Myanmar · Craft / Food and Plant Processing
လပတ်ရေ (Laphet Yei)
Shan cheroot making (လပတ်ရေ laphet yei) is the hand-rolling tradition producing Myanmar's distinctive green leaf-wrapped cheroots — cigars rolled from a combination of cured tobacco leaf, dried tamarind, palm sugar, and corn flour wrapped in a dried thanat leaf (Dipterocarpus tuberculatus) and a fresh green tomato leaf at the smoking end. The cheroot making tradition is centered at Inle Lake where cooperative workshops employ dozens of rollers — predominantly women — who achieve rolling speeds of 200–300 cheroots per day. The procedural knowledge centers on the tobacco blend composition (each workshop maintains a secret recipe), the leaf moistening technique for pliable wrapping, and the rolling tension that produces the characteristic even taper of the Shan cheroot — tighter at the smoking end, looser at the mouth end to allow even draw without resistance.
Risk level: Endangered · Not inscribed
Burmese silver repoussé (ငွေပုံ ngwe pon — 'shaped silver') is the silversmithing tradition of Myanmar — producing ceremonial bowls, betel containers, Buddha image stands, and personal ornaments through combined repoussé and chasing with a…
Inle Lake lotus fiber weaving (ကြာသီးထည် kyar thi hta — 'lotus stalk textile') is one of the rarest textile traditions in the world — practiced only on Inle Lake in Shan State, Myanmar, and in a small number of locations in Cambodia.
The sadaik (စာဒိုင်း) is the lacquered wooden chest used to store Buddhist palm-leaf manuscripts (parabaik) and paper manuscripts in Burmese Buddhist monasteries — one of the most functionally and aesthetically significant craft objects in…
Mandalay bronze casting (သံကြောင်း than kyaung) encompasses two related traditions: Buddha image casting using lost-wax technique, and temple bell casting using a clay mold system — both producing objects essential to Burmese Buddhist…
Pathein hti (ထီး — 'umbrella/parasol') is the traditional paper umbrella making tradition of Pathein (Bassein) in Ayeyarwady Region — Myanmar's primary umbrella-making center for over 200 years.
Burmese marionette making (ရမတ်ဇတ်ပွဲ yama zatpwe — 'Ramayana performance') is the craft tradition producing the articulated string puppets of Myanmar's classical marionette theater — a tradition that predates Burmese contact with Thai and…
The artisan fish smoking tradition of Hamburg — the cold and hot smoking of eels, salmon, and herring in traditional Räuchereiöfen (smoking ovens) using specific North German hardwood combinations (beech and alder), whose smoke character…
The grinding and blending of Dijon mustard — France's most internationally recognized condiment — from brown mustard seeds (Brassica juncea) macerated in verjuice (unripe grape juice, traditionally from Burgundy) or white wine.
The making of Cantal — one of the oldest cheeses in France, documented from Roman times — and Salers, its most traditional variant, which must be made exclusively in the buron (mountain shelter) from raw milk of the Salers breed during the…
The preparation of boule, Chad's national dish, a thick, stiff porridge made from millet or sorghum flour, staple grains specifically suited to the country's arid Sahelian landscape.
The making of Aachener Printen — the oldest documented German Lebkuchen tradition, predating the Nürnberger (CRAFT-1189) by at least a century, with Aachen Printen records dating from the 13th century when Aachen was the imperial…
The making of Bahraini halwa, a gelatinous, glossy-sheened dessert directly called the queen of Gulf sweets, perfected over some 200 years by the Showaiter family, whose historic preparation vessels are now displayed at the Bahrain…