World Folklore Day: Celebrating Cultural Traditions and Customs

2023-08-22 02:31:00

This August 22 is celebrated and commemorated, worldwide, World Folklore Day. This festivity seeks to value the identity of the artistic culture of each community. It is the authentic expression of a people that encompasses its traditions, legends, customs, music, and dances. Regarding this ephemeris, we will tell you the details about its origin, and why it is part of the global calendar.

WORLD FOLKLORE DAY: DECLARATION

World Folklore Day is dedicated to the cultural traditions of the world. In order to celebrate and commemorate the identity and culture of the various customs, in 1960 the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) instituted and declared August 22 as a date to pay homage to the folklore as a set of customs, beliefs, and popular traditions.

This statement was made during the First International Folklore Congress held in Buenos Aires, Argentina. The date commemorates the first time this term was used.

FOLKLORE AND ITS ORIGIN

On August 22, 1846, the English writer, researcher, and archaeologist Williams John Thoms coined the term “folklore.” This concept derives from the Anglo-Saxon words: “folk” which means people, people, race, and “lore” as knowledge, science.

Thoms wanted to replace and simplify what, in England, had been called “popular antiquities” or “popular literature”. This conjugation of words results in folklore as “traditional knowledge of the people.”

The writer dedicated his career to the collection and research of indigenous traditions, myths and legends, and as part of that work he sent a letter entitled “Folklore” to the London magazine, Atheneum.

In the letter, published in issue number 982 of the magazine, he justified the use of his term and the validity of his studies.

FOLKLORE IN PERU

Peru is one of the countries with the greatest folklore tradition.

These traditions still persist and their great ancestral value is celebrated.

Some of the Peruvian dances and customs are included in the representative list of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Transmedia Humanity for Sustainable Development in the Andean Countries of UNESCO.

Let’s review the Peruvian regional dances declared as World Heritage:

– The Huaconada (2010)

It is a ritual dance that takes place in the district of Mito, province of Concepción (Junín).

The Huaconada is executed in the first three days of the month of January of each year.

The dancers are groups of masked men, called huacones.

They represent the old council of elders, and they become the highest authority of the town while the huaconada lasts.

– The Dance of the Scissors (2010)

It is interpreted, traditionally, by the inhabitants of the towns and Quechua communities in the south of the central Andean mountain range of Peru (Huancavelica, Ayacucho and Apurímac).

This dance presents the form of a competition.

It is danced during the dry season of the year, and its execution coincides with important phases of the agricultural calendar.

The scissors dance owes its name to the two sheets of polished metal.

These blades are similar to those of a scissor.

– The Dance of the Wititi of the Colca Valley (2015)

It is a traditional dance that is related to the beginning of adulthood.

It takes the form of a love courtship ritual, and is often performed by young people during religious festivities that take place throughout the rainy season.

– The Virgen de la Candelaria Festival (2014)

This festivity is celebrated every February in the city of Puno.

Includes religious, festive and cultural activities.

These activities account for Catholic traditions, and the symbolic elements of the Andean vision.

The festival dates back to the times of the Viceroyalty and constitutes an expression of the enormous religious fervor of the Puno people, which is characterized by its multiple cultural manifestations.

This celebration represents the union of Quechua and Aymara traditions.

– Bunch of Negritos and the Pallitas (2019)

It is a dance led by a foreman, who is in charge of directing the dance group and begins the march through the streets and towns with great noise.

A character is in charge of “baptizing” the new members with holy water.

All the dancers dressed in white represent slaves and former Afro-descendant settlers.

They move to the rhythm of tapping, releasing verses and carrying bells adorned with ribbons.

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