saints and...
East AsiaKorea, Republic ofNot specified in UNESCO dataset
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