Mohamed Benkassim-Al-Jazeera Net
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) announced the inclusion of four new elements from the Arab region in the lists of the intangible cultural heritage of mankind, after receiving the requests for inclusion of members of the Intergovernmental Committee for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage, which holds its annual meeting in the Colombian capital of Bogota in December 9-14.
UNESCO tweeted, in its account, the congratulations of the Arab countries that have applications for inclusion, and it is related to date palm and related knowledge, skills, traditions and practices. And hospitality and provision of services during the fortieth visit to the shrine of Hussein in the Iraqi city of Karbala, and the Royal Rose and related crafts and craftsmanship in the village of Al-Marah in Damascus countryside.
It also included on the lists of UNESCO intangible cultural heritage of mankind Gnaoua music after a request from the Moroccan government.
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And I submitted a request to include the date palm ingredient in 14 Arab countries: Bahrain, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Mauritania, Morocco, Sultanate of Oman, Palestine, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Tunisia, UAE and Yemen.
Whereas the inclusion of hospitality and provision of services to the visitors of the Al-Hussein shrine came on the occasion of his forty-year anniversary, following a request from the Iraqi government, and the inclusion of the Syrian Rose and related practices and rituals were approved in response to a request from the Syrian government.
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Here is an overview of each of the elements included in the lists of intangible human heritage:
The Rose
The cultivation of the Levantine Rose or Damascene Rose in the town of Al-Marah in the countryside of Damascus extends over thousands of years, and it is a practice that has been transmitted by successive generations, in which all members of the family participate in various stages, whether in cultivation, harvesting or preparing the final products extracted from the Levantine Rose such as Rose water, essential oil, cosmetic and pharmaceutical products.
The cultivation and harvesting of the rose rose is associated with folk art rituals, such as the rhyming songs.
Date palm
The palm tree occupies a distinctive position for centuries due to cultural, economic, social and religious considerations. It gives dates of high nutritional value, as well as uses associated with palm fronds, such as making some gifts and home furniture. The palm stem is also used for food and medical uses.
Many products are also extracted from dates, such as molasses, jam, sweets and others, and many festivals are held in Arab and Islamic countries after the end of the date seasons.
People in the region have a strong relationship with date palm in terms of their cultural symbolism, nutritional benefits, and economic returns. People have accumulated a lot of knowledge and practices related to agriculture, harvest, and marketing, and to produce materials derived from these dates of various types.
Visit forty
Thousands of Iraqis of all ages volunteer to provide service and hospitality to millions of Shiites coming from many Iraqi cities and from outside the country to participate in commemorating the forty-day anniversary of the death of Hussein, who coincides with the tenth of Muharram, by providing shelter, food and drink services, places of prayer and medical services and cleaning Clothes and guide visitors to the shrine in the city of Karbala (southern Iraq).
Hussein bin Ali is the grandson of the Messenger of God, may God bless him and grant him peace, and the forty-day visit commemorates forty days since his death in the Battle of Karbala, which took place in the year 61 AH (680 AD).
Gnaoua music
Gnaoua music has its origins in sub-Saharan Africa and is linked to the history of slavery on the continent. The history of this heritage of art spread in Morocco extends to the 16th century.
The Gnaoua artists, who sing in both Arabic and Berber languages, are distinguished by their distinguished clothes, individual and group dances, and their own rhythms. Gnaoua teams perform different songs on many occasions, such as: weddings, art festivals, seasons of saints, among others.
And this musical heritage moved from the local to the international through the Gnaoua International Festival, which takes place every summer in the Moroccan city of Essaouira.
It should be noted that the development of UNESCO lists and the inclusion of new elements in it every year comes in implementation of the Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage signed in 2003.
This agreement aims to protect the cultural practices or living cultural expressions inherited from predecessors to the background, such as oral expressions, the arts and traditions of performing performances, social practices, rituals, ceremonies, knowledge, practices related to nature, the universe, and skills associated with traditional craft arts.