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Le carnaval de Bâle
Beginning on the Monday following Ash Wednesday and lasting exactly 72 hours, Basel Carnival is the largest carnival in Switzerland. Two parades take place on the Monday and Wednesday, bringing together 11,000 costumed carnivalists in parades of fife and drum cliques, floats and carriages. Tuesday is dedicated to children, with concerts...
EuropeSwitzerlandNot specified in UNESCO dataset
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Les fêtes de l’Ours dans les Pyrénées
The Bear festivities take place every winter in five villages in the Pyrenees mountain range located in Andorra and France. During the event, young men dress up as bears and run through the streets trying to catch participants. The festivities are punctuated by dances, speeches in Catalan and music. The entire local population takes...
EuropeAndorra / FranceNot specified in UNESCO dataset
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Les festivités Busó de Mohács : une coutume de carnaval masqué marquant la fin de l’hiver
The Busó festivities at Mohács in southern Hungary are a six-day carnival in late February to mark the end of winter, named for the ''busós,'' frightening-looking costumed people (traditionally men) wearing wooden masks and big woolly cloaks. The festival is multifaceted, including a children’s costume contest, a display of the art of...
EuropeHungaryNot specified in UNESCO dataset
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Le carnaval de Barranquilla
Every year during the four days before Lent, the Carnival de Barranquilla offers a repertory of dances and musical expressions originating from different Colombian sub-cultures. Because of its geographical location situated on the Caribbean coast and the commercial development during the colonial period, the city of Barranquilla became...
Latin America and CaribbeanColombiaNot specified in UNESCO dataset
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Le carnaval de Binche
The town of Binche is situated south of Brussels in Belgium’s Hainaut province. Each year, during the three days preceding Lent, it is host to carnival festivities that mobilize the historic centre and attract throngs of foreign visitors. With roots dating back to the Middle Ages, Binche’s famed celebration ranks as one of Europe’s...
EuropeBelgiumNot specified in UNESCO dataset
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Le carnaval d’El Callao, représentation festive d’une mémoire et d’une identité culturelle
The Carnival of El Callao, practised in communities of Venezuela, is associated with cannes brulées emancipation celebrations in French-speaking islands of the Caribbean. Running from January to March, the traditional practice features parades of people dressed as characters from history and fantasy, as well as calypso music, dancing...
Latin America and CaribbeanVenezuela, Bolivarian Republic ofNot specified in UNESCO dataset
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Le carnaval d’Oruro
The town of Oruro, situated at an altitude of 3,700 metres in the mountains of western Bolivia and once a pre-Columbian ceremonial site, was an important mining area in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Resettled by the Spanish in 1606, it continued to be a sacred site for the Uru people, who would often travel long distances to...
Latin America and CaribbeanBolivia, Plurinational State ofNot specified in UNESCO dataset
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Le Cheoyongmu
Cheoyongmu is a court dance today performed on stage but formerly used to dispel evil spirits and pray for tranquillity at royal banquets or during exorcism rites on New Year’s Eve to promote good fortune. Based on the Korean legend of Cheoyong, a son of the dragon king Yongwang, who took human form and saved his human wife from the...
East AsiaKorea, Republic ofNot specified in UNESCO dataset
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La sortie des masques et marionnettes de Markala
The coming forth of the masks and puppets is a ritual festivity practised among the Bambara, Bozo, Marka and Somono communities in Markala, and is characterized by masked dances, drums and songs featuring dancers and puppeteers. Each mask and puppet symbolizes the sacred link between man and nature, with particular animals incarnating...
AfricaMaliNot specified in UNESCO dataset
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Les danses et expressions associées à la Fête-Dieu
The Corpus Christi festival is a religious festival in Panama that celebrates the body and blood of Christ. The festival combines Catholic tradition with popular practices and festivities and is characterized by theatre, music, burlesque dances and colourful costumes and masks. A day before the festival, a theatrical and musical...
Latin America and CaribbeanPanamaNot specified in UNESCO dataset
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La tournée de maison en maison des Kurenti
Door-to-door rounds of Kurenti is a Shrovetide custom practised from Candlemas (2 February) to Ash Wednesday. Kurenti practise their rounds through villages and nowadays also through the town of Ptuj. Groups consisting of Kurenti and one or more devils run from house to house, form a circle in the yard and jump around the owners....
EuropeSloveniaNot specified in UNESCO dataset
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El Güegüense
A forceful expression of protest against colonial rule, El Güegüense is a satirical drama well known throughout Nicaragua. It is performed during the feast of San Sebastián, patron saint of the city of Diriamba in Nicaragua’s Carazo province. El Güegüense, a synthesis of Spanish and indigenous cultures combining theatre, dance and...
Latin America and CaribbeanNicaraguaNot specified in UNESCO dataset
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La danse des fermiers du groupe ethnique coréen en Chine
Gathering in fields or villages during community festivals, members of the Korean ethnic group in Jilin and other provinces in north-eastern China offer a traditional sacrifice to the God of the Land to pay homage to nature and pray for good fortune and a plentiful harvest. This is the beginning of the farmers’ dance of China’s Korean...
East AsiaChinaNot specified in UNESCO dataset
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La fête de la Virgen de la Candelaria de Puno
The Festivity of Virgen de la Candelaria, celebrated each February in the city of Puno, includes activities of religious, festive and cultural character that draw on Catholic traditions and symbolic elements of the Andean worldview. The main festival commences at the beginning of the month with a daybreak mass, followed by an ancient...
Latin America and CaribbeanPeruNot specified in UNESCO dataset
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Les Furyu-odori, danses rituelles imprégnées des espoirs et prières de la population
Furyu-odori in Japan refers to various ritual folk dances, characterized by eye-catching costumes and lively dances and music. These local dances have been performed for centuries, primarily in rural areas. With life in these areas often affected by severe climate events, local communities created ritualistic performances to express...
East AsiaJapanNot specified in UNESCO dataset
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Le Gule Wamkulu
Gule Wamkulu was a secret cult, involving a ritual dance practiced among the Chewa in Malawi, Zambia, and Mozambique. It was performed by members of the Nyau brotherhood, a secret society of initiated men.Within the Chewa’s traditional matrilineal society, where married men played a rather marginal role, the Nyau offered a means to...
AfricaMalawi / MozambiqueNot 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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La Huaconada, danse rituelle de Mito
Huaconada is a ritual dance performed in the village of Mito in the province of Concepción in the central Peruvian Andes. Every year, on the first three days of January, masked men known as ''huacones'' perform a choreographed series of dances in the centre of the town. The ''huacones'' represent the former council of elders, and for...
Latin America and CaribbeanPeruNot specified in UNESCO dataset
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L’Ichapekene Piesta, la plus grande fête de Saint Ignace de Moxos
Every year, the inhabitants, both young and old, of San Ignacio de Moxos in Bolivia celebrate Ichapekene Piesta, a syncretic festival that reinterprets the Moxeño founder myth of the Jesuit victory of Ignacio de Loyola and melds it with indigenous beliefs and traditions. The festivities begin in May with firework displays, singing and...
Latin America and CaribbeanBolivia, Plurinational State ofNot specified in UNESCO dataset
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Le masque Ijele
In many communities in the state of Anambra in south-eastern Nigeria, celebrations, burial ceremonies and other special occasions during the dry season to evoke fertility and a bountiful harvest feature the performance of the Ijele masquerade. The mask is about four metres tall – so large that it takes a hundred men six months of work...
AfricaNigeriaNot specified in UNESCO dataset
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L'Ingoma Ya Mapiko
The mapiko dance is a celebratory dance practiced by the Makonde people of Mozambique. A part of the traditional rite of passage from puberty to adulthood, the dance is performed in an enclosure, usually under mango trees, with dancers, musicians and the public coming together to celebrate the initiation rite. The dance may also be...
AfricaMozambiqueNot specified in UNESCO dataset
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Le Kankurang, rite d’initiation mandingue
The Kankurang is an initiatory rite practised throughout the Manding provinces of Senegal and Gambia, mainly corresponding to the Casamance, and in the city of Mbour. According to tradition, the origin of the Kankurang is to be found in the Komo, a secret society of hunters whose organization and esoteric practices contributed to the...
AfricaGambia / SenegalNot specified in UNESCO dataset
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Le khon, théâtre masqué et dansé en Thaïlande
Khon, the Khon Masked Dance Drama in Thailand, is a performing art that combines musical, vocal, literary, dance, ritual and handicraft elements. Khon performances – which involve graceful dance movements, instrumental and vocal renditions and glittering costumes – depict the glory of Rama, the hero and incarnation of the god Vishnu,...
Southeast AsiaThailandNot specified in UNESCO dataset
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Le théâtre sanscrit, Kutiyattam
Kutiyattam, Sanskrit theatre, which is practised in the province of Kerala, is one of India’s oldest living theatrical traditions. Originating more than 2,000 years ago, Kutiyattam represents a synthesis of Sanskrit classicism and reflects the local traditions of Kerala. In its stylized and codified theatrical language, neta abhinaya...
South AsiaIndiaNot specified in UNESCO dataset
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Le kwagh-hir, représentation théâtrale
Kwagh-Hir theatrical performance is a composite art form encompassing a spectacle that is both visually stimulating and culturally edifying. Kwagh-hir has its roots in the story-telling tradition of the Tiv people called ‘kwagh-alom’, a practice where the family was treated to a storytelling session by creative storytellers, usually in...
AfricaNigeriaNot specified in UNESCO dataset
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Le lkhon khol de Wat Svay Andet
Lkhon Khol Wat Svay Andet is practised in one community surrounding a Buddhist monastery, Wat Svay Andet – located about 10km east of Phnom Penh on the Mekong River – and is performed by men wearing masks to the accompaniment of a traditional orchestra and melodious recitation. The specific aim is to propitiate the Neak Ta (guardian...
Southeast AsiaCambodiaNot specified in UNESCO dataset
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La mascarade Makishi
The Makishi masquerade is performed at the end of the mukanda, an annual initiation ritual for boys between the ages of eight and twelve. This ritual is celebrated by the Vaka Chiyama Cha Mukwamayi communities, which include the Luvale, Chokwe, Luchazi and Mbunda peoples, who live in the northwestern and western provinces of Zambia....
AfricaZambiaNot specified in UNESCO dataset
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La Mangal Shobhajatra du Pahela Baishakh
Mangal Shobhajatra is a festival organized by students and teachers of Dhaka University’s Faculty of Fine Art in Bangladesh open to the public to celebrate Pahela Baishakh (New Year’s Day). Taking place on April 14, the tradition of Mangal Shobhajatra began in 1989 when students, frustrated with having to live under military rule,...
South AsiaBangladeshNot 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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La Momoeria, fêtes du Nouvel An dans huit villages de la région de Kozani, en Macédoine occidentale (Grèce)
From December 25 to January 5 in Kozani (north-western Greece), dancers, actors and musicians can be seen performing in village streets and visiting people’s homes to celebrate the coming of the new year. The Momoeria dancers, a group made up of 30 male performers, are a special focus. They represent the priests of Momos (god of...
EuropeGreeceNot specified in UNESCO dataset
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Le Namsadang Nori
Namsadang Nori, literally the ‘all-male vagabond clown theatre’, is a multifaceted folk performance tradition originally practised widely by travelling entertainers and now kept alive by professional troupes in the Republic of Korea. The performance is made up of six components: a segment of ‘farmers’ music’ emphasizes the percussive...
East AsiaKorea, Republic ofNot specified in UNESCO dataset
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Le théâtre Nôgaku
Nôgaku theatre had its heyday in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, but actually originated in the eighth century when the Sangaku was transmitted from China to Japan. At the time, the term Sangaku referred to various types of performance featuring acrobats, song and dance as well as comic sketches. Its subsequent adaption to...
East AsiaJapanNot specified in UNESCO dataset
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Le nora, drame dansé dans le sud de la Thaïlande
Nora is a lively and acrobatic form of dance theatre and improvisational singing from southern Thailand. Performances normally include a long oral invocation, followed by a presentation by a lead character who dances with vigorous and elaborate movements of the legs, arms and fingers. The performances are usually based on stories about...
Southeast AsiaThailandNot specified in UNESCO dataset
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Le patrimoine oral Gèlèdé
The Gelede is performed by the Yoruba-Nago community that is spread over Benin, Nigeria and Togo. For more than a century, this ceremony has been performed to pay tribute to the primordial mother Iyà Nlà and to the role women play in the process of social organization and development of Yoruba society. The Gelede takes place every year...
AfricaBenin / NigeriaNot specified in UNESCO dataset
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La Patum de Berga
The Patum of Berga is a popular festival whose origin can be traced to medieval festivities and parades accompanying the celebration of Corpus Christi. Theatrical performances and parades of a variety of effigies animate the streets of this Catalan town located north of Barcelona. The celebration takes place every year during the week...
EuropeSpainNot specified in UNESCO dataset
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Le pèlerinage au sanctuaire du seigneur de Qoyllurit’i
The Pilgrimage to the sanctuary of the Lord of Qoyllurit’i combines elements from Catholicism and worship of pre-Hispanic nature deities. It begins fifty-eight days after the Christian celebration of Easter Sunday, when 90,000 people from around Cusco travel to the sanctuary, located in Sinakara hollow. Pilgrims are divided into eight...
Latin America and CaribbeanPeruNot specified in UNESCO dataset
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La tradition du théâtre dansé Rabinal Achí
The Rabinal Achí is a dynastic Maya drama, which developed in the fifteenth century and a rare example of preserved pre-Hispanic traditions. It comprises myths of origin and addresses popular and political subjects concerning the inhabitants of the region of Rabinal, expressed through masked dance, theatre and music. The oral and...
Latin America and CaribbeanGuatemalaNot specified in UNESCO dataset
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Les Raiho-shin, visites rituelles de divinités masquées et costumées
Raiho-shin rituals take place annually in various regions of Japan – especially in the Tohoku, Hokuriku, Kyushu and Okinawa regions – on days that mark the beginning of the year or when the seasons change. Such rituals stem from folk beliefs that deities from the outer world – the Raiho-shin – visit communities and usher in the new year...
East AsiaJapanNot specified in UNESCO dataset
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Ramlila, représentation traditionnelle du Ramayana
Ramlila, literally “Rama’s play”, is a performance of then Ramayana epic in a series of scenes that include song, narration, recital and dialogue. It is performed across northern India during the festival of Dussehra, held each year according to the ritual calendar in autumn. The most representative Ramlilas are those of Ayodhya,...
South AsiaIndiaNot specified in UNESCO dataset
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Le Ramman, festival religieux et théâtre rituel du Garhwal, dans l’Himalaya, en Inde
Every year in late April, the twin villages of Saloor-Dungra in the state of Uttarakhand (northern India) are marked by Ramman, a religious festival in honour of the tutelary god, Bhumiyal Devta, a local divinity whose temple houses most of the festivities. This event is made up of highly complex rituals: the recitation of a version of...
South AsiaIndiaNot specified in UNESCO dataset
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L’art du spectacle du Reog Ponorogo
In Indonesia, Reog Ponorogo Performing Art is a centuries-old theatrical dance that is traditionally performed on various occasions, including disaster aversion ceremonies, village cleansing events, weddings, Islamic and national holidays, circumcisions, thanksgiving ceremonies, public festivities, and when welcoming guests. Dancers...
Southeast AsiaIndonesiaNot specified in UNESCO dataset
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Les expressions rituelles et festives de la culture congo
The ritual and festive expressions of the Congo culture encompass the contemporary vision of a collective celebration of the black rebel descendants enslaved during the colonial period. Nowadays, participants play congo, celebrate their freedom, cheerfully sing about their everyday lives and perform representations and sensual dances...
Latin America and CaribbeanPanamaNot specified in UNESCO dataset
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Le Ballet royal du Cambodge
Renowned for its graceful hand gestures and stunning costumes, the Royal Ballet of Cambodia, also known as Khmer Classical Dance, has been closely associated with the Khmer court for over one thousand years. Performances would traditionally accompany royal ceremonies and observances such as coronations, marriages, funerals or Khmer...
Southeast AsiaCambodiaNot 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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Le Sanké mon, rite de pêche collective dans le Sanké
The Sanké mon collective fishing rite takes place in San in the Ségou region of Mali every second Thursday of the seventh lunar month to commemorate the founding of the town. The rite begins with the sacrifice of roosters, goats and offerings made by village residents to the water spirits of the Sanké pond. The collective fishing then...
AfricaMaliNot specified in UNESCO dataset
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Schemenlaufen, le carnaval d’Imst, Autriche
Every four years the city of Imst in Austria celebrates its Fasnacht carnival on the Sunday before the Christian season of Lent. The central festivity is Schemenlaufen, a procession of masked, costumed dancers. The main characters are in pairs, one man wearing rotating bells and another wearing larger bells weighing up to 35 kg....
EuropeAustriaNot specified in UNESCO dataset
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La Shakespeare Mas’, une composante traditionnelle du Carnaval annuel à Carriacou
In Grenada, Shakespeare Mas’ combines elements of speechmaking, costume design and public theatre. Practitioners, called ‘kings’, compete against each other, reciting passages from Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar, historical texts, Bible verses and rhetorical boasts meant to show their prowess with words and language. Incorrect recitations...
Latin America and CaribbeanGrenadaNot specified in UNESCO dataset
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Les défilés de porte-à-porte et masques des Jours gras dans les villages de la région de Hlinecko
The Shrovetide processions take place in the town of Hlinsko and six nearby villages in the Hlinecko area of Eastern Bohemia in the Czech Republic. This popular carnival custom takes place at the end of winter, during Shrovetide – the period just before the Christian Lent. Village men and boys, disguised in masks that depict traditional...
EuropeCzechiaNot specified in UNESCO dataset
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Le tressage de la paille au Bélarus : art, artisanat et savoir-faire
Belarusian straw weaving emphasizes the spiritual value and symbolism of the material and the products. Various utensils (such as boxes and baskets), headgear, toys and accessories are made from straw. Some products have special meaning, such as the harvest wreaths or pawuks, complex diamond-shaped structures believed to protect the...
EuropeBelarusNot specified in UNESCO dataset
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Le surova, festival populaire dans la région de Pernik
The Surova folk feast in Pernik region takes place each year on 13 and 14 January to celebrate the New Year according to the old calendar. The core of the celebration is a popular masquerade ritual performed in villages throughout the region. On the first night, Survakari masquerade groups, consisting of men, women and children, don...
EuropeBulgariaNot specified in UNESCO dataset
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Le talchum, danse théâtrale masquée en République de Corée
Talchum is a performing art that encompasses dance, music and theatre. An ensemble of six to ten musicians accompanies masked performers who humorously explore social issues through dramatic combinations of songs, dances, movements and dialogue. The practice uses caricatures of everyday characters to convey its underlying appeal to...
East AsiaKorea, Republic ofNot specified in UNESCO dataset
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Les diables danseurs de Corpus Christi du Venezuela
The small communities along the central coastal region of Venezuela have a special way to celebrate the Feast of Corpus Christi, an annual Roman Catholic holiday commemorating the presence of Christ in the Sacrament. Groups of adults, young men and children disguised as masked devils dance backwards in penitence as an official of the...
Latin America and CaribbeanVenezuela, Bolivarian Republic ofNot specified in UNESCO dataset
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Les fêtes de l'hiver, le carnaval de Podence
Winter festivities, Carnival of Podence is a social practice which initially functioned as a rite of passage for men. Now extended to women and children, it has been readjusted to its contemporary context. The festivity is associated with the celebration of the end of winter and the arrival of spring and takes place over three days in...
EuropePortugalNot specified in UNESCO dataset
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Le Zaouli, musique et danse populaires des communautés gouro de Côte d'Ivoire
Zaouli is a popular music and dance practised by the Guro communities of the Bouaflé and Zuénoula departments of Côte d’Ivoire. A homage to feminine beauty, Zaouli is inspired by two masks: the Blou and the Djela. Its other name, Djela lou Zaouli means Zaouli, the daughter of Djela. In a single event, the practice brings together...
AfricaCôte d'IvoireNot specified in UNESCO dataset
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