CIOFF^®

Here by the topics of Cultural conference in CIOFF® world congress: Written by Monika Tomingas:

1) UNESCO practical work on the promotion of an item. Procedure in practice.

2) Introduction of the „Busójárás”. The „busójárás” (in Croatian: pohod bušara [1]) is a spring-like, winter-ending folk tradition of the mostly Roman Catholic Southern Slavs in Mohács and its surroundings, the carnival mask formation and dramatic folk tradition of the „sokác” [2], also known as the „poklade” which is the Croatian equivalent of the word. [3] The Mohács „busójárás” has been on the list of UNESCO World Heritage List since 2009. Since 2012, the Mohács „busójárás” has been considered as a Hungaricum, which has been a major success for Mohács civil society, „busó” groups, masquerade and costume makers. Of course, we will show this tradition in live.

3) „Matyó” embroidery: „Matyó” people are distinguished from their surroundings by the mid-19th century, primarily through their colorful costume and rich color embroidery culture. In the beginning, the sheets were decorated then sleeves and aprons. Originally, only red, blue, yellow, green and black yarn were used, but later the shades of purple and other shades of the used colors appeared. The most well-known motifs are „matyó”rose, heart rose, oak rose, cipe (shoes), bird and cat tail (snail line), but tulip leaves and buds are also seen on „Matyó” embroidery. During the presentation we also show folk costumes, dance and music.

4) Falconry
Falconry is strictly speaking hunting with birds of prey. In the broader sense it is a way of life, a community in which this form of hunting is the focal point.
This culture requires a love of nature and birds of prey, hunting expertise, as well as skill in training, breeding and rearing the birds. It also includes the knowledge of making and the use of traditional falconry equipment, exploration and research of falconry history, promoting and preserving the heritage, a shaping of mentality as well as teaching and transmission of the art. People involved in falconry also organize events and occasions for falconry, involving and strengthening the cohesion of local communities and raising awareness regarding the culture at such events domestically and abroad. The tradition of falconry is thousands of years old and existed throughout a major portion of Eurasia. Hungarian falconry stems from this heritage and has become an integral part of Hungarian traditional culture and pervaded her history. During the height of falconry in the country from the 11th -17th century it also became an organic part of Hungarian national identity. Since that time the tradition has dwindled considerably in Hungary and throughout Europe, but the traditional knowledge associated with falconry lives on in localized communities and is gradually gaining popularity.

5) Blue-Dyeing Tradition in Hungary
The spread of the craft of blue dye in Europe relates to the Flemish, who were maintaining this craft from the 8th century. The earliest craftmanship of blue dye was formed in Vienna in 1208. The first working partnership began in Hungary with the cooperation of the cities: Locse, Eperjes, Igló and Késmárk. In the second half of the 18th century were too many employees in the textiles and craft of tinctorial came into existence in the territory near to the Western part of Hungary. Individual wanders and families settle down raising the numbers of those involved in the craft of tinctorials in Hungary. This is how the ancestors of Kluge family from Sorau, Saxony, continued the craft which took place over seven generations. In the middle of the 18th century the textile printing instruments used pigment and pickle squeezing, allowing the painters used the woad to produce the colour blue. However the carbon was already known in the middle ages, spreaded only after the beginning of the ongoing importing. One specialized branch of the blue dye craft, came about from the end of the 18th century, means the special process of the stanchion printing and textilepainting with carbon. From the 20th century beside painting with carbon appeared the synthetic carbon with better quality, the so-called „indantren”, and connection to that the stanchion printing spreaded. Both technology are presented in the limited workshops of blue dye craft in Hungary

6) The „dance house” teaching method as a best practice on the UNESCO World List. As a best practice, this method deserves the honorable title. This is what we would like to show you.

The lady next to Monika on the photo was painting the „Matyó” embroidery on the canvas on the stage for the whole conference.

Good morning everyone!

I would like to greet all of you in the Cultural Conference of CIOFF® in Szhazhalombatta, Hungary.

In those disturbing and confusing times it has been asked what role does culture play in our lives and what is the benefit of culture - I believe that culture is one of the only things that keeps us sane and still gives us a way of escape where light cannot be seen at the end of the tunnel. The actor Wendell Pierce has said that “The role of culture is that it’s the form through which we as a society reflect on who we are, where we’ve been, where we hope to be”. I hope that culture will be the force to thrive us through these troubling times and bring us brighter ones.

The mission of CIOFF® is still actual to all of us and remains the same - to promote, present and protect Intangible Cultural Heritage, to develop cultural dialogue all over the world and respect cultural differences in order to guarantee peace all over the world. As one of the goals in the strategy of CIOFF is to strengthen the role of Intangible Cultural Heritage, as a factor in bringing human beings closer together and ensuring understanding among them, then today we have a spectacular possibility to learn about the ICH of Hungary. CIOFF Hungary has prepared many interesting presentations for us today and we will be hearing many practices of preserving ICH in Hungary and these phenomenon can also be found on the ICH list of UNESCO.

Coming back to the question how can humanity benefit from culture and it’s diversity, I would like to end with a thought by Robert Alan: “Cultural differences should not separate us from each other, but rather cultural diversity brings a collective strength that can benefit all of humanity”.

I wish all of you an inspiring day!

Monika Tomingas
Chairwoman of the Cultural Commission

CIOFF® President Philippe Beaussant just announced that the First CIOFF World Folkloriada for Children will take place in Ufa / Bashkortostan Russian Federation in 2024

Durining the CIOFF® World Congress, Youth members from all over the world started their activities with an introduction about their motivations and their link to Intangible Cultural Heritage.

'We really hope we stay like this forever... We are connected all over the world by cultural ties and that is why we are here

Few days away from the 50th CIOFF® World Congress hosted by @cioffhungary ????

42 countries will gather from 5 to 13 November, to celebrate CIOFF® 50th anniversary after 1 year postponement. Stay tuned to our social media updates!

#ForLivingTraditions #ShareCulture