Nigeria · Sacred / Ritual / Religious Craft Objects
Hawan Sallah / Hawan Daushe (specific procession names within the Durbar); babban riga (large ceremonial robe)
The combined leatherwork, weaving, dyeing, embroidery, and blacksmithing craft producing the elaborate horse trappings and rider regalia of the Durbar festival, a cavalry procession and royal-homage tradition held during Eid celebrations across the Hausa-Fulani emirates of northern Nigeria, most prominently Kano, Katsina, Zaria, and Sokoto. Riders and their horses are adorned in flowing embroidered robes (babban riga), turbans, beadwork, and richly decorated horse trappings combining colorful velvet, gold threadwork, and metal ornaments, produced through skills UNESCO's own inscription documentation identifies as transmitted primarily through informal training and hands-on practice within craft groups. Dating to a military parade tradition over 200 years old, when horses were essential to emirate defense, the festival today functions as both a display of chivalric heritage and an active, thriving craft-tourism economy.
Risk level: Stable · Related to 'Durbar,' inscribed 2016 on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity as a Nigeria-specific element (file 00901, alongside the related Argungu International Fishing and Cultural Festival)
The construction of Ijele, the largest and most monumental masquerade of Sub-Saharan Africa, built by Igbo communities of Anambra State for celebrations, burial ceremonies, and harvest festivals during the dry season.
The climbing, incision, and sap-collection craft producing palm wine from oil palm and raffia palm trees, practiced across southern and eastern Nigeria among the Yoruba, Igbo, Ijaw, and other ethnic groups.
The tanning, natural-dyeing, and finishing of goat hides into soft, durable leather by artisans of Kano and Sokoto in northern Nigeria, historic hubs of the trans-Saharan trade for centuries.
The artisanal, small-scale extraction of rubellite and paraiba tourmaline from granite pegmatite deposits in Oyo State, southwestern Nigeria, one of only three commercial sources of paraiba tourmaline in the world (alongside Brazil and…
The carving of Gelede wooden helmet-mask headdresses by Yoruba sculptors of southwestern Nigeria and the Ketu region of the Republic of Benin, worn atop the head during Gelede masquerade performances honoring the spiritual power of elderly…
The lost-wax casting of bronze and brass into commemorative heads, plaques, bells, and figurative sculpture by the Igun Eronmwon guild of Benin City, Edo State — the highest-ranking guild of visual artists within the historic Benin…
The hand-weaving of the tallit, the Jewish prayer shawl, on traditional looms in Jerusalem's Old City, a craft with roots reaching back to antiquity in the Holy Land, where Jewish artisans historically dominated the weaving and dyeing…
The transformation of a ram's or other kosher animal's horn into a shofar, the ceremonial trumpet blown during Jewish High Holiday services, particularly Rosh Hashanah, when one hundred blasts punctuate the synagogue liturgy as a call to…
The knife-carving of intricate decorative patterns into a thick layer of sarooj, a traditional plaster material, applied to the mihrab -- the prayer niche indicating the direction of Mecca -- within Omani mosques dating from the 13th to…
The two-stage collaborative creation of nkisi, sacred power figures produced by the Kongo peoples of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (and neighboring Angola), through the sequential work of two distinct ritual specialists.
A distinctive bridal henna tradition specific to Misrata, Libya's coastal city, in which a wool rope (nira) is used instead of a cone applicator to wrap the bride's hands and feet in a fishnet pattern, directly reflecting the city's deep…
The carving of small wooden yanda figures by the Zande (Azande) people, whose territory spans the Democratic Republic of the Congo, South Sudan, and the Central African Republic.