The Region of Crete and the Directorate of Modern Cultural Heritage of the Ministry of Culture are pleased to announce the creation of the Regional Index of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Crete. The Regional Index will be presented at a two-day conference entitled “Regional Index of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Crete: Presentation, Possibilities and Prospects”. The events will take place on Saturday, May 31, in Heraklion and Sunday, June 1, in Thrapsano, Heraklion.
The two-day conference is jointly organized by the Region of Crete, the Directorate of Modern Cultural Heritage of the Ministry of Culture and the Educational Development «PLOIGOS» with the kind support of the Municipality of Minoa-Pediados and the Cultural Association of Thrapsano.
The Regional Directory of Crete, the first Regional Directory to be created in our country, is going to be a tool for recording and capturing the wealth of the island’s living traditions. Customs and folk events, music and dance traditions, fairy tales and narrative songs, crafts, farming practices, ethnobotanical knowledge, nutritional heritage, all these elements that make up the collective identity and memory of the Cretan people and strengthen the feeling of pride for their place. The purpose of the project is to motivate local communities, cultural associations and organizations, educators and especially young people who are interested in recording and highlighting at a local and supra-local level element of our heritage that remain alive in time to this day.
It is noted that the Regional Index is to operate in parallel with the National Index of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Greece, which is maintained by the Directorate of Modern Cultural Heritage of the Ministry of Culture, as the competent service for the implementation in Greece of the international Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage (UNESCO, 2003). Our country has been a state party to the Convention since 2006.
Crete has been represented in the National Register since 2018 with 11 entries to date: The art of weaving and its preservation in Asterousia, Crete, The wild edible herbs of Crete – Ethnobotanical practices, Steiakos Pedichtos Chorus, Maleviziotis, The agro-food tradition of carob, Water management practices on the Lasithi Plateau – The know-how of pumping windmills, Pastoralism and the world of Psiloritis, Karabassi: the know-how of its preparation in Apokoronas, Chania, The pottery tradition of Thrapsanos, The ceramic tradition in Margarites, Mylopotamos, The songs of the rizitika.
The Region of Crete has developed a particularly constructive collaboration with the Ministry of Culture on issues concerning actions for the preservation and promotion of the island’s intangible cultural heritage. The operation of the Regional Index of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Crete will be scientifically supported by the Directorate of Modern Cultural Heritage of the Ministry of Culture.
The program of events is attached.
Source: crete.gov.gr
