Arts & Cultures

This page of the HANACS website details the combined Arts and Culture of the Himalayan lands (both central, Nepal and adjacent states of Northern India, and of Bhutan, and to a certain secondary extent the more eastern and western Himalaya Mountain range lands).

This page has been created as link to both the HANACS website ‘Transcultural Learning’ (https://uknfs.org/transcultural-learning/) and ‘Arts & Cultures’ (https://uknfs.org/hanacs-resources-links/) pages. It also links to Pan-Himalayan culture and arts tourism, and documentary filmmaking.

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An overview of both Arts and Culture specific forms and types covered by the HANACS educational and transcultural learning vision, mission, purposes is given here. It links to our current and envisaged future international initiatives, and the HANACS. UKNFS precursor Nepali arts and culture sharing initiatives, activities, and resources.

The richness and ancient times to current, of the Himalayan lands arts and cultures is it can reasonably be stated, perhaps the most diverse in the world whether from migration to endangered ancient heritages points of view. As such it is a globally important region of the first order. The treasure of its arts and cultures, traditional, ancient, and contemporary constitutes a world treasure, and is especially attractive to the West. In this there are dynamics, lessons, inspirations for the latter, whether from post-colonial era experience, to more ancient migration, up to priceless parallels that apply in the West, in the British Isles nation states, and cosmopolitan dynamics.

The human experience, societies and lands in tradition and transition, such as the Himalaya comprise, all inspire and matter in the inspiration and experience they provide. In this the day to day as much as the monumental, matter, where at individual as well as social and state levels, arts and culture are concerned.

Preserving ancient arts and cultural heritage at spiritual personal as well as custom and religious and social levels, matter in the Himalayan lands, as do informal, contemporary level arts and cultures, impacted by respect for individuality and diversity, climate change, and of course environmental friendly tourism, and especially friendships that transcend national borders and international (Eastern and Western) cultural zones.

The Arts:

We include definition of Arts to include both the main internationally known categories of ‘The Arts’ (fine arts, performing arts, etc.) AND also broader level arts (either directly arts/creative in nature, or activities and created products that have substantial arts and crafts aspects: such as popular music, coinage, philately, street art, etc.)

culinary and drinks, agricultural. health & wellbeing/therapeutic; crafts; architecture, music and song, fine arts; literature; performing [film, theatre, street performances], religious & belief related [pagodas, monasteries, cathedrals, mosques, shrines, etc.), sculpture sand statuary, scripts and related, metalwork arts (including coinage), and in some instances, sports and athletics (billiards/snooker/pool, football, Gaelic football, hurling to ice hockey, etc.), card and board games, martial arts, military arts and associated weaponry and architecture, social & political (such as with the Taj Mahal, French Chateaux, Anglo-Norman castles, etc.), clothes and clothing, murals, garden and parks arts and landscaping, street art, tattoos, body art, jewellery, philately, …

And to these, in a class of their own, esoteric arts of all kinds, including shamanic, tantric, and occult.

Cultures:

The Arts permeate almost all aspects of culture, at individual, whole of society, and given group levels, as will be readily seen from the Arts areas and examples listed above. However, to these we can add from the point of view of HANACS educational activity and its recording and sharing of cultures, especially in its transcultural learning purposes, other topics and areas.

These include, but are not limited to, for example place names, about peoples (race/ethnicity, but caste, class, etc.), and languages. They also include history, both social/peoples level, and formal (given states and regions and districts).

We also include food and sport, for example under cultures as well as Arts. Folklore in all its manifestations, and with it legends (religious/spiritual/beliefs and other), and popular traditions and local and regional to national levels festivals we include too under the ’Cultures’ category. The transcultural learning experience of the most commonplace – yet direct, lived, immersive — kind must be culinary (particularly home cookery with recipes shared and passed down across the generations, as well as hybrid fusion of different culinary traditions leading to new food types and varieties being created, are two examples). This especially from the perspective of the story of food ingredients in given dishes and food types.

Under culture, we also include the record and story of migrations, including in particular fusion of different cultures in new hybrid cultures that have roots in two or more traditional cultures of different peoples. This is a particular subject of focus and interest to the HANACS.

Storytelling and related: ‘Heroes’ and ‘villains,’ ‘monsters’ and ‘angels’ (and sometimes transference of these from one age’s culture to that of another: old gods becoming saints, etc.), beatification and demonisation, etc. all of these come under the headings of folklore, religious and beliefs, are threads in every culture that are portrayed in many different art forms, and have ever been so.

Turning to the West and the East — English ‘murder mysteries,’ Italian opera, etc. Sauerkraut (a German dish) popularity in France, ‘fish and chips’ [from England], pizza [from Italy), curry [from South Asia, particularly India, but Nepal too], ‘Bollywood,’ ‘Hollywood,’ the name of ‘limericks’ for a form of rhyming poetry [originating in Ireland], also from Ireland the name ‘banshee’ and most famous of all the name and brand ‘Guinness,’ from Scotland ‘Hogmanay’ [Scottish New Year] ‘Tartan’ and ‘bagpipes,’ are all examples of global culture related names. And perhaps most famous of all, ‘the Olympics’ [from ancient Greece, as with the term ‘labyrinth,’ and ‘martial’] and the name ‘Capital’ [derived from ‘Capitol’: one of the famous seven hills of Rome].

Whilst directly from the Himalaya the names of ‘The Yeti,’ ‘Shangri La,’ and of course the ‘Sherpas,’ and ‘Mustang’ [a district of Himalayan Nepal, also associated with a famous American WW2 fighter plane], and the globally known ‘Darjeeling’ tea, also testify to global cultures of various kinds that have specific peoples and places origins.

The transcultural learning experience of the most commonplace – yet direct, lived, immersive — kind must be culinary (particularly home cookery with recipes shared and passed down across the generations, as well as hybrid fusion of different culinary traditions leading to new food types and varieties being created, are two examples). This especially from the perspective of the story of food ingredients in given dishes and food types.