ABSTRACT
Intangible heritage is traditional culture, folklore, or popular culture that is performed or practiced with close ties to “place” and with little complex technological accompaniment. Put more simply, if tangible heritage assets represent the hard culture of a community, its places, and things, then intangible heritage assets represent its soft culture, the people, their traditions, and what they know. This description incorporates aspects of the UNESCO's definition of oral culture and intangible heritage as “folklore (or traditional and popular culture) [that] is the totality of tradition-based creations of a cultural community, expressed by a group or individuals, and recognized as reflecting the expectations of a community in so far as they reflect its cultural and social identity” (UNESCO 1998: 5). It includes, among other elements, language, literature, music, dance, games, mythology, rituals, customs, handicrafts, architecture, and other arts. In addition to these examples, account should also be taken of traditional forms of communication and information (UNESCO 1998).
