The elements of the Damask Rose and the traditional shadow fiction are guest of the Days of Syrian Culture

Damascus-Sana

Preserving the Syrian heritage, in all its material and non-material terms, is an endeavor in which governmental and civil agencies make every effort to confirm its rootedness in our identity by registering it on the list of the intangible human heritage of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), as was done with the imagination of the shadow and the Levantine rose.

These two elements of the Syrian intangible heritage were present today in a live and direct presentation of the Shadow Fantasy Theater, which dealt with the Damian Rose, in addition to an introductory lecture and open dialogues organized by the Heritage Directorate of the Ministry of Culture and the Living Heritage Program at the Syrian Trust for Development on the occasion of the Syrian Culture Days.

The lecture, hosted by the Arab Cultural Center in Abu Rummaneh, focused on the history of these two elements and their inclusion in the UNESCO list, and the impact of this on their preservation plans, the efforts of the Syrian Secretariat in this regard, and the national projects it carries out in cooperation with governmental and civil agencies and the local community that serve and support their preservation for generations.

In a statement to SANA, the Director of Heritage at the Ministry of Culture, Eng. Rola Akili, explained that the programs for preserving the intangible cultural heritage in the ministry include three projects, which are the archiving and documentation of the images, videos, reels, and folk costumes maintained by the Heritage Directorate to be available to researchers and scholars specialized in documenting the elements of intangible heritage and adding elements New to the current list, in cooperation with the Syrian Trust and promoting this heritage to be accessible to all, along with holding heritage festivals, seminars, lectures and television programs.

Razan Mahameed, who is in charge of managing the Living Heritage Program at the Municipality, explained that they are working hard to preserve the elements of intangible heritage through projects to inventory them and reconnect them with local communities, pointing out that the program works annually to prepare nomination files for heritage elements in UNESCO, where the file for making musical instruments was presented as a joint file. With Iran, it is scheduled to be evaluated at the end of this year and the Al-Qudood Aleppo file is pending its outcome next year.

The Supervisor of the Damascene Rose project in the Living Heritage Program at the Municipality, Reem Al-Ibrahim, spoke about the association of this plant with Syria from time immemorial until it was considered a symbol of it and its capital Damascus, indicating the programs launched by the Municipality to promote the investment of the Damascene rose as a food, aromatic and medicinal product, and its cooperation with farmers regarding its cultivation in order to preserve this element and prevent it from disappearing Or exposure to danger.

Sherine Nadaf, the supervisor of the project of preserving and reviving the shadow imagination component in the Amanat’s Living Heritage Program, elaborated on explaining the components of this heritage component and the stages of registration and preservation that the program is doing after it was threatened with extinction by training young imaginaries to stage theatrical performances on shadow imagination, noting that this element Currently its condition is good and work is continuing to develop it.

Al-Mukhayel Alaa Al-Sheikh, who performed the play today, pointed out that the show focused on introducing the famous characters of Karakuz and Awaz, and explained the beauty of the Levantine rose through a dialogue that distinguished the Syrian spirit, indicating that he had undergone training in the Syrian Secretariat on the mechanism of dealing with shadow fantasy theater and the details of the performance and making dolls, which contributed to refining his talent because He has experiences in acting and puppet theater.

Rasha Mahfoud