Preserve Intangible Cultural Heritage

We may have heard people say that Nepal’s intangible culture is the backbone of its civilisation and that its tangible heritage stands on the foundations built by its intangible heritage. Thanks to its use by organisations like the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO), intangible cultural heritage has gained a lot of currency in scholarly circles in recent decades. But what exactly is intangible cultural heritage?

To understand this concept, all we need to do is look at its name. Intangible means something that does not have a physical presence, culture means the ideas, customs, and social behaviour of a particular people or society and heritage means unique properties and possessions passed down through generations. Therefore, intangible cultural heritage can be taken to be unique customs and practices of a society that can be seen and felt but not touched and that are transmitted from one generation to the next. To further clarify, if a temple is a tangible cultural heritage, then the rituals associated with its daily worship are intangible cultural heritage.

UNESCO classifies intangible heritage into five broad categories. They are oral traditions and expressions (which include indigenous languages and their elements like proverbs, riddles, tales, myths, songs, etc.), performing arts (such as music, dance and other forms of artistic expression etc.), social practices, rituals and festive events (like coming-of-age ceremonies for children, last rites for the deceased, annual festivals etc.), knowledge and practices concerning nature and the universe (the knowledge and capabilities the communities have developed by interacting with their natural environment that is reflected in their agriculture, cuisine, architecture etc.) and traditional craftsman (skills like pottery, carpentry, embroidery, fabric production etc.) While not exhaustive, this classification provides an idea of what intangible cultural heritage is.

Now, the question might be, are they important? And the answer to that is obviously yes. Intangible cultural heritage is the glue that holds societies together, ensures their smooth functioning and facilitates the transfer of skills and knowledge. They are essentially what keep communities alive. But, due to neglect, ignorance, misguided national policies and the homogeneity pushed by globalisation and cultural imperialism, our intangible heritage is disappearing. 

To address this issue, UNESCO created the Convention for the Safeguarding of Intangible Culture Heritage in 2003 and has inscribed around 500 intangible cultural elements on its list of Intangible Cultural Heritage and the Register of Good Safeguarding Practices. However, Nepal has not been able to make use of this convention and the list. Despite having world-renowned festivals like the chariot procession for the Red Machhindranath (which was recently recognised by the South Korean government), songs like the Selo, Palam and Deuda and millennia of civilisational knowledge, we have not sought to promote them internationally and have invested very little, if anything at all, in safeguarding them.

Sometimes, some local governments try to take some initiatives to protect them but, due to lack of knowledge, community participation or both, they end up doing more harm than good. This is because, when working in the field of intangible cultural heritage, we need to focus on safeguarding, not preserving, them. Preserving means keeping something intact and untouched and freezing them in a moment of time. A building can be preserved by forbidding changes to its structure, stopping additional constructions around them and taking steps to keep it just as it was when it was first built; culture cannot. Developed around the needs of society, culture evolves as the needs of the people change. Trying to stop their progress will disassociate them from the community and accelerate their decline. Therefore, stakeholders need to focus on safeguarding intangible cultural heritage (maintaining their essence and applicability in people’s lives) instead of preserving them (putting them out of the reach of the people that originated them).

But, at the end of the day, the only way intangible cultural heritage can be kept alive is by the relevant communities transferring them to their children. Elders need to teach their language, knowledge and practices to the kids. The chain of inter-generational transmission must not be broken. Communities, groups and individuals must take the initiative to safeguard their heritage. They must understand their own intangible customs and take the responsibility of protecting their own identity. Sure, the local, provincial and federal governments can and must assist through policies, regulations and funding and non-governmental organisations also have a supportive role to play but the leadership must be provided by the tradition holder themselves.