Cultivating Colombian traditions

　　Colombia, with its wealth of 83 indigenous peoples and nearly 70 languages and dialects, intends to make the most of its intangible heritage from now on, to the point of launching a major awareness campaign. "Show who you are," was the slogan for the entire campaign, financed for the sum of $150,000 USD by UNESCO, the Andrés Bello Convention and the Colombian government.

　　UNESCO's proclamation in 2003 of the Barranquilla Carnival as a masterpiece of the oral and intangible heritage of humanity contributed significantly to Colombia's realization of the value of its heritage.

　　The Barranquilla Carnival encompasses cultural events in more than 50 villages and small towns along the banks of the Magdalena River. Tales are told of men turned into alligators and of Indians disguised as women to avenge the honour of their wives, abducted by Spaniards, all to the rhythm of cumbia music and drums that pound incessantly for five days.

　　Ⅰ. Taking inventory of traditions

　　Coinciding with the proclamation, the Ministry of Culture launched a series of initiatives aimed at implementing the mandates articulated in the UNESCO Convention, soon to be ratified. First it set up a Sub-Directorate of Intangible Heritage, which assists communities in taking inventory of their oral traditions.

　　That's not all. "Thanks to the workshops that we organized in five regions in the country, intangible heritage has become fashionable," claims Emiro Díaz, programming director at the Colombian Institute of Anthropology and History (ICANH), organization charged by the Ministry to formulate conservation policies.

　　In November, 2005, when the ministry's work on the Convention was well underway, UNESCO proclaimed the palenquera culture as Colombia's second masterpiece of oral and intangible heritage. San Basilio de Palenque is a tiny and very poor village inhabited by the descendants of slaves who rebelled against the Spanish crown in the 18th century and declared themselves an independent territory. UNESCO's intention is to preserve their language, a blend of Spanish and Bantu; their music, which is essentially African; their knowledge of traditional medicine; and their funerary rites.