Mongolia · Mask Making / Religious Craft
цам (Tsam)
Tsam (цам) is the Mongolian Buddhist masked ritual dance tradition performed at monasteries — the Mongolian expression of the Cham masked dance found across the Himalayan Buddhist world. Mongolian tsam masks are among the largest in the world: the Mahakala (Gongor) masks can be 60-80cm tall and weigh up to 15kg — worn on the head for performances lasting several hours. The construction uses papier-mâché over clay forms (same principle as Newar festival masks, CRAFT-0561) but at architectural scale, with the critical addition of an internal bamboo frame that transfers the mask weight to the dancer's shoulders, not the head. The weight distribution calibration — the internal frame geometry that transfers load to shoulders — is the primary technical knowledge.
Risk level: Critically Endangered · Mongolia national ICH list
The making of the morin khuur — the two-stringed, horse-head-carved bowed fiddle considered Mongolia's national instrument and, since 2003, recognized by UNESCO as a Masterpiece of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity.
The painting of Buddhist devotional scroll images (thangka) in a distinctly Mongolian visual style that developed rapidly from the 18th century onward and achieved a recognizably independent regional idiom by the early 20th century,…
The Mongolian num (нум) — the composite recurve bow — is the most technically complex portable object in the nomadic craft vocabulary: a laminated structure of wood core, sinew backing, and horn belly that stores and releases energy more…
The deel (дээл) is the Mongolian wrapped robe worn by both men and women — the primary garment of nomadic life, adapted across four seasonal specifications (summer cotton, spring/autumn quilted, winter sheepskin, ceremonial silk) that…
The uni (уни) are the bent roof poles that radiate from the toono crown wheel to the top of the khana lattice wall, forming the conical roof structure of the ger.
Mongolian esgii (эсгий) is the primary structural and insulating material of nomadic life — used for ger wall panels, floor coverings, sleeping mats, saddlery, and winter clothing.
The hand-crafting of the vividly colored, feather-crowned costumes and decorated masks worn by Guloya dancer-performers of San Pedro de Macorís, the sole surviving expression of the Cocolo dance-drama tradition — descended from…
The carving of Hahoetal — the wooden masks used in Hahoe Byeolsingut Talnori, a satirical mask dance-drama performed as village ritual in the Andong region since the Goryeo Dynasty (918–1392) — designated Korea's National Treasure No.
The telpek (Телпек) is the large white or black Karakul sheepskin hat worn by Turkmen men — and one of the most immediately recognizable cultural identity objects of Turkmenistan.
The making of traditional Uzbek theatrical puppets — glove puppets (qol qoghirchoq), string marionettes (ip qoghirchoq), and puppets of varying scale (mayda qoghirchoq, small; katta qoghirchoq, large) — for a puppet theater tradition…
The Tuvalu traditional costume craft — the production of the distinctive Tuvaluan dance costume (titi) from pandanus leaf strips, dried grasses, and shells for the fatele (community dance) performances that are the defining cultural…
Dolls hand-formed from dried corn husks, deliberately made without a face, taught to children alongside a Three Sisters origin legend warning against vanity and self-regard — a distinct and openly shared craft, separate from any restricted…