Dominican Republic · Feathered costume and mask making for theatrical dance-drama
Guloya / Buloya
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 Afro-Caribbean immigrants from the English-speaking Lesser Antilles (Antigua, Montserrat, Tortola, Nevis, St. Kitts) who arrived to work the sugar mills in the late 19th century. UNESCO proclaimed the tradition in 2005 and inscribed it on the Representative List in 2008, making it the only Dominican carnival tradition with that specific designation; the craft and its wearers now sustain essentially a single surviving troupe performing the tradition's central piece, a biblical David and Goliath story, from which the name 'Guloya' (from 'Goliath') is itself derived.
Risk level: Critically Endangered · Proclaimed by UNESCO in 2005 and formally inscribed on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in 2008 — the only Dominican carnival tradition to carry this specific UNESCO Representative List designation
The making of the congos — double-headed drums played with the hands — central to the ceremonial practice of the Cofradía del Espíritu Santo de los Congos de Villa Mella, an Afro-Dominican religious brotherhood founded by African and…
The cultivation, curing, fermentation, and hand-rolling of premium cigars centered on Santiago de los Caballeros and the neighboring Cibao Valley and Esperanza growing region of the Dominican Republic — today the world's single largest…
The hand-modeling and painting of ceramic figurines deliberately left without facial features, created in their present form by Dominican sculptor Liliana Mera Limé in 1981 in the town of Moca, Cibao region.
The hand-crafting of elaborate horned carnival masks — most famously the Diablo Cojuelo (limping devil) of La Vega — built over a clay mold with layered papier-mâché, then sanded, painted, and decorated with mirrors, bells, feathers, and…
The hand-mining and lapidary working of amber — fossilized resin from the extinct legume tree Hymenaea protera — from narrow, hazardous vertical shafts across the Cordillera Septentrional (Santiago and Puerto Plata provinces) and secondary…
The hand-mining and lapidary working of larimar, a rare blue pectolite found nowhere else on Earth outside the Los Chupaderos deposit in the Bahoruco mountains near Barahona, in the southern Dominican Republic.
Carving and assembly of smaller (50-80cm), articulated leather shadow puppets for southern Thai Nang Talung shadow theater.
Carving and piercing of large dried buffalo hide panels (1-2m tall) to create the silhouette figures used in Nang Yai shadow theater.
Hinged, string-operated wooden masks carved to open during ceremonial performance and reveal a second figure within, most often depicting one being transforming into another, worn with a shredded cedar-bark costume during Winter Dance and…
The hand-carving and hand-painting of balsa or cedar wood masks by the Boruca (Brunca) people of Costa Rica's Talamanca mountains, worn each New Year during the Danza de los Diablitos, a three-day ritual re-enactment of the Boruca's…
The fabrication of Venetian Carnival masks in papier-mache or leather using plaster molds, hand-painted and decorated with lacquer, gilding, and textile ornamentation — a tradition with medieval guild origins (Arte dei Maschereri, 1436)…
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.