What is Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH)? A quick definition.

I had a question this morning from a colleague who asked, essentially, what is ICH? It is a complex answer, but sometimes people want a quick summary. So, based on the UNESCO 2003 Convention and our own work at the Heritage Foundation of NL, here is our working definition:

Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH) is the practices, representations, expressions, knowledge, and skills that communities recognize as part of their cultural heritage. It is sometimes called living cultural heritage, is transmitted from generation to generation, and is constantly recreated by communities and groups, in response to their environment, their interaction with nature, and their history.

ICH is manifested in the following five domains:
- Oral traditions and expressions, including language;
- Performing arts;
- Social practices, rituals and festive events;
- Knowledge and practices concerning nature and the universe; and,
- Traditional craft.

ICH can include the stories we tell, the family events we celebrate, our community gatherings, the languages we speak, the songs we sing, knowledge of our natural spaces, our healing traditions, the foods we eat, our holidays, beliefs and cultural practices.

If you are looking for a more detailed discussion of what intangible cultural heritage is, download our free  "What is ICH?" booklet for Newfoundland and Labrador, or UNESCO's own Intangible Cultural Heritage page. 

Photo: Participants of the December 18, 2010 Mummers Festival, by Mark Bennett.
Courtesy Memorial University's Digital Archive Initiative. 

- Dale Jarvis

The Memory Store: All the soil is a very rich soil from Europe or the West Indies...

This week’s Memory Store video is filmed in Captain Blackmore’s Heritage Manor in Port Union, NL. Gary Blackmore, owner and operator of the manor, discusses why the soil surrounding Captain Blackmore’s Heritage Manor in Port Union, NL is so rich and fertile.

Watch the video below or click here to watch the video on YouTube.

If you missed our initial post explaining the concept of the Memory Store clip here to go back to our first blog post with the introduction video or check out our YouTube channel at ICH NL.

Stay tuned for more short stories about historic places in the province, in the form of short oral history interviews conducted with the people who care about those places and if you have a personal memory about a historic place in Newfoundland and Labrador, and want to add your voice to the Memory Store project, let us know at ich@heritagefoundation.ca

-Terra

Tuesday's Folklore Photo: Buttons!

Today's photo is of the lovely buttons we ordered for the Grey Sock Project! Next week, February 16th, is the traditional darning workshop we are offering for FREE at the A.C. Hunter Children's Library with instructor Christine LeGrow. We will be giving these buttons to everyone who comes!

Didn't know about the workshop?


We hope to see you there!

Living Heritage Podcast Ep029 The Old Hag - The Terror In The Night

Lloyd Pike is a retired teacher whose 32 year teaching career began on remote Pass Island, located off the Connaigre Peninsula on Newfoundland's Southwest coast. On one particular dark night Lloyd experienced a disturbing encounter with the "old hag." Danielle Barron was born and raised in St. John’s, is an avid reader and has had multiple experiences over the past seven or eight years with the old hag. We discuss sleep paralysis and the old hag, Lloyd and Danielle’s experiences with Herself, fortune telling, reading tea leaves, mediums, and other superstitions and folk beliefs.

Listen in to this week's Living Heritage Podcast, if you dare!

Photo: Old Hag doll by Designs by Janet, available at The Rooms gift shop.

Today in ICH - Grey Socks, Anna Templeton, Youth Heritage, and more!

In this edition of the ICH Update, we look at what's happening with www.greysockproject.ca, provide some historical background on Miss Anna Templeton - a pioneer in the craft sector in Newfoundland and Labrador, give you a tease of what is to come with the 2016 Youth Heritage Forum, and provide an update on our current intangible cultural programming.

Contributions from Stephanie Micikyan and Dale Jarvis.

Download the pdf here.

Photo: Miss Anna Templeton

Learn to Knit at the Quidi Vidi Village Plantation

Family and Friends Learn to Knit participants!

I went to the Quidi Vidi Village Plantation last week to check out the Family and Friends Learn to Knit program run by the City of St. John's. It ran for four weeks on Sundays in January. The program is offered to anyone who wants to learn to knit.

Participants learned how to cast on, knit, purl, decrease and increase stitches as well as how to knit their own dishcloth. For the last class, participants chose their own projects and started on them. Some of the participant chosen projects were wrist warmers, scarves, and a baby blanket.

The first project knitted by participants

One participant stated she joined the program because knitting was something nice to do in the winter months and was a good way for her to hang out with her friends. She said she really wanted to learn to make socks and this workshop was a great way to learn the basics.

I asked someone else what their favourite part of the workshop was. She said she enjoyed learning new stitches and actually creating something herself.

If you ever wanted to learn to knit this is the perfect opportunity. The instructors are excited to teach and if you're willing to learn you'll be knitting and purling in no time! Luckily, there is another four week program you can register for just like this.


Date: Sundays, Feb. 7 to 28, 2016 (4 weeks)
Time: 2 to 4 p.m.
Location: Quidi Vidi Village Plantation, 10 Maple View Road
Ages: 10+ years
Cost: $28 per person
Click here to register for this course.

Plus, who can deny this view?

View from the Quidi Vidi Village Plantation

Thank you to the lovely group of knitters who allowed me to chat with them and take photos.

Happy knitting everyone,

Stephanie

Learn another traditional skill! We are offering a free traditional darning workshop February 16th. 

Tuesday's Folklore Photo: A darning what?

Today's Folklore Photo comes to us from Lloyd Kane! These darning tools are family heirlooms from his wife, Linda's, grandmother’s sewing box.

Both seem to be commercially manufactured. The darning tool on the right has a removable handle which may be used to store darning needle(s). There are markings that say “Made in Germany”. The other one has embossed ‘FOOT FOR’ ‘PATENDED’.

These darning tools were called the "darner" or "darning mushroom" writes Lloyd. I have heard people call them darning eggs as well. There are also stories of people using door handles or just their fist to mend socks. 

Do you have any stories about darning eggs/mushrooms/darners or any photos? Please share them with us. Contact stephanie@heritagefoundation.ca!

Thank you Lloyd for sending this photo in!

Want to learn to darn? We are offering a free traditional darning workshop February 16th. 

Registration Open for Traditional Darning Workshop

Do you have holes in your socks that you'd like to fix but don't know where to start? Come to our free traditional darning workshop with instructor Christine LeGrow! It is on Tuesday, February 16th at the A.C. Hunter Children's Library at the Arts & Culture Centre, 125 Allandale Road.

Click below for materials list and registration! Hope to see you there!

Living Heritage Podcast Ep028 Multi-ethnic food, music, and festivals, with Zainab Jerrett

Zainab Jerrett is the Executive Director of Tombolo Multicultural Festival Newfoundland and Labrador. She is also the Coordinator for International Food and Craft Expo and owner and operator of Multi Ethnic Food Kitchen. She obtained her PhD in Folklore at Memorial University in 1998. We discuss her move to Newfoundland, her PhD work on folk songs in Nigeria, her start at food and craft fairs, starting her business, and her work with the Tombolo Multicultural Festival and the International Food and Craft Expo.