Intangible Cultural Heritage – What is it?

From the Folklorist:

What is Intangible Cultural Heritage? And Why is it Important?

Over recent years, the term ‘cultural heritage’ has changed considerably, broadening its original reach from art, buildings, artifacts, and other physical representations of a community. It also includes traditions or living expressions inherited from our ancestors that are passed on to our descendants.

An intangible cultural heritage is a practice, representation, expression, knowledge, or skill considered to be part of a place’s cultural heritage. Many parts of culture are intangible, including song, dance, storytelling, cuisine, festivals, and more. They are forms of culture that can be recorded but cannot be touched or stored in physical form. 

Intangible cultural heritage practices are the representations, expressions, knowledge and skills that communities recognize as part of their cultural heritage, and is shared through the following, among others:

• Oral traditions and expressions, including language
• Performing arts
• Social practices, rituals and festive events
• Knowledge and practices concerning nature and the universe
• Traditional craftsmanship

With our Folk & Traditional Arts Programming, we are interested in acknowledging, fostering, and sharing our regions’ forms of intangible cultural heritage. It thrives on its basis in communities and depends on those whose knowledge of traditions, skills and customs are passed on to the rest of the community, from generation to generation, or to other communities. These practices contribute to giving us a sense of identity and continuity, providing a link from our past, through the present, and into our future. 

Here at PRAA, we are dedicated to documenting and encouraging community engagement with intangible cultural heritage. Our region has a wealth of wonderful, unique practices, including square dancing, violin making, wood turning, pierogi making, and much more. If you have a practice that you think fits, please reach out to us. As a new and growing organization, we are always excited to get to know the communities that we are here to serve!