Chile will nominate the traditional family circus as a UNESCO World Heritage Site

Chile will present the family tradition circus, a popular artistic manifestation deeply rooted in the country’s cultural life, as a candidate to become a World Heritage Site of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (Unesco). Unlike the large industrial circus shows, the traditional Chilean circus is structured around families and clans that pass on their trade from generation to generation. Jugglers, trapeze artists, clowns, acrobats, lighting technicians, and stagehands learn from childhood to put on moving performances in an environment where home and tent are intertwined, assimilating arts through daily practice and community living.

You can also read: German parliament approves pension reform, against rebellion of conservative youth

One of the most distinctive features of this type of circus is the nomadic lifestyle of its members, with large caravans of vehicles traveling throughout the national territory, from the highlands in the north to Patagonia in the south, setting up and taking down their tents according to the season. Their itinerant nature has allowed the shows to reach the most remote areas of the country, rural corners, small towns, and peripheral neighborhoods in regions, offering culture and entertainment to hundreds of communities, transforming their arrival into an annual social event for some communes. Social fabric
The circus is more than its family and intimate dimension, but it supports dozens of trades that, without this cultural ecosystem, would disappear: from those who set up the tent to those who design the costumes and acts, each role is important, a specialized knowledge that draws on Latin American, European and local traditions that forged the circus as an experience since the 19th century. “There is no family in Chile that hasn’t gone to the circus and enjoyed it; that is something very valuable,” said the Undersecretary of Cultural Heritage, Carolina Pérez, who underlines the need for its preservation in times when this type of spectacle is no longer as frequented as in the past. “This cultural recognition will highlight a popular heritage of our country and supports this practice as a tradition that belongs not only to Chileans, but to the whole world. We are expectant of the final decision,” added the undersecretary through a statement. Along with this candidacy, other Latin American and Caribbean countries will also nominate their own cultural manifestations to be recognized as UNESCO World Heritage, including Cuban son, the representation of the Passion of Christ in Iztapalapa in Mexico, and the construction of quinchas in Panama. The Venezuelan joropo, the quartet from Córdoba, Argentina, the Haitian compas, the Paraguayan Ñai’upo art, the Aymara music and dance of Sarawja in Peru, the Feast of the Virgin of Guadalupe in Bolivia and the Christmas bram and sambai of Gales Point Manatee in Belize are added. The results of the candidacies will be announced after the deliberation of the Intergovernmental Committee for the Safeguarding of Intangible Cultural Heritage, which will hold its twentieth session from December 8 to 13 in New Delhi, India.