The chocalheira art is already Intangible Cultural Heritage in Need of Urgent Safeguarding, title awarded by UNESCO – United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. Application was approved in a few minutes without any objection.
The decision was announced at 14:20 (Lisbon time) on Tuesday by the Intergovernmental Committee for the Safeguarding of Heritage, which is meeting in Windhoek, the capital of Namibia, for huge joy of the Portuguese delegation attending the conference room, headed by António Ceia da Silva, President of Tourism of Alentejo, and integrated by the Ambassador of Portugal, Helena Paiva. Rattles, which were heard in the room to celebrate, create a “soundscape feature,” UNESCO said.
The application of rattles manufacturing, instruments used to locate and direct the herds, was led by the Entity Regional Alentejo and Ribatejo Tourism (ERT), in partnership with the Municipality of Viana do Alentejo and the Board of Parish of Alcáçovas.
“joy and emotion,” was how the president of ERT has been rated the manufacture of rattles as Intangible Heritage. UNESCO’s decision in just five minutes, was immediately celebrated by members of the Portuguese delegation. “It’s a great victory for the Alentejo, to our traditions, to what else is valued in our identity,” said António Ceia da Silva shortly after the approval of the Portuguese cadidatura, considered by UNESCO’s evaluation committee as a “model” .
The head of the Alentejo Tourism adds it a “victory for Portugal”, with major repercussions for the region as a tourist destination. “Today we have a different tourist profile, which increasingly demand the differentiating values in each territory, and we have worked for it. Managed last year to recognize the Sing Alentejo by UNESCO and managed today Rattles manufacturing, “he said.
da Silva Supper added that now” there is a set of obligations, we are responsible for plan safeguard “the chocalheira art.
The UNESCO decision has also pleased the Alentejo mayors who have integrated the Portuguese delegation in the capital of Namibia. The president of Viana do Alentejo Chamber received the approval of the candidacy announcement with “excitement and relief by the end of anxiety.” Bernardino candy cane Pinto told PUBLIC be “very happy for the result, without objection, to be an exemplary application” and wait for the UNESCO label “contribute to the development of the municipality of Viana do Alentejo.” The mayor also sent “a special word for the chocalheiros, because without them, this did not happen.”
Already the president of Alcáçovas Parish Council stressed that approval of the application was “the culmination of a Work “but also the beginning of a new cycle. “Today was the first day of the rest of our lives, it is the beginning. Now we have to get this great wealth that our forefathers left us and dinamizarmos what was here, “said Sara Pajote. The Alentejo mayor also assured that do not want this activity “again come to the point that arrived in need of urgent safeguarding”. He added. “Now is dynamic, try that [those chocalheiros teachers who are there] impel others to continue this art”
The director of the National Museum of Ethnology (MFA), Paulo Ferreira da Costa, welcomed themselves with the classification now made by UNESCO. “This is a very important decision,” said the official to PUBLIC, shortly after the decision announced in Namibia.
Having assumed the leadership of the MFA last March, Paulo Ferreira da Costa said be aware that the institution has been or not asked to intervene in the application process. “But what is important is the guarantee that the classification now gives, that this heritage will remain in the future,” noted the director, setting a parallel with other goods classified by UNESCO and considering that this “is an excellent tool to draw public attention to the need to safeguard this heritage property”.
It is the first time that Portugal enters a cultural asset in List of Intangible Cultural Heritage in Urgent Safeguarding need.
About the intention of those responsible for Alentejo application, particularly da Silva Supper, the ERT, to bet on tourism and crafts as a way to safeguard this art no longer performs the utilitarian functions of yore, Paulo Ferreira da Costa thinks this should not be “the only solution”. “A tradition must have a social role, economic and also symbolic in society that produces it,” he says, noting that UNESCO itself has been warning that “tourism often can be detrimental in perpetuity of certain goods and cultures “.
” I would say that there must be a very large balance between tourism promotion and also uses that can preserve and continue the social and cultural function “of a well as chocalheira art.
According to the scientific committee of the application for World Heritage Site, coordinated by anthropologist Paulo Lima, it is an art started more than two thousand years – it can be found Celtiberian rattles century BC that are identical to those made today -. but is now endangered Manufacturing is national, but the application was based on a technical work and scientific around the chocalheira art Alcáçovas parish, rattles manufacturing center in the country
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You application
Scientific Coordinator of the application of rattles, the anthropologist Paulo Lima, was in all the Portuguese applications UNESCO’s intangible heritage. He joined the executive committee of the candidacy of fado and was the scientific coordinator of the Alentejo sing. Was the father of the idea of the application of chocalheira art, but like to share this fatherhood: “It was my idea, it was Ana will pay [current director of the Alcobaça Monastery], and we joined a small team that worked for a while and had after the generosity of the Alentejo Tourism Entity in order to instruct the dossier, “he told PUBLIC.
According to the anthropologist, the science team, which also includes Professor Jorge Freitas Branco,” realized “that rattle It is “interesting not only by the object itself, but for what it represents, the need for urgent preservation.” Freitas Branco said that his connection chocalheira art began a decade ago when, as a guiding an doutourando suggested rattles theme.
The rattles manufacturing is an ancient art that has the Alentejo territory greater expression at the national level, especially in three municipalities, Estremoz, Reguengos de Monsaraz and Viana do Alentejo, and especially the village of Alcáçovas.
The manufacture, refers to the application file, is associated mainly to grazing metallurgical activity:. “The Portuguese rattle is a percussion instrument (idiophone) provided with one internal stopper This tool works the same way as a bell, and is usually suspended in the neck of the animals with the help of a leather belt. This object is closely associated with pastoralism as it is used by the shepherds to find and drive the flocks. The belief says this instrument has protective and magical-religious powers. Rattles create a unique and characteristic soundscape of a rare beauty, looking for a timeless sense of well-being. “
The safeguard plan
The registration of rattles manufacturing on the List of Intangible Heritage in Urgent Safeguarding Need implies Safeguard Plan, a kind of “specifications” which aims to reverse the trend the disappearance of this art, ensuring the transfer of know-how and the future sustainability of the activity. In this chapter, the Portuguese application proposes a set of measures to promote the craft school, the most immediate conclusion of a protocol, which is in preparation, with the Prison Beja to a master chocalheiro give training to prisoners.
Create an interpretation center of pastoralism and traditional metallurgy in Alcáçovas, encourage and create economic viability for this activity, promote their legal protection and encourage academic research are the other main points of the safeguard plan presented in the Portuguese dossier.
An application to the UNESCO report considered complete all technical criteria (five in all) . First, because the rattles manufacturing is a “tradition” passed between generations, providing a “sense of identity and historical continuity” that enables local communities to realize this art as a “collective cultural heritage.” Then it is an element in “imminent danger” of extinction because production is now limited to “fewer than ten sites, including Alcáçovas, the center of this practice with four manufacturers in business.” It is also writes that the Safeguard Plan proposed application “respond to identified threats,” including measures designed in close collaboration with industry stakeholders, communities and institutions involved, “demonstrating strong potential to improve the viability of the element of interest and rejuvenation in the manufacture of rattles. “
The evaluation report confirms that the statement of the Portuguese application process” can serve as a model “for the involvement of agents linked to this art, who agreed with the appointment of free, prior and informed. Finally, for the last criterion, it is confirmed that the rattles also meets the requirement of being a cataloged element. “It is recorded and detailed in Viana do Alentejo inventory book”, reads the document.
The UNESCO Committee ends this report with an invitation to Portugal as a state member, to have a “special care” to ensure the continuity of cultural meanings of rattles manufacturing, “avoiding the possible unintended consequences” of the safeguard plan, for example, over-intensive tourism.
With Sergio C. Andrade
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