Cambodia - Philippines - South Korea - Vietnam - Tugging rituals and games

"Tugging rituals and games in the rice-farming cultures of East Asia and Southeast Asia are enacted among communities to ensure abundant harvests and prosperity. They promote social solidarity, provide entertainment and mark the start of a new agricultural cycle. Many tugging rituals and games also have profound religious significance. Most variations include two teams, each of which pulls one end of a rope attempting to tug it from the other. The intentionally uncompetitive nature of the event removes the emphasis on winning or losing, affirming that these traditions are performed to promote the well-being of the community, and reminding members of the importance of cooperation. Many tugging games bear the traces of agricultural rituals, symbolizing the strength of natural forces, such as the sun and rain while also incorporating mythological elements or purification rites. Tugging rituals and games are often organized in front of a village’s communal house or shrine, preceded by commemorative rites to local protective deities. Village elders play active roles in leading and organizing younger people in playing the game and holding accompanying rituals. Tugging rituals and games also serve to strengthen unity and solidarity and sense of belonging and identity among community members."

Source: UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage

Cambodia - Lkhon Khol Wat Svay Andet

"Lkhon Khol Wat Svay Andet is practised in one community surrounding a Buddhist monastery, Wat Svay Andet – located about 10km east of Phnom Penh on the Mekong River – and is performed by men wearing masks to the accompaniment of a traditional orchestra and melodious recitation. The specific aim is to propitiate the Neak Ta (guardian spirits of a place and its people), thereby protecting and bringing prosperity to the community, its lands and harvest. When Lkhon Khol is performed, spirit mediums are present and facilitate interactions between the Neak Ta, performers and villagers. When the spirits are satisfied with the performance, villagers are blessed by them; otherwise, the dancers stop, the music continues, and the audience falls silent and carefully listens to the spirits. Lkhon Khol is performed for ritual purposes, mostly linked to the cycle of rice farming and the needs of farming communities. The practice is transmitted orally within the community, and the Head Monk and retired primary school principal recently initiated additional weekend classes and started writing down scripts for selected episodes. After generations of transmission, however, several factors now threaten the viability of the element, including environmental factors, insufficient resources, economic migration from the community and a fourteen-year break in transmission from 1970 to 1984 due to the war and the Khmer Rouge regime."

Source: UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage