On December 2, 2015, within the 10th session of the Intergovernmental Committee for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage at Convention on Intangible Heritage of UNESCO, held in Windhoek, Namibia, National holiday Surva in Pernik was included in the Representative list of UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.
For the importance of inclusion of national element in the Representative List of UNESCO bears witness that, it consists of all those forms of expression (customs, dance, song and craft traditions), which testify to the diversity of intangible cultural heritage. The inclusion of element in the list, along with the national conservation measures ensures conservation and transmission from generation to generation of living cultural and historical heritage of the Bulgarians, its stability over time and increase its visibility among the public.
The presence of elements in the list of UNESCO strengthens guarantees of tradition as a continuous form of communication between people from different social, professional and age groups. Thus maintaining the role of Surva as a “bridge between generations”, since it increases the attractiveness of the Surva games for young people and increase their self-esteem as followers of tradition and interpreters of cultural heritage of their local communities.
The entry of the holiday in the Representative List is actual recognition for the local community, which accepts Surva as a symbolic representative of their own cultural identity.
In preparation of the nomination actively participated representatives of the Institute of Ethnology and Folklore Studies with Ethnographic Museum – BAS, the Regional History Museum in Pernik and local survakari communities across Pernik region.
Sozopol Foundation as a representative of the NGO sector, partner of UNESCO and a member of the NGO-UNESCO Liaison Committee worked actively to promote the National Holiday Surva. In this regard, the Foundation continues to promote Surva by preparing project under the Programme for the participation of UNESCO 2015-2016, the project has a working title “People’s ritual Surva – living human treasure”. The presentation of Surva through the UNESCO programme will strengthen and increase interest in the cultural heritage of Bulgaria globally.