Alpine season becomes an intangible cultural heritage of Unesco
Published: Tuesday, Dec 5th 2023, 20:40
Updated At: Tuesday, Dec 5th 2023, 20:41
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Unesco has inscribed the Swiss alpine season and the multinational traditional irrigation practiced in Switzerland on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. The decision to include the two traditions on the list was taken by the Intergovernmental Committee for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage at its 18th session in the African state of Botswana on Tuesday.
As an exemplary tradition of the Swiss mountain regions, the Alpine season brings together skills, customs and rituals relating to Alpine farming, the Federal Office of Culture (FOC) announced on Tuesday.
Driving cattle to summer pastures at high altitudes is a living tradition that has been documented since the Middle Ages at the latest. Since then, the alpine season has been continuously adapted to local climatic, social and economic conditions, as the FOC also reported. High-quality food, for which Switzerland is renowned, has also been and continues to be produced during the Alpine season.
Alpine parade, cheese-making and songs
The alpine season brings together a whole repertoire of customs, skills and rituals that make it an extremely lively cultural heritage, the report continued. These include, for example, the ascent and descent of the Alps, the knowledge of pasture farming and cheese-making, the craft techniques used to make equipment and the rich traditional songs. This makes the alpine season an extremely lively cultural heritage.
The application dossier submitted in March 2022 was compiled by the FOC and experts from the fields of cultural heritage and agriculture. According to the BAK, they were supported by an extended advisory group consisting of representatives from the Alpine economy, the cantons, museums, nature parks and other relevant organizations.
Thanks to this broad-based approach, the diversity and richness of Alpine traditions could be represented and important topics relating to the next generation and adaptation to climate change could be highlighted. In order to meet the current challenges for the passing on of tradition, joint measures were developed in the areas of cross-sectoral cooperation, training, recruitment, raising public awareness, communicating cultural heritage and interdisciplinary research, the report continued.
Eine multinationale Tradition
The dossier "Traditional Irrigation: Knowledge, Technology and Organization", which was also presented in March 2022, was coordinated by Austria and developed with the participation of Belgium, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and Switzerland.
The candidacy aims to revalue traditional models of irrigation and water management, in particular management in so-called "shared communities" - historical cooperatives that manage common property locally and in a participatory manner.
In Switzerland, the water meadows of the Oberaargau in the cantons of Bern and Lucerne and the Bisse communities in Valais (Oberwalliser Sonnenberge, communities of Ayent, Lens, Trient, Nendaz and Grächen) are included in this candidacy, according to the FOC.
Preserving living traditions
With the Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (Unesco) aims to address and protect a cultural heritage that is less related to buildings or spaces than to time, community practices and social interactions.
This heritage includes living traditions such as oral expressions, performing arts, social practices, rituals and festivals, knowledge and practices in dealing with nature and the universe, as well as traditional craftsmanship.
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