Ethiopian festival inscribed as UNESCO’s Intangible Cultural Heritage
The Shuwalid is a three-day festival celebrated every year by the Harari people of Ethiopia.
The festival signifies the conclusion of a six-day fast intended to make up for missed meals during Ramadan.
The festival was inscribed as an Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity at the eighteenth session of UNESCO’s Intergovernmental Committee for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage from December 5 to December 9 in Botswana.
Following the inscription of the Shuwalid festival, the city of Harari became the first city in the East African nation to become home to two cultures included on UNESCO’s World Heritage List after the inscription of the Fortified Historic Town, Jugol in 2006.
The 2023 list also included nominations of cultures from other African countries such as Nigeria’s Sango Festival, Procession and celebrations of Prophet Mohammed's birthday in Sudan, Angola’s Sona, drawings and geometric figures on sand, Morocco’s popular poetic and music art Malhun, Madagascar’s Hiragasy a performing art of the Central Highlands of Madagascar, and Mauritania’s Mahadra, a system for transmission of oral knowledge, among others.
