Georgian feast recognized as part of intangible cultural heritage
The Georgian tradition of feasting and toasting has been awarded the intangible cultural heritage status, the country’s national agency for protection of cultural heritage announced the other day, reports JAMNEWS.
The news has sparked a flurry of jokes on Facebook.
“Hurray, my friends! Binges officially allowed now,” a member of the Georgian parliament and leader of the European Georgia party Sergi Kapanadze wrote.
“Does that mean those who pay insufficient attention to what the tamada [toastmaster] says [during a feast] or dare to leave the feast before it’s over will have to be punished as cultural heritage offenders?” a user asked.
Some other items on Georgia’s intangible cultural heritage list are: the traditional ‘kvevri’ technology of making wine (using earthenware vessels for fermenting, storing and ageing wine), Georgian alphabet, and even a funeral rite.
Georgia joined the UNESCO Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage in 2008, pledging to register and protect its cultural non-materials.
