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The responsibility for approving applications for
inclusion in the two lists lies with the Inter-gov-
ernmental Commission for the Convention. The
first official entries were approved at the 4
th
Ses-
sion of the Inter-governmental Commission in
2009 at Abu Dhabi. It is also worth noting that at
the Commission’s 3
rd
Session in Istanbul, it was
decided to include in the Representative List, as
soon as the Convention enters into force, all ele-
ments previously declared as masterpieces of the
oral and intangible cultural heritage of humanity,
in the period 2001-2005.
Following the 6
th
Session of the Inter-govern-
mental Commission in Bali in November 2011,
231 elements had been included in the first list
and 27 in the second. A basic requirement for
inclusion in these lists is the active participation
of a representative community (or group of com-
munities, or groups or individuals), in which the
element is still alive and whose inhabitants con-
sider it an integral part of their cultural heritage.
Pursuant to article 29 of the Convention, both
the state and the community have an obligation
to work towards preserving and promoting the
element and then to suggest ways to disseminate
the various elements as widely as possible, espe-
cially among the young.
Each member state must submit a report to
UNESCO every six years so that it can be ascer-
tained whether actions and measures have been
taken for the protection and dissemination both
of the intangible cultural heritage in general, and
of the elements contained in the lists in particu-
lar. With regard to the elements in need of urgent
safeguarding a separate report must be filed eve-
ry four years. If the officers of the Convention
are not satisfied with the results, an element may
be removed from the lists.
Lefkaritiko lace and
Tsiattista
approved for
the Representative List
Cyprus’application to include Lefkaritiko lace in the
Representative List was approved at the 4
th
Session
of the Inter-governmental Commission in Septem-
ber 2009 inAbu Dhabi, as “Lefkara laces or Lefka-
ritika”. In addition, our candidacy for tsiattista was
approved at the 4
th
Session, in November 2009 in
Nairobi, as “Tsiattista poetic duelling”.
Pursuant to article 12 of the Convention, each
member state must create one or more invento-
ries of intangible cultural heritage, which reflect
the cultural and social reality of the country. The
purpose of these inventories, which must be
updated regularly, is to identify, make the most
of, and safeguard the elements of the intangible
cultural heritage of a country. This is also the ob-
jective of this publication, which drew its data
from the Cyprus Research Centre’s Archive of
Oral Tradition and covers an enormous void in
Cypriot bibliography. The book also contributes
significantly to the study of the structure and de-
velopment of those elements which make up the
traditional and time-honoured manifestations of
the cultural heritage of Cyprus.
Shadow theatre figures: © The Leventis Municipal Museum
of Nicosia Collection