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Al ‘azi, élégie, marche processionnelle et poésie
Al ‘azi is a genre of sung poetry performed in the northern regions of the Sultanate of Oman. It constitutes one of the major expressions of Omani cultural and musical identity. It takes the form of a poetry contest punctuated by sword and step movements and poetic exchanges between a singer poet and a choir. It may involve a large...
Middle EastOmanNot specified in UNESCO dataset
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Le Festival international de la culture et de la pêche d'Argungu
Every year in the north-west of Nigeria, communities gather to participate in the Argungu International Fishing and Cultural Festival near the Matan Fada River. The four day festival, which runs between late February and March, features kabanci – a series of water competitions including hand fishing, canoe racing, wild duck catching –...
AfricaNigeriaNot specified in UNESCO dataset
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Le baile chino
Bailes Chinos are brotherhoods of musicians who express their faith through music, dance and singing in the context of commemoration festivities. The practice stretches mainly from the area known as the Norte Chico to the central region of Chile and comprises five fully differentiated styles, each named after the valley or basin where...
Latin America and CaribbeanChileNot specified in UNESCO dataset
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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 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 rituel du Căluş
Performed in the Olt region of southern Romania, the Căluş ritual dance also formed part of the cultural heritage of the Vlachs of Bulgaria and Serbia. Although the oldest documented music used in this dance dates from the seventeenth century, the ritual probably derived from ancient purification and fertility rites using the symbol of...
EuropeRomaniaNot specified in UNESCO dataset
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Le Candombe et son espace socioculturel : une pratique communautaire
Every Sunday and on many holidays, the ''llamadas'' ''de'' ''tambores'' ''de'' ''candombe'' or candombe drum calls enliven the Sur, Palermo and Cordón districts in southern Montevideo, Uruguay, home to a population of African descent. The practice of the candombe begins around communal fires as people gather to tune their drums and...
Latin America and CaribbeanUruguayNot specified in UNESCO dataset
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Le carnaval de Negros y Blancos
Arising out of native Andean and Hispanic traditions, the Carnaval de negros y blancos (Black and White Carnival) in San Juan de Pasto in south-western Colombia is a great celebration lasting from 28 December to 6 January each year. The celebrations begin on the 28th with the Carnival of Water − the throwing of water in homes and on the...
Latin America and CaribbeanColombiaNot 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 de Granville
The Carnival of Granville is a four-day celebration that takes place in the lead up to Shrove Tuesday involving members of the community and nearby communes. Opening with the mayor handing the keys to King Carnival (a papier mache figure), it begins with a series of float processions interspersed with marching bands. The floats, about...
EuropeFranceNot 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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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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Les processions de structures géantes portées sur les épaules
Catholic processions featuring large shoulder-borne processional structures take place throughout Italy, but particularly in four historic city centres: in Nola, a procession of eight wood and papier mâché obelisks commemorates the return of St Paolino; in Palmi, bearers carry a complex processional structure in honour of Our Lady of...
EuropeItalyNot specified in UNESCO dataset
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La fête du pardon célestinien
The Celestinian forgiveness celebration was inspired by Pope Celestine V, who issued a historical ‘Bull’ as an act of partnership among local populations. Taking place in the city and province of L’Aquila, the tradition comprises a set of rituals and celebrations transmitted uninterruptedly since 1294. The practice conveys a sense of...
EuropeItalyNot 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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Le festival des cerises de Sefrou
For three days in June each year, the local population of Sefrou celebrates the natural and cultural beauty of the region, symbolized by the cherry fruit and that year’s newly chosen Cherry Queen, selected during a pageant that draws competitors from the region and entire country. The highlight of the festival is a parade with...
AfricaMoroccoNot specified in UNESCO dataset
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Le bram de Noël et le sambai de Gales Point Manatee au Belize
The Christmas Bram and Sambai are annual cultural celebrations held on 25 and 26 December in the Gales Point Manatee Village, located on a peninsula inside Southern Lagoon on the central coast of Belize. Deeply rooted in African heritage, these festivities promote unity and a shared sense of identity within the practising community. The...
Latin America and CaribbeanBelizeNot specified in UNESCO dataset
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Le Círio de Nazaré (Le Cierge de Notre-Dame de Nazareth) à Belém, dans l’État du Pará
The Círio de Nazaré festival in Belém honours Our Lady of Nazareth. The main procession concludes the festivities on the second Sunday of October, when a wooden image of Our Lady of Nazareth is carried from Sé Cathedral to Sanctuary Square¬¬¬, but the celebrations start in August and run until fifteen days after the procession. Almost...
Latin America and CaribbeanBrazilNot 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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Les fêtes communautaires à Campo Maior
The Community Festivities of Campo Maior is a popular event during which the streets of Campo Maior in Portugal are decorated with millions of paper flowers in various shapes, colours and patterns. The community, which is organized in street commissions, decides the date and develops the concept of the decorative elements and the colour...
EuropePortugalNot specified in UNESCO dataset
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La culture du corso, défilés de fleurs et de fruits aux Pays-Bas
Dating back to the late nineteenth century, a corso is an annual parade of floats or boats decorated with flowers, fruit, vegetables and, in some cases, people in costumes. Originating in the south of France and Italy, the practice spread to the Netherlands in the nineteenth century. The parade takes place in streets or on rivers, and...
EuropeNetherlands, Kingdom of theNot specified in UNESCO dataset
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Le patrimoine culturel de la Marine des Bouches de Kotor, représentation festive d’une mémoire et d'une identité culturelle
Boka Navy is a traditional, non-governmental maritime organization founded in Kotor, Montenegro in 809. Its origin is linked to the arrival of the relics of St. Tryphon, the patron saint of the city of Kotor. Comprised of a community of seafarers with military, economic, educational and humanitarian functions, Boka Navy has played a...
EuropeMontenegroNot specified in UNESCO dataset
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L’espace culturel de la Fraternité du Saint-Esprit des congos de Villa Mella
The Brotherhood of the Holy Spirit of the Congos of Villa Mella is distinguished in the fields of music, dance and popular festivities. The Brotherhood musicians play instruments called congos. These congos, the origin of which is attributed to the Holy Spirit, are hand-drums. The Brotherhood, which is nowadays open to all without...
Latin America and CaribbeanDominican RepublicNot 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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Le durbar à Kano
In Nigeria, Durbar is a procession of about 10,000 men on horses, and men and women on foot. It takes place during the ninth and twelfth months of the Muslim calendar to mark the Eid el-Fitr and Eid el-Kabir every year. The central figure of the Durbar procession is the Emir and his palace courtiers, officials and bodyguards. There are...
AfricaNigeriaNot 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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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 festival de la déesse Bà Chúa Xứ au Mont Sam
The festival of Bà Chúa Xứ Goddess at Sam Mountain takes place from the 22nd to the 27th day of the fourth lunar month. Observed by the Kinh, Khmer, Cham and Hoa communities in Châu Đốc city, it entails performing religious ceremonies and music and dance to express gratitude to the Mother Earth goddess, who is believed to grant...
Southeast AsiaViet NamNot specified in UNESCO dataset
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Le festival de Saint François d’Assise, Quibdó
Every year from 3 September to 5 October the twelve Franciscan districts of Quibdó, Colombia, hold the Fiesta de San Pacho, a celebration of the community’s Afro-descendant Chocó identity, embedded in popular-rooted religion. It begins with the Catholic ‘Inaugural Mass’ at the Cathedral blended with traditional dances and chirimía music...
Latin America and CaribbeanColombiaNot specified in UNESCO dataset
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Les festivités associées au voyage de la Sainte Famille en Égypte
The festivals related to the Journey of the Holy Family in Egypt commemorate the Holy Family’s voyage from Bethlehem to Egypt to escape King Herod’s oppression. Every year, the event is memorialized by two festivals in which Egyptians, including Muslims and Coptic Christians of all ages and genders, participate in large numbers. The...
AfricaEgyptNot specified in UNESCO dataset
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Le cycle des festivités autour de la vénération et du culte de Saint Jean-Baptiste
The Venezuelan Saint John the Baptist celebrations feature practices and knowledge that originated in the eighteenth century in Afro-Venezuelan communities associated with former colonial estates. From the beginning, the festivities have been heavily influenced by Catholicism, but they are also rich in verbal, musical and physical...
Latin America and CaribbeanVenezuela, Bolivarian Republic ofNot specified in UNESCO dataset
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La fête de « la Mare de Déu de la Salut » d’Algemesí
The Festivity of ‘la Mare de Déu de la Salut’ is celebrated in Algemesí in the Province of Valencia, Spain. Every 7 and 8 September almost 1,400 people participate in theatre, music, dance and performances organized in the historical areas of the city: Valencia, La Muntanya, Santa Barbara and La Capella. Processions run from the...
EuropeSpainNot specified in UNESCO dataset
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Les parrandas, fêtes du centre de Cuba
Held for the first time in 1820 in the town of Remedios, the Festivity of Las Parrandas is now celebrated by eighteen communities in the centre of Cuba, mostly taking place towards the final months of the year. The Parrandas is a cultural competition between the two neighbourhoods or parties into which each town is divided, with ‘spies’...
Latin America and CaribbeanCubaNot specified in UNESCO dataset
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Les fêtes de la Saint-Tryphon et le kolo (danse en cercle) de la Saint-Tryphon, traditions des Croates de la Boka Kotorska (baie de Kotor) vivant en République de Croatie
The Festivity of Saint Tryphon and the Kolo (chain dance) of Saint Tryphon are centred around two main annual events: the Feast Day of St. Tryphon (3 February) and the Boka Nights. The Kolo, performed by members of the Boka Navy dressed in traditional uniform, is the most visible cultural aspect of the festivity. Bearers of this...
EuropeCroatiaNot specified in UNESCO dataset
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La Fête de la Vierge de Guadalupe, patronne de Sucre
The Festivity of the Virgin of Guadalupe is a religious and cultural event held each year in Sucre. It honours the Virgin of Guadalupe, seen by many as a spiritual protector. Coordinated by the Catholic Church and the Association of Folkloric Groups, the celebration combines faith with music, dance and traditional art. It begins with...
Latin America and CaribbeanBolivia, Plurinational State ofNot 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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La tradition des tapis de fleurs pour les processions de la Fête-Dieu
The tradition of arranging flower carpets is inherently linked to the feast of Corpus Christi in Poland. For the feast, which typically involves a mass followed by a joyful procession from the church to the streets, families in several villages use flowers to arrange colourful and symbolic carpets on the route of the procession, usually...
EuropePolandNot specified in UNESCO dataset
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Le frevo, arts du spectacle du Carnaval de Recife
Frevo is a Brazilian artistic expression comprising music and dance, performed mainly during the Carnival of Recife. Its quick frenetic and vigorous rhythm draws upon the fusion of musical genres such as marching music, Brazilian tango, square dance, polka and pieces of classical repertoire, performed by martial bands and fanfares. The...
Latin America and CaribbeanBrazilNot 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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La Semaine sainte au Guatemala
Holy Week in Guatemala is one of the country’s most notable events, entailing processions, vigils, funeral marches, seasonal gastronomy and the creation of carpets, orchards and altars. On this occasion, the fronts of houses and buildings are also decorated, adding to the festive atmosphere. Holy Week is a religious and cultural...
Latin America and CaribbeanGuatemalaNot specified in UNESCO dataset
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Processions de la Semaine sainte à Mendrisio
The Holy Week processions take place in the historic town of Mendrisio on the evenings of Maundy Thursday and Good Friday, attracting over 10,000 spectators. On these occasions, the city’s lights are turned off and the streets are lit by the glow of ‘transparencies’: translucent paintings mounted on wooden frames and illuminated from...
EuropeSwitzerlandNot 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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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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Le Junkanoo
Junkanoo is the national cultural festival of The Bahamas. Dating back to the beginning of the nineteenth century, it was brought to The Bahamas by enslaved Africans who used their three-day holiday to recreate festivals from home. An outlet for creative expression, today Junkanoo is mainly celebrated through parades that retain many...
Latin America and CaribbeanBahamasNot specified in UNESCO dataset
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Les Krakelingen et le Tonnekensbrand, fête du feu et du pain de la fin de l’hiver à Grammont
The city of Geraardsbergen holds its annual market on the first Monday in March and celebrates the end of winter on Sunday eight days earlier, with the festival of Krakelingen and Tonnekensbrad. In the days before, shopkeepers decorate their windows, bakers bake special ring-shaped breads called krakelingen, and schoolteachers recount a...
EuropeBelgiumNot specified in UNESCO dataset
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La parranda de San Pedro de Guarenas et Guatire
Every year in the small towns of Guarenas and Guatire, devotees of San Pedro the Apostle celebrate his saint’s day with a series of popular festivities and rituals. An image of San Pedro is stored in all the town’s churches while the saint is celebrated with popular songs. Then, at midnight, a mass is held and the images are taken out...
Latin America and CaribbeanVenezuela, Bolivarian Republic ofNot specified in UNESCO dataset
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La romería, cycle rituel de pèlerinage de la Vierge de Zapopan portée en procession
The annual celebration of La Romería on 12 October, honouring the image of the Virgin of Zapopan, is a tradition that dates back to 1734. The day marks the final phase of the annual ritual cycle popularly known as ‘The Carrying of the Virgin’, which begins in May and encompasses many community and liturgical activities. The cycle ends...
Latin America and CaribbeanMexicoNot 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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Les traditions d’élevage des chevaux Lipizzan
Lipizzan horse breeding traditions were initially used to breed horses for the Habsburg imperial court in Vienna, but today the Lipizzan horse plays a special role in the everyday cultural and social life of communities in rural areas. They are included in events, celebrations and festivities such as horse blessings, carnival...
EuropeAustria / Bosnia and HerzegovinaNot specified in UNESCO dataset
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La festa villageoise maltaise, une célébration communautaire annuelle
The festa is a community event of religious origin held annually in village parishes across Malta and Gozo. The main festa season in Malta starts towards the end of April and runs until the beginning of October, with multiple events taking place in different villages. Community volunteers prepare the festa throughout the year and the...
EuropeMaltaNot 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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Les marches de l’Entre-Sambre-et-Meuse
The Marches of Entre-Sambre-et-Meuse are a major component of the cultural identity of the eponymous region found between the rivers of Sambre and Meuse in Wallonia, Belgium. The marches commemorate the dedication of churches of many villages and small towns honouring the Saint to whom the religious buildings are dedicated. The whole...
EuropeBelgiumNot 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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Les festivités du Mesir Macunu
The Mesir Macunu festival of Manisa, Turkey, commemorates the recovery of Hafsa Sultan, mother of Suleiman the Magnificent, who was cured of a disease by the invention of a paste known as mesir macunu. The Sultan then ordered that the paste be disseminated to the public. So, every year from 21 to 24 March, the paste is prepared by a...
Middle EastTürkiyeNot specified in UNESCO dataset
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Le Mibu no Hana Taue, rituel du repiquage du riz à Mibu, Hiroshima
Mibu no Hana Taue is a Japanese agricultural ritual carried out by the Mibu and Kawahigashi communities in Kitahiroshima Town, Hiroshima Prefecture to assure an abundant rice harvest by celebrating the rice deity. On the first Sunday of June, after the actual rice transplanting has ended, the ritual enacts the stages of planting and...
East AsiaJapanNot 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 mystère d’Elche
The mystery play of Elche is a sacred musical drama of the death, the passage into heaven (known as the Assumption) and the crowning of the Virgin Mary. Since the mid-fifteenth century it has been performed in the Basilica of Santa Maria and in the streets of the old city of Elche, situated in the region of Valencia. It is a living...
EuropeSpainNot specified in UNESCO dataset
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La cérémonie de la Nan Pa’ch
The Paach ceremony is a corn-veneration ritual celebrated in San Pedro Sacatepéquez. The ceremony gives thanks for good harvests in a ritual that highlights the close connection between humans and nature and features prayers in the Mam language. The participants are mostly older farmers, both men and women, with extensive ties to the...
Latin America and CaribbeanGuatemalaNot 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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L'Ommegang de Bruxelles, cortège historique et fête populaire annuels
Ommegang of Brussels, an annual historical procession and popular festival takes place annually over two evenings in July in the historic centre of Brussels. The celebration begins with a crossbow competition and a ceremony in Sablon Church. In the surrounding streets, various groups form a large procession. The procession follows a 1.5...
EuropeBelgiumNot specified in UNESCO dataset
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Les traditions pastorales et les chars à bœufs du Costa Rica
The traditional oxcart, or carreta, is the product of Costa Rica’s most famous craft. Dating from the mid-nineteenth century, oxcarts were used to transport coffee beans from Costa Rica’s central valley over the mountains to Puntarenas on the Pacific coast, a journey requiring ten to fifteen days. The oxcarts used spokeless wheels, a...
Latin America and CaribbeanCosta RicaNot 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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Le pèlerinage au monastère de l’apôtre Saint Thaddée
The annual three-day pilgrimage to St. Thaddeus Apostle Monastery in northwestern Iran is held each July. The pilgrimage venerates two prominent saints: St. Thaddeus, one of the first apostles preaching Christianity, and St. Santukhd, the first female Christian martyr. The bearers of the element are the Armenian population in Iran,...
Global DiasporasIran, Islamic Republic of / ArmeniaNot specified in UNESCO dataset
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La polonaise, danse polonaise traditionnelle
The polonaise is a joyful Polish group dance, which can be enacted by a few to even several hundreds of pairs marching in procession, following a trajectory proposed by the first pair. The basic step involves bending one leg while taking a step forward with the other. During the dance, the pairs perform various figures, such as raising...
EuropePolandNot specified in UNESCO dataset
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Les pratiques liées à la croyance viet en les déesses-mères des Trois mondes
To meet spiritual needs, everyday wishes and gain help in achieving good health and success communities in Viet Nam worship the Mother Goddesses of Three Realms: heaven, water, and mountains and forests. The Mother Goddesses include Liễu Hạnh (a nymph who descended to earth, lived as a human and became a Buddhist nun) referred to as the...
Southeast AsiaViet NamNot specified in UNESCO dataset
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La procession et les célébrations de la naissance du prophète Mahomet au Soudan
Al-Molid procession is a celebration of the Prophet Mohammed that takes place in Sudan. The celebration starts twelve days before the Prophet’s birthday, in the third month of the Islamic lunar calendar. It begins with a procession of thousands of men, women and children, community leaders, government officials, army and police forces...
AfricaSudanNot specified in UNESCO dataset
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La procession du Saint-Sang à Bruges
Each spring, 30,000 to 45,000 spectators gather in the heart of the Belgian city of Bruges to watch the Procession of the Holy Blood on Ascension Day, forty days after Easter. The colourful pageant dates back to the thirteenth century, when a citizen of Bruges is said to have brought the Relic of the Holy Blood of Jesus Christ back from...
EuropeBelgiumNot 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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Géants et dragons processionnels de Belgique et de France
__On 2 December 2022, the seventeenth session of the Intergovernmental Committee for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage has decided to remove the ‘Ducasse of Ath’ of the element ‘Processional giants and dragons in Belgium and France’ (Belgium and France) from the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage...
EuropeBelgium / FranceNot specified in UNESCO dataset
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Le Programme de sauvegarde des Bandos et Parrandas des Saints Innocents de Caucagua : pôles d’initiation et de transmission des connaissances et Conseils communautaires
The Bandos and Parrandas of the Holy Innocents of Caucagua, Venezuela refers to street celebrations that take place on the nights of 27 and 28 December. This Afro-descendant festivity is characterized by live music and satirical clothing mocking the styles of slave owners. A safeguarding programme was developed to address its decreasing...
Latin America and CaribbeanVenezuela, Bolivarian Republic ofNot 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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La représentation de la Passion, de la Mort et de la Résurrection du Christ à Iztapalapa
The Representation of the Passion, Death and Resurrection of Christ in Iztapalapa is a community tradition that brings together local residents in an expression of faith, identity and culture. It began when the community made a promise to hold a procession in gratitude after surviving a cholera epidemic in the nineteenth century. The...
Latin America and CaribbeanMexicoNot specified in UNESCO dataset
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La Chevauchée des Rois dans le sud-est de la République tchèque
The Ride of the Kings takes place during the spring, as a part of the Pentecost traditions, in the towns of Hluk and Kunovice and the villages of Skoronice and Vlčnov. A group of young men ride through a village in a ceremonial procession. The ride is headed by chanters, followed by pageboys with unsheathed sabres who guard the King – a...
EuropeCzechiaNot specified in UNESCO dataset
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UNESCO urgent safeguarding list1 sources
Le rite des Tsars de Kalyady (Tsars de Noël)
The Kalyady Tsars (Christmas Tsars) is a ritual and festive event celebrated in the village of Semezhava in the Minsk region of Belarus. Typical Belarusian New Year celebrations take place according to the ‘old’ Julian style calendar and are combined with distinctive local performing arts. About 500 men participate annually in the...
EuropeBelarusNot specified in UNESCO dataset
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Le sankirtana, chants rituels, tambours et danses du Manipur
Sankirtana encompasses an array of arts performed to mark religious occasions and various stages in the life of the Vaishnava people of the Manipur plains. Sankirtana practices centre on the temple, where performers narrate the lives and deeds of Krishna through song and dance. In a typical performance, two drummers and about ten...
South AsiaIndiaNot 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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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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La représentation de la Passion à Škofja Loka
In Škofja Loka, Slovenia, a folk play performed as a procession takes place in the streets of the town’s medieval centre during Lent and Easter involving more than 900 local performers. The Škofja Loka Passion Play, based on the ancient works of a Capuchin monk, demonstrates 20 scenes of the stations of the cross and others from the Old...
EuropeSloveniaNot specified in UNESCO dataset
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La procession de printemps des Ljelje/Kraljice (ou reines) de Gorjani
The Procession of Queens is performed by the young girls of the village of Gorjani in the Slavonia region of north-east Croatia every spring. The girls in a group are divided into ten ''kraljevi'' (kings), who wear sabres and men’s hats, and about five ''kraljice'' (queens), who wear white garlands on their heads like brides. On...
EuropeCroatiaNot specified in UNESCO dataset
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Les fêtes du feu du solstice d'été dans les Pyrénées
The summer solstice fire festivals take place in the Pyrenees each year on the same night when the sun is at its zenith. Once night falls, people from different towns and villages carry flaming torches down the mountains to light a variety of traditionally constructed beacons. The descent is a special moment for young people, signifying...
EuropeAndorra / SpainNot 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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Les tamboradas, rituels de battements de tambour
Tamboradas drum-playing rituals are loud, group rituals based on the simultaneous, intense beating of thousands of drums, played uninterruptedly for days and nights in public spaces in towns and villages. Each year, this creates a captivating landscape of sound and identity in an atmosphere charged with emotion and an intense feeling of...
EuropeSpainNot specified in UNESCO dataset
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La prise de la pierre sacrée ou les rites du nouvel an en pays Guin au Togo
The rites of the New Year are a series of around twenty rituals practised annually by the Guin People of southern Togo, over the course of seven months, to honour deities and ancestors. These rituals follow a lunar calendar and take place at the same times each year. The new year is marked by the most important rite, ‘Ekpéssosso’, which...
AfricaTogoNot specified in UNESCO dataset
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La Confrérie des fleurs et des palmes
The Confraternity of flowers and palms is a traditional celebration that blends indigenous beliefs with Catholic practices in the community of Panchimalco. The event coincides with the beginning of the rainy and harvest season and is characterized by a procession of palms decorated with wildflowers. This procession, which attracts...
Latin America and CaribbeanEl SalvadorNot specified in UNESCO dataset
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La festivité de la Santísima Trinidad del Señor Jesús del Gran Poder de la ville de La Paz
The festival of the Santísima Trinidad del Señor Jesús del Gran Poder takes place on the Day of the Holy Trinity in the city of La Paz. The celebration transforms and stimulates the social life of La Paz every year, emanating from a particular way of understanding and living Andean Catholicism. The Parade begins with a procession...
Latin America and CaribbeanBolivia, Plurinational State ofNot specified in UNESCO dataset
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La zaffa dans le mariage traditionnel
The zaffa is a traditional bridal procession that marks a couple’s transition from single to married life. It involves rituals, music, dance and a festive gathering. The zaffa begins with careful preparations. The bride undergoes cleansing rituals and applies henna, while special clothes, jewellery and other adornments are prepared for...
Global DiasporasDjibouti / ComorosNot specified in UNESCO dataset
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La fête des Fallas valenciennes
The main feature of the Fallas Festivity, a tradition of communities in Valencia and its diaspora celebrating the coming of spring, is the giant falla. The falla is a monument made up of ninots (caricature pieces) created by local artists and craftspeople that provides a commentary on current social issues. Erected in the town square,...
EuropeSpainNot specified in UNESCO dataset
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La danse Wititi de la vallée du Colca
The Wititi dance of the Colca Valley is a traditional folk dance associated with the beginning of adult life. It takes the form of a courtship ritual and is typically performed by young people during religious festivities celebrated throughout the rainy season. It is danced in troupes with rows of male and female couples performing a...
Latin America and CaribbeanPeruNot specified in UNESCO dataset
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L’ensemble d’instruments à vent et à percussion de Xi’an
Xi’an wind and percussion ensemble, which has been played for more than a millennium in China’s ancient capital of Xi’an, in Shaanxi Province, is a type of music integrating drums and wind instruments, sometimes with a male chorus. The content of the verses is mostly related to local life and religious belief and the music is mainly...
East AsiaChinaNot specified in UNESCO dataset
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Yama, Hoko, Yatai, festivals de chars au Japon
Yama, Hoko and Yatai float festivals are held annually in various regions to pray to the gods for peace and protection from natural disasters. A traditional practice that showcases the diversity of local cultures, the festivals involve the collaborative efforts of the practising communities and are a key aspect of their cultural...
East AsiaJapanNot specified in UNESCO dataset
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Le Yeondeunghoe, fête des lanternes en République de Corée
Yeondeunghoe, lantern lighting festival, takes place throughout the Republic of Korea. As the eighth day of the fourth lunar month (Buddha’s birthday) approaches, the entire country lights up with colourful lanterns. Originally a religious ritual to celebrate Shakyamuni’s birth, Yeondeunghoe has now become a national spring festival...
East AsiaKorea, Republic ofNot specified in UNESCO dataset
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