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Have you ever heard of “Intangible Cultural Heritage” or ICH for short? If you haven’t, you may have seen it before and just didn’t know what it was.
Intangible cultural heritage are traditions that are inherited from our ancestors, passed down through generations, and are cultural practices, knowledge, and skills, like traditional dances, songs, or craft knowledge. This differs from tangible cultural heritage that has physical objects or buildings; ICH focuses on the knowledge and skills of communities.
They play a role in preserving our nation’s legacy and also act as a source of pride.
And they are categorized by UNESCO into 5 general domains. Oral Traditions, Performing Arts, Social Practices, Knowledge and Information, and Traditional Craftsmanship.
What is ICH?
Intangible cultural heritage are traditions that are inherited from our ancestors, passed down through generations, and are cultural practices, knowledge, and skills, like traditional dances, songs, or craft knowledge. This differs from tangible cultural heritage that has physical objects or buildings; ICH focuses on the knowledge and skills of communities.
ICH in the Philippines is diverse and can be seen in different groups throughout the nation, full of traditional and indigenous storytelling, music, knowledge, and craftsmanship. They all play a role in creating and maintaining cultural diversity in a nation.
These aren’t normally things that you get to interact with physically, but they play important roles in forming a community’s or nation’s identity, and allow a connection to the past to be made. They are being kept alive by the people or communities that practice them, but because of changing times, these people and communities are slowly going out.
IMPORTANCE OF ICH
The Philippines’ Intangible Cultural Heritage is key to preserving our nation’s legacy. It serves as a source of pride for the many ethnic groups in the Philippines, as well as the general Filipino people, and has shaped the country’s cultural identity and diversity.
Its main importance is on its wealth of knowledge and skills that has been passed down from generation to generation and is important not only to the group that it originated from but also to the entire nation itself.