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New additions to UNESCO's Intangible Cultural Heritage list

Courtney Tenz
November 30, 2016

Ugandan music, Portuguese pottery and Cossack songs have been added to UNESCO's Intangible Cultural Heritage list, aimed at safeguarding traditions in danger of dying out.

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UNESCO representatives meeting in Addis Ababa this week have announced several additions to the Intangible Cultural Heritage list. Among the additions are Ukrainian Cossack songs, Portuguese pottery and Uganda's traditional Ma'di Bowl Lyre music and dance, one of the oldest cultural practices of the Madi people of Uganda.

All three are at risk of dying out for different reasons, chief among them a lack of interest shown by the younger generations in continuing to carry them out.

They are just a few of the 51 proposals from around the world that UNESCO representatives are considering for inclusion on the Intangible Cultural Heritage list. It is one of two lists compiling rituals and traditions from communities around the world as Intangible Cultural Heritage in order to draw awareness to unique cultural practices.

Hundreds of festivals, dances, music and other traditions have been added to the list over the last decade. Click through the picture gallery above to see a few of those better known additions.