Lithuania, Poland, and Ukraine plan to submit a joint application for the Christmas Eve dinner tradition to be put on UNESCO’s Intangible Cultural Heritage List.
“If we get all the necessary work done in time and if the expert commission from the National Inventory of Intangible Cultural Heritage and the Culture Ministry agree, the UNESCO application will be submitted by March 31,” Milda Valančiauskienė, head of cultural programs at the Secretariat of the Lithuanian National Commission for UNESCO, told BNS.
Otherwise, the application will be submitted next year, she added.
The initiative to have the Christmas Eve tradition listed as heritage came from Lithuania, according to Valančiauskienė, but specialists from all three countries are working on the application.
The tradition of the Christmas Eve dinner is typical of the area of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth that covered present-day Poland, Lithuania, Belarus and western Ukraine, which is why these countries share some common traditions.
“Christmas Eve is a special celebration that is unique to our cultural and historical region, and we want to show its uniqueness on a global scale. It would also be an opportunity for everyone to personally reflect on the tradition, its changes and enduring values, to record and adopt the knowledge and skills of elders related to Christmas Eve,” Valančiauskienė said.
Lithuania also plans to submit its application for the Easter palm to be put on the UNESCO Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity by March 31.
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