THE 19th session of the Intergovernmental Committee for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage, held in Asunción, Paraguay, on 2-7 December, decided to add the Myanmar Traditional Ata Thingyan Festival, also known as the Myanmar Traditional New Year Water Festival, to UNESCO’s list of Intangible Cultural Heritage.
The Ministry of Religious Affairs and Culture issued a press release on acknowledgement of active participation of the Myanmar cultural heritage preservation body, ethnic literature and culture groups from regions and states, Bagan heritage protection group, the Shwedagon Pagoda Board of Trustees, the Botahtaung Pagoda Board of Trustees, Bagan’s Ananda Temple Board of Trustees, Myanmar Inter-Faith Dialogue Group (Central), Botahtaung Township, Myanmar Music Association, Myanmar Theatrical Association, Myanmar Artists Association, Myanmar Sculptors Association, Withakha Foundation, TMW Enterprise Limited, Myanmar Women Entrepreneurs Network (Yangon), Myanmar Veda Research Group, Hninsigon Home for Aged Trusteeship Board (Bahan Township), Myanmar Restaurants Association, Myint Myat Thu Cetana Blood Donor Association, Bramaso Social Welfare Association and other associations, all contributors, the Ministry of Information and Living Myanmar Media Group which provided records on Thingyan festival and performed narration, the French Language Department of the Yangon University of Foreign Languages under the Ministry of Education for necessary translation in submitting the nomination file, the Myanmar Ambassador to France and embassy staff giving information and technological data for the dossiers, officers and staff from the Department of Archaeology and National Museum under the Ministry of Religious Affairs and Culture, entire people who have been preserving the Myanmar traditional Thingyan festival from the Bagan era to date, the organizations, persons and all contributors who were unintentionally omitted from the acknowledgement for adding Myanmar Traditional Ata Thingyan Festival to UNESCO’s list of Intangible Cultural Heritage as the first-ever identification on the list of Intangible Cultural Heritage. — Ministry of Religious Affairs and Culture
