FAQ

The National Committee for the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Timor-Leste -KOMNAS PKI-TL is a common platform to work together to safeguard the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Timor-Leste.

Tais is a traditional textile that is a cultural heritage of Timor-Leste that our ancestors left from generation to generation. Tais plays an important role in the lives of Timorese, from their birth to death. They wear tais to welcome guests, and to show their cultural identity and social class. Tais is also used as a valuable object; like the berlake that the man’s family gives to the woman’s family. They are used not only to strengthen family relationships, but also to pay fines when someone breaks the rules in the community.

Intangible cultural heritage – is the practices, representations, expressions, knowledge and skills as well as the instruments, objects, artifacts and cultural spaces associated with them that communities, groups and, ultimately, individuals recognize as part of their cultural heritage, generated from generation to generation and continuous transmission and creation of communities and groups based on their environment, with their interaction with nature giving them a sense of identity and continuity;

Safeguarding intangible cultural heritage refers to actions, policies and measures aimed at protecting, preserving and transmitting to future generations cultural expressions that are an essential part of a people’s identity and diversity. This includes oral traditions, social practices, rituals, knowledge and techniques associated with nature, as well as craft skills.