Archives: Patrimonio inmaterial

On November 16, 2013, in Nairobi (Kenya), the Intergovernmental Committee of the UNESCO for the Safeguarding of Intangible Cultural Heritage agreed to include the Mediterranean Diet on the representative list of the World Heritage Site , and was presented jointly by Spain, Greece, Italy and Morocco.

The Mediterranean diet includes a set of knowledge, practical skills, rituals, traditions and symbols related to agricultural crops and crops, fishing and animal husbandry, as well as how to preserve, transform, cook, share and consume food.

The act of eating together is one of the foundations of the cultural identity and continuity of the communities of the Mediterranean basin. It is a moment of social exchange and communication, as well as affirmation and renewal of the ties that shape the identity of the family, group or community.

This element of intangible cultural heritage highlights the values of hospitality, good neighbourliness, intercultural dialogue and creativity, as well as a way of life that is guided by respect for diversity. In addition, it plays an essential role as a factor of social cohesion in cultural spaces, festivities and celebrations, bringing together people of all ages, conditions and social classes.

It also covers areas such as crafts and the manufacture of containers for the transport, conservation and consumption of food, such as ceramic plates and glasses.

Women play a fundamental role in the transmission of skills and knowledge related to the Mediterranean diet, safeguarding culinary techniques, respecting seasonal rhythms, observing the festivals of the calendar and transmitting the values of this element of cultural heritage to new generations.

For their part, local food markets also play a fundamental role as cultural spaces and places of transmission of the Mediterranean diet in which the daily practice of exchanges promotes harmony and mutual respect.

The Fallas festival is the biggest festival of the city of Valencia and has very strong popular roots, since it is the citizens of all walks of life organized in Fallas commissions (more than 345 in the Cap i Casal) who are the real protagonists of the festival. This is regulated by the Central Fallera Board, an autonomous municipal body, and thousands of people, visitors and tourists also participate, generating a great mass festive movement and an important impact on the city’s economy.

The Fallas date back both to the satirical and burlesque cadafals that the neighbors already erected in the mid-eighteenth century and to the bonfires that were lit next to the farmsteads of L’Horta. Over time the festival became institutionalized and became more complex and larger, until in the twenties of the last century appeared the Fallera Week, and later the Fallas sections or the position of fallera major of Valencia, as well as new and multitudinous festivities such as the collection of prizes, the Offering of Flowers to the Mare de Déu dels Desamparados or the mascletadas.

The cadafals, falleros or fallas, authentic epicenter of the festival, were initially made by the same neighbors, but since the thirties of the twentieth century an authentic industry of construction of fallas was developed by the fallas artists, who have maintained year after year a unique trade, in which it is necessary to control a large amount of artistic knowledge, and that has given very reputable names to Valencian art. The Fallas artists are grouped in the Artisan Guild of Fallas Artists and their main reference is the City of the Fallero Artist, in the Benicalap neighborhood, where the Museum of the Fallero Artist is located. Today, artists master a multitude of techniques and a variety of building materials, with which they build the fallas and the dolls that compose them. Since 1934, a doll pardoned in the Ninot Exhibition has been chosen, which, once saved from the flames, becomes part of the Fallero Museum, a unique museum in the world located in the Montolivete neighborhood, which contains a collection of large and children’s dolls that can be admired by tourists and citizens throughout the year.

On 7 October 2016, the New October civic procession in Valencia was declared an Asset of Intangible Cultural Interest.

The New October festival is the day of the Valencian people. The day commemorates the conquest of Valencia, on October 9, 1238, by the troops of King James I. Although it was in 1239 when the historic Kingdom of Valencia was constituted as a practically independent political entity within the Crown of Aragon, in the eyes of medieval ancestors the date of October 9, 1238 was already presented as a symbol of the recovery of the Valencian lands and, Subsequently, it has been considered as the date of birth of the Valencian people.

The festival has been held in different periods with various symbolic reinterpretations, formal transformations and ideological instrumentalizations, although the fact of celebrating the founding date of the Valencian people and the exaltation of the collective identity of the Valencians of the Cape and Casal and the entire Kingdom has always been maintained as a background.

This is a civic portion that consists of the solemn descent with honors of ordinance through the balcony of the City Hall of the Royal flag of Valencia, which runs through the main streets of the city centre until it reaches Plaza de Alfonso el Magnánimo, where homage is paid to the figure of King James I, founder of the Kingdom of Valencia, and from where the passage to the Plaza del Ayuntamiento is returned, where the Royal Flag is hoisted to be kept again in the premises of the Municipal Historical Archive.

In May 2018, the Consell declared the popular musical tradition of the Valencian Community as an Asset of Intangible Cultural Interest, which coincided with the commemoration of the fiftieth anniversary of the Federation of Music Societies of the Community (FSMCV).

Valencia has a long musical tradition in its municipal bands and music schools that, throughout the year, train more than 60,000 students from different Valencian towns. In addition, they play an important role in preserving and promoting Valencian heritage through its traditions and popular festivals such as the Fallas.

The more than 500 musical societies that group the Federation of Music Societies of the Valencian Community (FSMCV), represent approximately half of those existing in Spain and bring together 40,000 musicians and more than 200,000 members. The BIC, which is now the Bands, is recognition of the work of social unification and reinforcement of our identity as a people to which they contribute, having a presence in 95% of municipalities with more than 500 inhabitants and a contribution to regional GDP of about 40 million.

The Water Court of the Vega of Valencia It is, without doubt, one of the most representative and valuable manifestations of the culture and traditional ways of life of the Valencians, and enjoys a wide degree of local, national and international recognition, therefore, in accordance with the provisions of article 45 of Law 4/1998, of June 11, on Valencian Cultural Heritage, proceed its declaration as Asset of Intangible Cultural Interest , 26 May 2006. In November 2009 it was declared Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.

The Water Tribunal of the Vega de Valencia is made up of the Trustees who preside over eight of the Irrigation Communities that regulate the area of The Huerta of Valencia closer to the capital of the Turia, a space traditionally known as the Vega de Valencia, namely: Tormos, Rascaña and Mestalla on the northern bank of the River Turia; Quart, Benàger-Faitanar, Favara, Mislata and Rovella in the south.

The Trustees are democratically elected within each Community of Irrigators by vote of its members meeting at the General Meeting and must be farmers, owners and direct cultivators of their land, also chosen to enjoy a high moral and cultural consideration among the commoners, an aspect that reinforces the authority of the Court.

The Trustees of the Water Court de la Vega de Valencia are, therefore, depositories of an exemplary corpus of knowledge and sociability patterns, transmitted orally and empirically from degeneration to generation, above the vicissitudes of history; and constitute living proof of the capacity of human groups to democratically organize complex and extensive technological systems from the social base, through solidarity and joint effort.

On 4 November 2016, the traditional activities of L’Albufera of Valencia were declared an Asset of Intangible Cultural Interest: artisanal fishing and lateen sailing.

The scope and diversity offered by L’Albufera means that material structures, artefacts and, in general, traditional practices are created, for the use and exploitation of the resources it provides. As in the case of fishing or lateen sailing, these are techniques, uses and customs that are the result of an evolution over centuries.

The rich cultural heritage that arises from this inveterate relationship between the environment and man deserves to be attended to and preserved, especially when, on the one hand, many of these practices are examples of sustainability, essential and everything for the conservation of biological diversity and, on the other hand, are threatened with extinction.

Fishing It is the oldest traditional activity in L’Albufera of Valencia, because already James I after the reconquest, and reserving the wetland for his heritage, establishes in a privilege of 1250 that «they can fish in theAlbufera of Valencia any neighbour or inhabitant of the city or kingdom of Valencia and any stranger also, and catch fish, and should not give Nós or ours never of these fish, but only the frank fifth.” Its interest comes from its long tradition, its adaptation to the environment, its secular identification with the society where it develops, its old organizational structures, its arts, its language, its own symbols…

On the other hand, the lateen sail is one of the traditional forms of navigation common throughout the Mediterranean, with a considerable incidence in the Valencian lands, and particularly in the Albufera, where since ancient times it has been used as a means of lake transport linked to the exploitation of natural resources, such as fishing and agriculture, and whose functions are currently related to forms of leisure associated with the cultural and recreational field. In addition, lateen sailing occupies a place in its own right in the identity imagery of the Valencian people, and around it there are a series of material and intangible elements constituting the traditional Valencian culture that deserve to be protected in order to guarantee its legacy to future generations.

It is one of the most spectacular festivals in the city, and for centuries was considered its biggest festival. The first procession was held in Valencia in 1355, and in the estates society it had a special pedagogical value to narrate and inculcate the Christian mythical story, referring both to passages of the Old Testament and to characters more linked to local traditions.

Over time the General procession, as well as that of the Treat, were enriched with all kinds of symbols, elements and characters, among which the rocks, dances, hors d’oeuvres or mysteries stand out, and their artistic and citizen value meant that on some occasions the procession was organized on the occasion of visits by royals to the city. Over the centuries the festival went into decline, with the intensification of the processes of modernization and secularization of society. Only in the mid-seventies of the twentieth century did the first attempts to revitalize the processions appear, especially at the hands of some people especially zealous of popular traditions or through the creation of associations, such as the Association of Friends of Corpus Christi, created in 1977. The progressive citizen awareness of the heritage nature of the Corpus Christi festival led to it being declared an Asset of Cultural Interest by the Generalitat Valenciana in 2005.

The festival is celebrated rigorously 64 days after Easter. Two days beforehand, the popular rocks, or triumphal chariots, were transferred from the Casa de les Roques to Plaça de la Mare de Déu. Some rocks date back to the sixteenth century, and on top of these religious scenes used to be represented, such as hors d’oeuvres and mysteries. At night, the Valencia Municipal Band gives a concert in the square, before awarding prizes to the best balconies and adorned façades for the party, while from the Micalet the Guild of Bell Ringers provides the accompaniment with special ringing of bells.

On Sunday at noon, the Cavalcade of the Invitation takes place, led by the Chaplain of the Rocks, which includes Valencian folk dances such as the dance of La Moma and the mysteries, which are groups that interpret biblical scenes, thus creating the best prelude to what will be the evening procession. Also noteworthy are the children’s dances of shepherds, easels, bows or farmers, among others. Particularly striking is the troupe of devils known as the Degolla, which recalls very loosely the slaughter of innocents ordered by King Herod, putting the most carnival point of the procession.

In the early afternoon the rocks pass, and the horses that drag them star in the famous climb of the palace, at the end of its route, next to the Archbishop’s Palace. The itinerary of the general procession, which starts late at night, is characterized by a marked floral ornament, with thousands of petals falling from the balconies to the Paso del Santísimo, while the choirs sing their songs. Throughout the procession, guilds, regular communities, parishes, brotherhoods and various religious and secular entities parade, as well as the numerous biblical characters and symbols and mythological animals, which recall the belief of salvation through the Eucharist. The procession closes with the solemn passage of custody, accompanied by the main civil, military and ecclesiastical authorities, as well as the devout people.

The Valencian pelota is the own and specific sport of the Valencian People that has been practiced since time immemorial throughout the territory of the Valencian Community, being the only region in Europe in which the practice endures in its genuine tradition.

In addition, around the game of Valencian pelota converge a series of cultural, social, ethnographic and linguistic aspects that constitute a sample of the richness and diversity of our society and its traditions.

For all this, the Valencian pelota it is a symbol of the identity of the Valencians, and, as such, deserves that the Generalitat recognizes its value and grants it the highest degree of protection that the Valencian Cultural Heritage Law grants to the assets that constitute its intangible heritage, in order to guarantee its legacy to future generations, declaring itself as Asset of Intangible Cultural Interest on 5 September 2014.

The practice of ball games is a constant in many ancient cultures around the world. In the specific case of the Valencian pelota, its origin is clearly located in Greco-Roman antiquity. Thus, in several classical Greek texts reference is made to the practice of handball games with different variants and the common denominator of being practiced in specific places enabled for this purpose, individually or by teams, and with a maximum number of pots of the ball.

Currently, the Valencian pelota enjoys in our territory a great social roots and a vitality that grows day by day. Not surprisingly, the Valencian Community has more than 3,700 federated pelota athletes, and more than 130 facilities are in operation in which the different modalities of this sport are practiced. Each season there are eight official professional championships, about 20 unofficial competitions and more than 2,200 day-to-day games; all of them in the modalities ladder and rope and of brush; At a non-professional level, about 40 competitions are held in the modalities of pediment, galocha, brush, ladder and rope and long palm and perch. Grassroots sports have also experienced an important boom, especially the Pilota a la Escola Program , which in the last decade has increased the number of its performances by five hundred percent, reaching 14,000 students per year in 2014.

Valencian pelota has its own, particular and peculiar vocabulary; Words and idioms characteristic and specific to this field, which have endured over the centuries and that distinguish and identify both sport and language.

He is the patron saint of Valencia (the remains of one of his arms are in the Imperial School of Orphaned Children of San Vicente) and, although his feast day is on April 5, his solemnity and popular feast are celebrated on the Monday following the second Sunday of Easter of Resurrection. During the week of Easter, some towns take the opportunity to raise the stages or popular altars where children represent the Miracles, which are a small theatrical pieces in which the miracles of the saint are staged, which are represented in Valencian and have a marked didactic and hagiographic character that makes them culminate with some moral lesson. The Vicentine collectives that mount the altars are also called altars, and constitute the basis of a whole associative fabric of long tradition, which is mainly responsible for keeping the festival alive and its intergenerational transmission.

The celebration of Easter has a popular character, which is manifested in the survival of traditional games, gatherings of friends and family, the take-off of catxirulos and the ritual consumption of sweets, such as monas and panous, or the typical sausage.

The most important events of the second weekend of Easter are the wreath to the saint at his birthplace on Carrer del Mar and the procession in which the procession visits the Vicente places and ends at the Church of Sant Esteve, where he was baptized. Precisely around the baptismal font are exhibited those days the bults of San Vicente, which are sculptures of cardboard stone that represent the characters who were in the baptism of San Vicente Ferrer, and who are dressed in the fashion of the fifteenth century. In addition, it is worth noting the rise and fall of the image of the saint on each altar as an especially intense and emotional moment.

The Vicentina festival continues with the Festa dels Xiquets del Carrer de Sant Vicent. It is celebrated on the first Monday of June. It receives its name from the participation of a large number of young children. It is a very old festival that commemorates the first place occupied in the city by the School of Orphaned Children of San Vicente Ferrer, legacy of the congregation of the Beguins that he organized to take care of orphaned children who were abandoned in the streets to the charity of Christians.

The ringing of the bell has been part of the sound and cultural landscape of the Valencians since the Christian conquest. It is said that King James I himself carried small bells in his luggage, and the poet Ibn-Al-Abbar already writes, a few years after the incorporation of the Kingdom of Valencia into European Christian culture, that «the sound of bells has replaced the voice he called in prayer». Regarding these small bells, everything points to the fact that one of the signal bells or “bell of the Dead” of the Cathedral of Valencia, dated in the early thirteenth century and restored a few years ago, may be one of these medieval bells.

Over the centuries, the voices of the bells have been the voice of the community, the most immediate and effective means of expression and communication at the service of all, the sound reference that served to inform and coordinate an entire local community.

The bells build collective time, not only through clocks, but also through the various touches, which mark the passage of the day, the week, the year and life.

They mark spaces of festivities or mourning, and indicate with their touches the relevance of certain people, either at the time of their death, or in other extraordinary events.

That is why bells reach beyond religious meaning, without forgetting it, since they become the voice of a community, its most intuitive and emotional sound symbol. The Valencian bell ringers have recovered in recent years more than 300 manual rings of Bells.