Drums, applause and laughter were the order of the day in a full to capacity conference hall in New Delhi as the world representatives witnessed their traditions getting world recognition. Delegates sat forward with each inscription voted through to be included on the Lists of Intangible Cultural Heritage in UNESCO. To most, the time marked decades of silent, hard labor.

It was the biggest ever inscription of the Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH) programme under the UNESCO with a clear signal, living heritage exists when appreciated, practised and transmitted.

What Is Intangible Cultural Heritage?

The ICH programme at UNESCO protects communities by preserving practices, skills, and expressions that provide communities with identity and continuity. In contrast to monuments, this heritage is the living one, which is built into the memories, movements, voices, and everyday routines.

It includes:

• Story telling and oral traditions.
• Music, dance, and theatre
• Socially practiced rituals, festivals and events.
• Conventional artistry and construction methods.
• Natural, Agricultural, curative, and ecological knowledge.

The thing that brings them together is that these communities themselves identify them as their constituents.

A Global Gathering in New Delhi

The meeting in New Delhi invited States Parties, experts, community members and UNESCO officials to several days of discussions. The Committee was preceded by files that had been prepared over years, usually with the help of elders, artisans, musicians and organizations.

The representatives were observing the photos of festivals, craft workshops, and intergenerational teaching. Every successful inscription was met by clapping, drumming, and even spontaneous music, transforming even the meeting itself into a living demonstration of heritage.

Panama’s Quincha Homes

Quincha houses are wooden and mud houses constructed as a community project. The wooden frame is stuffed in cane or bamboo and the walls are built with earth and straw. Neighbours and extended families co-operate during building days, during which they work, eat, sing and tell stories.

Quincha is inspired by the ecological wisdom, adaptation to the climate, social integration, and provides sustainable building based on the local conditions.

Yemen’s Hadrami Dan

Hadrami Dan meetings also include spontaneous poetry and music in Yemen. People compose verses and melodies immediately, according to the rhythm and call-and-answer blocks that engage the entire group.

In a nation that is experiencing war and poverty, the protection of Hadrami Dan helps in strengthening social resilience, emotional, and sense of belonging.

Beyond Recognition: Safeguarding for the Future

This record session revealed the heterogeneity of traditions, good leadership in communities, connections to environmental sustainability, and the importance of culture in social integration and peacebuilding.

UNESCO emphasizes that inscription is a mere preliminary step. To protect, it needs to be transmitted to the younger generations, there should be supportive laws and policies, reasonable economic opportunities for practitioners, and respectful record keeping with the consent of the community. Traditions should be left to develop but maintain their main significance.

Living heritage can be seen in mud houses built by many hands as well as poetry that is written in the here and now; it teaches us that culture is not something development just adds on to but one of its pillars.