Na Tcha Beliefs & Customs gets 2 inheritors
The local government has designated the officially recognised inheritors of seven statutorily protected items of Macau’s intangible cultural heritage, comprising eight individuals, as it has designated two residents as the inheritors of one of these seven intangible cultural heritage items, Na Tcha Beliefs and Customs.
Cultural Affairs Bureau (IC) President Deland Leong Wai Man announced the list of the eight inheritors during a press briefing after a closed-door regular meeting of the government-appointed Cultural Heritage Council at the Macau Cultural Centre (CCM) in Nape on Thursday.
Macau currently has 24 statutorily protected items of intangible cultural heritage, comprising 12 items listed in December 2019 and 12 items listed in October last year.
According to Leong, the eight inheritors for the seven intangible cultural heritage items comprise Tsang Tak Hang (曾德衡) for Religious Figure Woodcarving, Ng Peng Chi (吳炳鋕) for Taoist Ritual Music, Au Kuan Cheong (區均祥) for Cantonese Naamyam (Narrative Songs), Chan Kin Chun (陳鍵銓) for A-Ma Beliefs and Customs, Cheang Kun Kuong (鄭權光) and Ip Tat (葉達) for Na Tcha Beliefs and Customs, Lo Seng Chung (羅盛宗) for Tou Tei (“Earth God”) Beliefs and Customs, and Miguel de Senna Fernandes for Patuá Theatre.
The Cultural Heritage Protection Law defines cultural heritage as comprising intangible cultural heritage and tangible cultural heritage that consists of classified immovable properties, i.e., cultural heritage construction structures, and movable properties.
According to the law, which came into force in March 2014, the Cultural Affairs Bureau shall choose and designate the officially recognised inheritors of statutorily protected items of intangible cultural heritage in Macau after consulting the government-appointed Cultural Heritage Council.
During the meeting on Thursday, members of the council agreed with the bureau’s decision to designate the eight inheritors for the seven intangible cultural heritage items.
It is now the first time that the local government has designated inheritors of statutorily protected items of intangible cultural heritage since it, for the first time, listed 12 items in 2019.
The government listed 12 more items of Macau’s intangible cultural heritage as statutorily protected ones in October last year.
Consequently, the other 17 intangible cultural heritage items currently still do not have their respective officially recognised inheritors.
The officially recognised inheritors of intangible cultural heritage items are required to organise and hold various activities, including promotional campaigns, aiming to ensure the protection of the items, and they are also required to submit a report to the bureau once every year detailing their work on protecting the items, according to the Cultural Heritage Protection Law and the Cultural Affairs Bureau’s official guidelines on the management of Macau’s intangible cultural heritage.
Leong said during Thursday’s press briefing that the government will award the eight newly recognised inheritors certificates and cash rewards in due course.
Leong did not mention the amount of each monetary award.
This undated handout photo downloaded from the Cultural Affairs Bureau’s (IC) cultural heritage website yesterday shows a lion dance outside A-Ma Temple in celebration of the birth of the Mazu sea goddess.
