Native rituals & skills join Iran intangible cultural heritage list
A selection of seven time-honored rituals and skills, practiced in Iran’s Golestan province for centuries, have recently been added to the country’s intangible cultural heritage list.
Ingenious skills of making traditional dishes, bread kilns, handcrafted textiles, a spiritual ritual are amongst elements registered in the prestigious list, according to the Ministry of Cultural Heritage, Tourism, and Handicrafts.
Golestan is reportedly embracing some 2,500 historical and natural sites, with UNESCO-registered Gonbad-e Qabus – a one-millennium-old brick tower – amongst its most famous.
Narratives say the tower has influenced various subsequent designers of tomb towers and other cylindrical commemorative structures both in the region and beyond. The UNESCO comments that the tower bears testimony to the cultural exchange between Central Asian nomads and the ancient civilization of Iran.