Omani khanjar and camel flocks added to UNESCO list of intangible cultural heritage

The Sultanate of Oman, represented by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Youth, in cooperation with the Omani National Commission for Education, Culture and Science, managed to include the Omani Khanjar; craft skills and social practices and Alhedaá; Oral traditions of calling camel flocks – each separately – are in UNESCO list of Intangible Cultural Heritage.

This came during the Sultanate of Oman’s participation in the seventeenth session of the Intergovernmental Committee for the 2003 Convention on the Intangible Cultural Heritage, which is currently being held in the Moroccan capital, from November 28 to December 3, 2022.

The Sultanate of Oman included the “Al-Khanjar; Craft Skills and Social Practices” in their own single file in this international list; The manufacture of Omani Khanjar is considered a traditional craft that spreads in various governorates, and it has many practitioners. There are many types of Omani Khanjar, most notably: Al-Saeedi, Al-Nizwani, Al-Suri, Al-Batini (Coastal), and Al-Sadhi (Al-Janbiya).

The Omani Khanjar consists of several pieces, namely: the handle, the blade, the upper scabbard, the shab (hat), the sheath cover (qaita), and the belt (hazak).

Wearing the Khanjar has been associated with many official and social occasions, as we find it present in most of the Omani arts. Including the arts included in the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity (Al-Azi, Al-Ayyala, Al-Razfa).

The Sultanate of Oman also included, during this session, the “camel flocks” element in a joint file with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

The flocks is an oral tradition passed down from generation to generation. Its practice was related to walking with caravans during desert excursions. Today, the shepherd directs and calms the herd of camels using sounds, gestures and oral tools while grazing.

In the Sultanate of Oman, shoeing is practiced in the permanent camps for breeding camels called “Azab” and refers to the camps owned by groups of families and tribes in all governorates.

It is noteworthy that the Sultanate of Oman has included, during the past years, eleven cultural elements within the global representative list of the intangible cultural heritage of humanity, namely: the art of Al-Baraa, which was included in 2010, the art of Al-Azi and Al-Taghrood in 2012, as well as the art of Al-Ayyala in 2014, and in 2015, the Sultanate succeeded in including The art of Al-Razfa, the file of Arabic coffee, and the file of councils and cultural spaces are included in this list.

In 2018, the “Ardah of Horses and Camels” was registered, and in 2019, the date palm was registered: the skills, practices and traditions associated with it. Then camel races and the knowledge associated with them were included in the year 2020 AD, and finally Arabic calligraphy in the year 2021.

The Convention for Safeguarding the Intangible Cultural Heritage was also adopted on the seventeenth of October 2003; Intangible cultural heritage is meant by “practices, perceptions, forms of expression, knowledge and skills, and the associated tools, pieces, artifacts and cultural places that communities and groups, and sometimes individuals, consider part of their cultural heritage.”

By registering these elements in the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity, the Sultanate of Oman seeks to achieve the objectives of the cultural strategy represented in the axis of cultural identity. By consolidating the national cultural identity, preserving and developing the cultural knowledge associated with it through the dissemination of Omani culture locally and abroad, as well as international cooperation in the areas of cultural identity and the preservation of intangible cultural heritage. In addition to the axis of cultural communication represented in exchanging experiences at the internal and external levels in the cultural field, enhancing communication and cultural dialogue with the countries of the world, investing in cultural diversity as a means to promote and introduce the Sultanate of Oman and highlighting its role in the global culture map, and achieving partnership and integration with local and international institutions in the cultural fields. .

The importance of registering intangible cultural heritage elements comes to contribute to preserving and documenting these elements and the craft skills and social practices associated with them and transmitting them from generation to generation. It also reflects communication and cultural exchange between different countries of the world and the cultural symbols of the Sultanate of Oman at the local and international levels.