Sharing information to encourage multinational files

Intangible cultural heritage is often shared by communities on the territories of more than one State, and multinational inscriptions of such shared heritage on the Lists constitute an important mechanism for promoting international cooperation. The Committee therefore decided (7.COM 14) to establish an on-line resource through which States Parties can announce their intentions to nominate elements and other States Parties may learn of opportunities for cooperation in elaborating multinational nominations.

You will find below such intentions declared by States Parties using the dedicated online form.

You can also consult the files already submitted that have not yet been examined.

Intentions to nominate elements

The designations employed and the presentation in the following texts submitted by States Parties do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of UNESCO concerning the legal status of any country, territory, city or area or of its authorities or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries.

Nominating state(s)
and contacts
ElementDescription
Germany; Luxembourg

German National Commission for UNESCO

Marc Guschal

javascript protected email address

Date of submission: 08-06-2020
Title: Midwifery / Obstetrics by midwives

Intended for: Representative List

Communities concerned: Midwives communities
Initial understanding: 1. Respect for the diversity of midwifery worldwide. 2. Midwifery can be exercised by women and men as well. 3. The respectful treatment of natural processes from pregnancy through childbirth to the end of breastfeeding in all of which midwives are crucial companions. 4. Respectful interaction of and collaboration on an equal footing with all individuals and groups involved. 5. Midwifery is about promoting the health and well-being of mother and child. 6. Midwives are companions and supporters of pregnant women and their families before, during and after birth. They support and empower the women and families to discover their own resources for these crucial moments and to use them purposefully. They rely on the skills of women and include them, whenever possible, in all decisions, according to WHO guidelines. 7. The clear commitment to respect human rights. 8. Reliance on the senses touching, smelling, feeling and observing are crucial for midwifery knowledge. 9. Modern developments and evidence-based research are integrated into activities and decision-making. Traditional knowledge and science are not opposed. They complement each other. 10. Birth is not a purely physical process; at the same time, it is a life-transforming transition process, associated with diverse rituals, practices and symbolic dimensions. 11. A better recognition of the traditional knowledge and skills of midwives in our societies is a contribution to sustainable development, especially with regard to SDG 3, i.a. on reducing maternal mortality (3.1) and universal access to reproductive health services (3.7) and SDG 5 (empowering women). Traditional practices of midwives also include the use of medical plants; a link to the conservation of biological diversity is therefore evident. 12. In order to safeguard and develop further the traditional and, at the same time, evidence-based knowledge of midwifery, the transmission has to be professionalized depending on the context. A further development in the direction of a formal and non-formal education means a structured transmission of knowledge and skills, but also an increase in quality of midwives’ activities, connected with increasing social recognition of the midwives. 13. Knowledge can be deepened and extended through interpersonal exchange between midwives and continuing education measures within the communities. Exchange is practiced also on an international level. 14. Between women giving birth as well as within families, transmission also plays an important role: the passing on of knowledge about the culture and nature of pregnancy, childbirth, breastfeeding is threatened to get lost if the experience of midwifery care is not available. 15. For society it is decisive how one is born, because pregnancy and childbirth lay the foundations for bonds and relationships. Healthy attachment is a basis for functioning relationships and a functioning society.
Saudi Arabia

Saudi Heritage Preservation Society

Rehaf Gassas

javascript protected email address

Date of submission: 08-03-2020
Title: Henna: Skills, knowledge, social practices and celebrations

Intended for: Representative List

Communities concerned: Women, men, and children from all ages. Families in the rural and urban areas around the world.
Henna is a herbal plant which is used by communities in many forms in celebrations, traditional medications, and social functions and some religious rituals. It is used as a dye in many ways, fresh, dried and mixed with other herbs and oils. Ladies during weddings and celebrations decorate their hands and feet with floral and decorative motifs. some men also color their palms with it too. It is also used for its healing properties, and as a beauty protect to improve the skin and hair. Henna has a lot of cultural and social meanings to communities and people all around the world.
Angola; Portugal; Sao Tome and Principe

Municipality of Nazaré

Carlos Laranjo Medeiros (Project Coordinator)

javascript protected email address

Date of submission: 07-02-2020
Title: Practices and Manifestations of the Cult of Our Lady of Nazaré

Intended for: Representative List

Communities concerned: Devoted people, groups and communities of Our Lady of Nazaré, mainly in Nazaré-Portugal, but also all around the world where the cult has been spread (Brazil, Angola, Sao Tome and Principe, Canada, USA, Suriname, French Guiana, India, Kenya, …)
The Marian Cult has a deep presence in popular and institutional religiosity in Portugal, originating many social and cultural rituals and practices in manifestation of this devotion, that occur, not only in the municipality of Nazaré, where it has originated but also in many other parts of Portugal and worldwide. In this context, Our Lady of Nazaré is one of the oldest and most important national Marian manifestations, documents date it back at least to the 14th century. According to the founding narrative of this tradition, it was September of 1182, a day of fog, when D. Fuas Roupinho, chased a deer to the edge of a cliff, only realizing almost too late that he would fall into the abyss as he found himself at the edge of the rock, invoking the help of Our Lady of Nazaré to save himself. The horse stood still as a statue in the edge of the abyss, which he attributed to divine grace through the mediation of the Virgin. The history of this miracle have since then been present in the collective imagination of the Portuguese people. According to the narrative, the Image of Our Lady of Nazaré would come from Nazareth of Galilee. Some authors, based on oral tradition and documents that have been lost, added that it had been carved in wood by St. Joseph himself and painted by St. Luke. Successive Portuguese monarchs have, through centuries, paid homage to the Lady of Nazaré on pilgrimages or by ordering better accesses and roads, or improvements and enlargement of the place of Devotion, to which came many pilgrimages, solitary or collective, from all over the country. This is the historical and legendary base from which sprang one of the most peculiar traditions of popular religiosity of the Portuguese-speaking world. A Marian devotion that subsists in manifestations such as the Círios (organized pilgrimages) or the numerous annual festivals in honor of the Virgin of Nazaré. Nazaré was for centuries a destination of holy voyages of the common people, clergy and nobility indistinctly. Next to the Ermida da Memória, for example, stands a landmark, which records the passage of one of the greatest figures in the history of Portugal: Vasco da Gama, the captain-priest discoverer of the sea route to India, before leaving on his journey, came to the Lady of Nazaré, to ask for protection. The greatness and historical-cultural significance is so important that, in 2013, the Festivities of the Círio de Nazaré in Belém do Pará, Brazil, entered the list of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity by UNESCO. The miracle and the history of Our Lady of Nazaré and the traditions associated with it are a shared cultural asset in various parts of the world. For these stories and traditions to be valued and widely publicized, it is very important to nominate for inscription in the Representative List of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity the practices and manifestations of the Worship of Our Lady of Nazaré.
Saudi Arabia

Ministry of Culture in Saudi Arabia in collaboration with the Saudi Heritage Preservation Society

Rehaf Gassas

javascript protected email address

Date of submission: 20-01-2020
Title: The skills and practices related to the olive tree

Intended for: Representative List

Communities concerned: Olive tree farmers, Olive Oil artisans, and artisans whom produce products that involve olive oil.
The knowledge and skills related to the olive tree have been passed on from generation to generation through out the years from the skills of cultivation to the production of olives as produce and the pressing of olive to create olive oil.
Saudi Arabia

Ministry of Culture in Saudi Arabia in collaboration with the Saudi Heritage Preservation Society

Ebtisam Alwehaiby

javascript protected email address

Date of submission: 11-12-2019
Title: Arabic Calligraphy

Intended for: Representative List

Communities concerned: Calligraphers and Artists who use this type of art.
Arabic calligraphy is the art and design of writing in various languages that use Arabic letters. It is used in the writing of books as well as decorating mosques and other places.
Saudi Arabia

General Cultural Authority of Saudi Arabia in collaboration with the Saudi Heritage Preservation Society

Rehaf Gassas

javascript protected email address

Date of submission: 04-06-2018
Title: AlSadu: The craftsmanship of weaving traditional fabrics

Intended for: Representative List

Communities concerned: The Bedouin community is the main community concerned, as the craft of AlSadu started at from there from the availability of camel’s wool in the desert regions. Nowadays the craft has become common among the community of craftsmen in different regions of Saudi Arabia.
The craft of AlSadu has been developed by the Bedouins using the fluff of camels, Goat hair and the wool of the sheep in order to crate tents, carpets, covers and traditional furniture. To create AlSadu fabrics, the wool is spun into threads on the spinning wheel and dyed using natural pigments from nature, and now a days synthetic ones to create different shades and colors, black, red and yellow are the most common colors used to create AlSadu patterns these patterns are developed by switching the colors of the threads throughout the weaving process, then the colored threads are weaved into fabrics on a wooden loom which are used as carpets, for tents, for decorations and much more. The knowledge and skill of crafting the fabric of AlSadu has been passed on from generation to another and developed through time from being a basic factor for their livelihood to become a traditional decoration using in many households in Saudi Arabia.
Iran (Islamic Republic of)

Office for Inscription, Preservation and Revitalization of Intangible and Natural Heritage

Farhad Nazari

javascript protected email address

Date of submission: 28-07-2015
Title: Traditional knowledge and skills of making faceless dolls

Intended for: Representative List

Communities concerned: -
Traditional knowledge and skill of making faceless dolls are transmitted from generation to generation for a thousand years in various parts of Iran. Although these dolls consist of an entire body, they have no facial features and this kind of doll-making craft reflects rituals beliefs. If a doll has no face, it is free of identity and boosts the creativity and imagination of people and they can fantasize their own depiction of faces. The method of making these local dolls such as “Dohtolok”, “Dotook”, “Dokhtolook” and “Gorjoogh” is common between different ethnic groups in Iran and the similar models are seen in Tajikistan, Russia, Turkmenistan, Georgia, and Native Latin America. These dolls which tell the stories of the joyful and sorrowful experience of women in rural areas put on display the forgotten local traditions and culture of rural communities. Making these puppets not only promotes solidarity between generations, but also revives parenting skills, clothes, lullabies, poems, signs, stories and other rituals. Moreover, improving creativity and self-confidence of local women are some of the advantages of producing these products other than creating job and direct participation of them in society. The dolls and their cultural expression may contribute to reconciliation and convergence between the countries of Asia and various communities.
Iran (Islamic Republic of)

Office for Inscription, Preservation and Revitilization of Intangible and Natural Heritage

Farhad Nazari

javascript protected email address

Date of submission: 19-03-2015
Title: Celebration of Yaldā , Shab-e Chelle (Persian)Shab-e Yalda (Persian)Chilla Gajasi (Turkish)Chilla Gejasi (Turkish)Chille Gijasi (Turkish)Shew vi yelda (Kurdish)Chelle (South West of Iran

Intended for: Representative List

Communities concerned: All people of Iran
By the dawn of the first day of winter (21th December, solstice winter) the longest night of the year, called Shab-e Chelle (“Chelle night”) or Shab-e Yaldã(“Yaldã night”) comes to an end. Following this event, the length of the days increases gradually. It is for this fact that Shab-e Chelle is described as the “night of the birth of the sun”. Yaldā constitutes one of the four major seasonal feasts of Iran and is known as one of the most ancient national festivals of the country. Public sympathy and love provide this ritualistic festival with one of its defining features. This ICH element is transmitted to younger generations mainly through oral and informal means. There are a number of beliefs and traditions prevailing among people about Shab-e Chelle ceremonies. Among the features associated with this element, the outstanding presence of the color “red” is significant; red pomegranates, red water-melons, red grape products, and the like, which constitute inseparable parts of the ceremonies are only some examples. Gathering in the elders’ houses, round a special Sofre (“table cloth spread on the ground”), on which various ritualistically regarded elements are set for consumption (including the abovementioned red elements, as well as Shab-e Chelle nuts, Shab-e Chelle traditional Iranian Soup, and various other food stuff. - Recitations from Divan-e Hafez, Shahname of Ferdowsi. - Story-telling , especially by elders of the family - Singing songs, and playing musical instruments.
Top