The UN is all about preserving our heritage (and stopping wars, and feeding starving people and planning to invade and conquer America, of course), and has released a list with the boring title of "Forty-six new elements added to Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage" but which translates as the genuinely exciting 46 Great Things We Need To Keep.
We skimmed past the Azerbaijani carpet weavers and the art of Alençon needle lace-making, were neither here not there on the matter of Colombian Marimba music, but our interest was piqued by the Croatian Gingerbread Makers, and we were positively excited by the inclusion of our favorite sporting event ever, the Kirkpinar Oil Wrestling Festival. The ritual is splendid, a snippet of which is "the oil man oils the wrestlers assisted by the towel holder, before the warm-up exercises and greetings." An "oil man" and a "towel holder"? Splendid!
The festival takes place in Edirne, once a year: official contacts are here, should you wish to plan a trip. Which you really should.
