On December 6, 2023, in Kasan, Botswana, during the 18th session of the UNESCO Intergovernmental Committee for the Protection of the Intangible Cultural Heritage, it was unanimously decided to include the nomination of the Kyrgyz Republic “Elechek, Kyrgyz women’s headdress: traditional Knowledge and Rituals” in the UNESCO Representative List of Intangible Cultural Heritage.
Of the 60 nominations presented this year, the nomination “Elechek, Kyrgyz women’s headdress” is included in 18 nominations recognized by international experts as the best and well-prepared.
The work on the preparation of this nomination has been carried out by the Ministry of Culture, Information, Sports and Youth Policy of the Kyrgyz Republic, the Min Kyyal Public Foundation, the Permanent Mission of the Kyrgyz Republic to UNESCO, the National Commission of the Kyrgyz Republic for UNESCO over the past 3 years and was submitted to the UNESCO Secretariat in 2021.
It is worth noting that the President of the Kyrgyz Republic S.Zhaparov, during a meeting with UNESCO Director General O.Azule on November 10, 2023, within the framework of the 42nd session of the UNESCO General Conference in Paris, noted the importance of the traditional women’s headdress Elechek for the Kyrgyz people and expressed hope for support for the nomination to the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Mankind.
Kyrgyzstan has already added 15 elements to the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage List, including the epic trilogy “Manas, Semetey, Seitek”, “The Art of Akyns”, “The Art of making felt carpets: ala-kiyiz, shyrdak”, “Traditional knowledge and skills in making yurts” (Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan), “The art of improvisation aitysh” (Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan), “The culture of making thin bread: lavash, katyrma, zhupka, yufka” (multinational nomination), “Nooruz” (multinational nomination), “National equestrian game Kok boru”, “Traditional knowledge and skills in the manufacture and wearing of men’s headdress Ak kalpak”, etc.
The inclusion of nominations in the UNESCO Lists of Intangible Cultural Heritage is intended to promote greater popularization of intangible cultural heritage at the international level. To date, 705 elements of cultural heritage from all over the world have been included in the UNESCO Lists of Intangible Cultural Heritage.
