Showing 1 - 10 of 48
Indian festival of lights Diwali joins Unesco heritage list
AFP, Published on 10/12/2025
» NEW DELHI — India's festival of lights, Diwali, was on Wednesday announced as an addition to the intangible cultural heritage list of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (Unesco), sparking celebrations.
Swiss seek Unesco listing for yodelling
AFP, Published on 05/12/2025
» LUCERNE, Switzerland - Switzerland hopes to have yodelling recognised by the United Nations this month to help protect the ancestral sing-song tradition of the Alpine nation's herders and shepherds.
India's divine designs meld with AI at Durga Puja festival
AFP, Published on 29/09/2025
» KOLKATA - Millions in India's eastern city of Kolkata will draw on millennia-old traditions when they celebrate the Hindu festival of Durga Puja this week with street parties and worshipping idols in elaborate pavilions.
Taliban change tune towards Afghan heritage sites
AFP, Published on 22/04/2025
» GOWARJAN, Afghanistan - In March 2001, the Taliban shocked the world by dynamiting the giant Buddhas of Bamiyan. Two decades later, they are back in power and claim to be making strides to preserve Afghanistan's millennia-old heritage, including pre-Islamic relics.
Chinese lion dance troupe shrugs off patriarchal past
AFP, Published on 27/01/2025
» SHANTOU (CHINA) - Flinging her male teammate into the air, performer Lin Xinmeng practises China's world-famous lion dance with a troupe that is shrugging off centuries of patriarchal norms.
India readies for mammoth Hindu festival of 400 million pilgrims
AFP, Published on 10/01/2025
» NEW DELHI — The world's largest gathering of humanity begins in India on Monday with the opening of the Kumbh Mela, a six-week Hindu festival organisers expect to attract up to 400 million pilgrims.
Fading colours: Bangladesh's threatened rickshaw art
AFP, Published on 21/12/2023
» DHAKA - Vibrant greens and swirling yellows, film stars, birds and architecture: Bangladesh's bicycle rickshaw drivers have for decades used their transport as a unique moving canvas of urban folk art.
Kenya's young Maasai reconnect with their culture at Eunoto ceremony
AFP, Published on 20/08/2023
» KILGORIS (KENYA) - With beaming smiles, their hair dyed a red ochre and adorned with a ceremonial headdress of ostrich feathers, the young Maasai men are busy taking selfies.
Paris riverside booksellers refuse to budge for Olympic Games
AFP, Published on 28/07/2023
» PARIS - The open-air booksellers who line the Seine in Paris are refusing to be moved, despite concerns from French authorities over security for the opening of the Olympic Games on the river.
Japan's macho cheerleaders fight to save a tradition
AFP, Published on 10/07/2023
» TOKYO - They are drenched in sweat, their hands bloodied from clapping, and their voices hoarse from shouting -- meet Japan's predominantly male and unashamedly macho "leadership section" cheerleaders.