Kimchi, Arabic coffee in latest UNESCO cultural list

PanARMENIAN.Net - The traditions of making North Korean kimchi and Arabic coffee are among 20 practices newly recognised by UNESCO, the UN's cultural agency, BBC News reports.

Other customs that made the cut include classical horsemanship in Austria, folk dances in Peru and Romania and a Namibian fruit festival.

UNESCO announced the new additions to its Intangible Cultural Heritage list on Wednesday, December 2.

International delegates are meeting in Windhoek in Namibia.

North Korean kimchi joins its southern counterpart which is already on the list. UNESCO paid tribute to the practice of making of the pickled cabbage dish, saying that it contributes to social cohesion.

Making and serving coffee in the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Oman and Qatar is meanwhile considered "a ceremonial act of generosity".

The traditions of the classical horsemanship at the Spanish Riding School Vienna ensure communities in the school have a "strong sense of identity".

Marble craftsmanship practised on the Greek island of Tinos was recognised as part of the island's cultural identity which draws from "a shared symbolic system of religious, magical and oral traditions".

The ornamental painting technique known as filete porteno from Buenos Aires, ubiquitous in Argentina, was also recognised.

Also recognised is the Oshituthi shomangongo, a festival in Namibia where communities gather to drink a beverage made from the marula fruit.

Others on the list include the epic art of Gorogly in Turkemenistan, which is a tradition of oral performance describing the achievements of the hero Gorogly; and the tugging rituals in rice-farming cultures in Cambodia, Philippines, South Korea and Vietnam.