Intangible World Heritage: Baguette and modern dance from Germany recognized by Unesco

Unesco has recognized the baguette as an intangible cultural heritage of mankind. The skills and culture surrounding French bread are now included in the Representative List.

The traditional baguette consists of just four ingredients — flour, water, salt and yeast — but each baker uses it to create their own unique baguette, according to the application for inclusion on the list.

Modern expressive dance, which revolutionized the stage at the beginning of the 20th century, was also newly adopted from Germany with different styles. He creates a sense of community, strengthens human bonds and is locally rooted, it said in the application. It is also a source of social cohesion and promotes integration and inclusion, particularly of disadvantaged groups such as people with disabilities and older adults.

Also included in the list are the bear festivals in the Pyrenees (Andorra, France), traditional Chinese tea processing, the traditional martial art Kun Lbokator from Cambodia, the knowledge system of four indigenous peoples from Mexico and the festival of Saint Tryphon and the chain dance Kolo (Croatia).

Unesco will decide this week in Morocco’s capital Rabat which customs and skills will be included in the list of more than 600 traditions.

Four previously recorded forms of cultural heritage were classified as threatened: the handicrafts and uses associated with the Albanian garment xhubleta, pottery of the mestizo people of central Chile, traditional Turkish Ahlat stone processing and the pottery of the Cham people of Vietnam.

The committee, to which Germany is a member for the first time, will also decide on the rafting in the coming days, which Germany is involved in nominating – together with Latvia, Austria, Poland, Spain and the Czech Republic.

According to the information, more than 50 cultural forms from all over the world have been nominated for the international list, which currently lists over 600 traditions and customs. (dpa/KNA)

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