Angola; Portugal; Sao Tome and Principe
Municipality of Nazaré
Carlos Laranjo Medeiros (Project Coordinator)
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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
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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. |
Iran (Islamic Republic of)
Office for Inscription, Preservation and Revitalization of Intangible and Natural Heritage
Farhad Nazari
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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. |