heritage, a pilot activity on community-based inventorying was successfully carried out by the National Institute of Culture and History (NICH) from November 2013 to April 2014. During this period, seven cultural celebrations associated with various ethnic communities were inventoried in 13 communities across Belize: Los Finados, Yurumein, Las Posadas, Ox-lajun Ba-aktun Ceremony, Christmas Bram, Carnaval and La Semana Santa.
Inventorying of the cultural celebrations took into account the history of the celebration, identification of various ICH domains, safeguarding practices currently in place, as well as challenges to its viability identified by the cultural practitioners. The documentation process also involved a listing of key cultural words as used in the traditional language(s). The inventorying of these cultural celebrations involved the participants from the established ICH Working Body, as well as community cultural practitioners who are actively involved in the organization of these celebrations. An inventorying tool was developed to serve as a guide for the documentation stages of the project. The tool was piloted from 1-3 November and a planning and training session was later held with the ICH Working Body to develop an inventorying schedule. Throughout the project, the ICH Working Body met at regular intervals to discuss and to share the acquired knowledge. The group also provided feedback and suggestions for subsequent inventorying activities. In January 2014, a mid-term review meeting was held to evaluate the progress of the inventorying exercise and a final meeting was held in April 2014 to assess the results. Audio-visual equipment was also purchased to facilitate the pilot inventorying project and for future documentation of ICH.