Issue link: http://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/899551
Heritage Matters 3 It is easier to be aware of our cultural heritage – the landscapes and buildings, art, sculpture and objects created by humans over millennia. We can see these works, estimate the era in which they were created, measure and touch them. Intangible cultural heritage is less concrete. It is fleeting and difficult to grasp, easier to overlook because it is part of the fabric weaving together our everyday lives. Like culture itself, it lives on only when it is lived and it evolves with every generation's interpretation. And as it mingles with the heritage of other cultures, a uniquely Ontarian expression emerges. While that makes it lively and vibrant, its very nature is its vulnerability – it is more fragile, more difficult to identify and safeguard. UNESCO defines intangible cultural heritage as "traditions or living expressions inherited from our ancestors and passed on to our descendants, such as oral traditions, performing arts, social practices, rituals, festive events, knowledge and practices concerning nature and the universe or the knowledge and skills to produce traditional crafts." Its importance lies in its ability to transfer knowledge and information within that identity group and across cultures. Are our oral history traditions, our community stories being drowned out by popular culture or the dominant culture? Or do these many and varied traditions and stories shape and inform popular culture? How do we protect them? Let's think about this. Have you ever experienced the masquerade traditions of the Toronto Caribbean Carnival, the dance competitions at Curve Lake Pow Wow, the mass bands of the Glengarry Highland Games or an Emancipation Day celebration in Dresden or Owen Sound? Can you hear the music, the drumbeats? Are there foods that carry special meaning or are served at certain events and occasions? Music, dance, theatre, storytelling and food are all part of those celebrations – entertaining, certainly, but also meant to carry forward history, language and identity from one generation to the next. In fact, all forms of human communication contribute to intangible heritage. How are knowledge and traditions, crafts and skills taught in your family or your community? Do you sit at the feet of your elders, walk the land together, listen to the grandfathers and grandmothers, talk with the wisdom keepers? The stories may have been committed to the history books, the museums and archives, or they may be held in the memories of those chosen to carry them forward. Digital technology may offer ways to share and safeguard intangible heritage in the future, but it too is fragile and ever- changing. Is your life story carried around on your mobile device, your photographs and letters with loved ones stored in the cloud? Perhaps you have a home or a treasured object that was crafted by hand, by methods passed from generation to generation. The object itself is a tangible representation of the traditional skill or art form that created it and the creativity Intangible Heritage – Understanding Life's Rhythms By Beth Hanna