The Department of Arts and Culture (DAC) is celebrating “living heritage” this September, which is known as Heritage month. The theme for the month is “Reclaiming, restoring and celebrating our living heritage”.
Living heritage refers to cultural tradition, oral history, ritual, performance, indigenous knowledge, and social relationships. Living heritage is seen as an essential source of identity and continuity. In South Africa the term “intangible cultural heritage” is used interchangeable with the term “living heritage”.
“Living heritage plays an important role in promoting cultural diversity, social cohesion, reconciliation, peace and economic development in South Africa,” says the DAC in a statement. “In every community there are living human treasures who possess a high degree of knowledge, skills and history pertaining to different aspects of South African diverse living heritage…It is therefore important for South Africans to reclaim, restore and preserve various aspects of South Africa`s diverse living heritage in order to accelerate the use of living heritage to address challenges communities are facing today.”
The DAC has developed a draft policy on the South Africa Living Heritage, aimed at preserving this heritage and using it to achieve social cohesion.
“In order to facilitate the transmission of South African rich intangible cultural heritage to the next generation, the draft policy proposes the establishment of a national Living Human Treasure Program that will include the development of criteria for the identification of living treasures, legal or regulatory provisions including the establishment of a committee that will develop the criteria for the identification of Living Human Treasures.”
Heritage Day, 24 September, will be officially celebrated in Mdantsane, Buffalo City Metro Municipality, in the Eastern Cape. Provincial celebrations will take place across the country.
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