Magic Tour of World’s ICH

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Travelling the World of Living Heritage

2013 Developing ICH-Related Digital Contents Project

Wouldn’t it be nice if the old stories of our grandparents and the unique lifestyles of different people from around the world could be delivered to you in a video format that could be accessed whenever you want? This is now possible through understanding intangible cultural heritage, an animation series that informs children about intangible heritage, which is an unfamiliar topic for most children.

With this five-episode pilot project ‘Magic Tour of World’s ICH’, children are given the opportunity to see what intangible heritage is while they also learn about the elements and practices on the UNESCO lists. The animation also includes vivid real-life photos of festivals and performances to help capture the children’s imagination.

The series follows an adventurous and curious girl named Ara, who goes on a magical journey to find out about intangible heritage from around the world. In the first episode, Ara is visited by Ichy and Cappy, two fairies who protect intangible heritage. Using their magic, Ichy and Cappy take Ara through historical places where intangible heritage elements are practised. On this journey, which spans the five episodes in the series, Ara learns about the links among historical sites and traditional skills and customs as well as other facts about intangible heritage. Among other places, she visits Brazil where she learns about yaokwa, a ritual of the Enawene Nawe people; she watches folk dance and listens to folk music in Hungary; and she sees the process of lenj boat building in Iran.


While she is fascinated by the various heritage elements that exist around the world, after she hears that some of these elements are disappearing, she begins to despair. Ichy and Cappy give Ara a sense of hope by showing her places and practices that help to safeguard the fragile and diverse heritage. Through her journey, Ara realizes that the values and assets owned by communities, groups, and individuals from all over the world play an important role in creating diversity and fostering an environment of cultural tolerance, which both contribute to sustainable development.

Animation Magic Tour of World’s ICH   Animation Magic Tour of World’s ICH

As part of ICHCAP’s mandate of disseminating information, this series aims to provide children with heritage information that they would otherwise not know about. By creating a fun background while leading the children through the interesting world of intangible cultural heritage, the series helps to make heritage more accessible to younger generations. Most of the appeal for young audiences come from the friendly characters and their cute antics—the episodes are informative and entertaining at the same time. As the following list of episode titles suggest, the series is fairly comprehensive in scope.

In creating the series, ICHCAP is helping to raise awareness among the younger generations about the importance of intangible cultural heritage as well as the need for safeguarding it. This means that the project is properly aligned to the safeguarding ambitions outlined in the 2003 UNESCO Convention, especially in terms of Article 14, which stresses the importance of creating information programmes that are aimed towards the general public and younger generations in particular. Depending on the success of the project, ICHCAP may produce additional videos as part of its project plans for programmes related to disseminating information.