Harmony of Beauty and Well-Being
By Dr. Amina Melikova, Director of the Azerbaijan National Carpet Museum
Carpet weaving is an integral part of the life of Azerbaijanis. Since ancient times, carpets have been widely used in the everyday life of the Azerbaijani people. Importance of a carpet in a life of an Azerbaijani can be expressed in one sentence: Every person in Azerbaijan is born on a carpet and dies on a carpet. Every moment of our life is connected with a carpet. And this is not accidental. Azerbaijan’s favourable climate and convenient geographical conditions, as well as the semi-nomadic life of ancient Azerbaijanis, determined the unconditional dominance of this craft in traditional Azerbaijani culture.
Twice a year, various tribes inhabiting the territory of Azerbaijan and engaged in cattle breeding moved to winter – plain (gyshlag) or summer – mountain (yaylag) pastures. Having settled in a new place, they constructed a tent alachig, a local variety of a yurt as a traditional dwelling for nomads. The alachig was covered with felt on top, while its interior was completely covered with carpets. The floor was first covered with mats cheten and hasir and various types of flat-woven carpets (palas, kilim, zili), and then with pile carpets, which were also used to cover the walls of the alachig.
“They sit on the floor, on the carpet… There is no person, who would not sit on the carpet…” mentioned in the memoirs of English travellers who visited Shirvan in the 16th century.
The construction elements of the tent were decorated with multi-coloured tasseled cords. Also, carpet bags of various purposes were hung on them: duz torbasi (a salt bag), gashigdan (a bag for wooden spoons), guzgu torbasi (a bag for a mirror), girkhilig torbasi (a bag for scissors intended for shearing sheep) and many other items. All this gave the interior a festive look. The overall ensemble was complemented by such forms of upholstered furniture as elongated carpet pillows (bashalty) and a carpet chest mafrash, stuffed with wool.
If you research the museum collection, in addition to the above mentioned small carpet products, you can see such varieties as chuval (a sack), heyba and khurjun (saddle bags of different sizes), chanta (a bag), jorab (wool socks), chul (a horsecloth), dava bazayi (a camel decoration) and many others. All of these are not just items that were used in the everyday life of Azerbaijanis. In the traditional culture of Azerbaijanis, each item was strictly intended for a specific function and therefore had a special value. Many of the above were included in the must-have dowry list, which a girl, starting from the age of 10, had to weave by herself. All of these items became family heirlooms and were passed down through the female line.
Among the items that were included in the dowry, along with carpets and khurjuns, there were 12 mafrashes, which should be outlined.
In Nizami Ganjavi’s Khosrow and Shirin poem when describing the scene of Khosrow’s hunt mentioned:
With jewellery and treasury hidden in silk mafrashes, From dawn until late, Hundreds of camels move.
The word mafrash is of Arabic origin. In Arabic it has several meanings: cradle, tablecloth, carpet. In the Turkic ethnic tradition, this term denotes a kind of carpet chest or rectangular carpet bag, in which bedding and clothes were stored or transported. On average, the dimensions of the mafrash were from 1 to 1.20 m in length, half a meter in width and half a meter in depth. As a rule, they were made in different kinds of interweaving and wrapping techniques such as zili, kilim, sumakh or palas, sometimes in the pile technique. Thus, it was a container that was extremely durable. Some types of mafrashes were so dense in texture that even after being under the rain for 10 hours, moisture was not allowed inside.
For special cases, mafrashes were woven from silk as per the classics of medieval Azerbaijani literature.
Mafrashes were covered with jejim on top, and loops were sewn along the upper perimeter. A rope was passed through these loops, which was used to tighten the mafrash that was also equipped with two woolen or leather handles. The structure and principles of creating mafrashes is that each detail involved in the process of making this “carpet cradle” has its own special designation, right down to the threads from which the sides of the product were sewn together.
In the nomadic life of cattle breeders, a mafrash is an absolutely irreplaceable item. When moving from the mountains to the valleys with the onset of winter, and in the spring – from the lowlands to summer pastures in the mountains, large items such as mattresses, blankets and clothes were carried in it. The largest and strongest animals – camels, horses, mules – were loaded with mafrashes, and to achieve balance, they were always woven in pairs. This voluminous and heavy load was secured to the animals with a carpet band orkan, 5-10 cm wide and 6-10 m long, woven from mixed yarn based on sheep and goat wool. One end of the orkan was a 2-3 cm square, while a wooden cross or iron ring doganag was attached to the other end.
In addition to transportation to the nomadic camps, the dowry to the groom’s house – bedding, bedspreads, and the bride’s clothes were also brought in mafrashes.
Just like any other carpet product, mafrashes were decorated with traditional ornaments, depending on the region. Geometric patterns were often composed in such a way that the schemes contained signs of the four primary elements – sun, air, water and earth, thereby symbolising the eternal cycle of existence. Also, stylised animals and birds figures and plant motifs were used in the design of mafrashes.
The museum’s collection includes mafrashes created in Gazakh, Karabakh, Ganja, Baku and Shirvan. Featuring characteristics of various carpet weaving centres, with their bright patterns, harmonious rhythm of lines and colours, mafrashes, in addition to their functional purpose, invariably became an interior decoration – both in the homes of nomads and in the houses of the settled population. Frequently, mafrashes of different schools deffired by their unique ornament, used only in this particular example. Sometimes different techniques are combined in one item in such a way that creates the effect of embroidery or inlay. Due to the different thickness of the threads used in the ornament, patterns on the mafrashes look more convex and individual. The same motif can be placed horizontally, vertically or in a checkerboard pattern.
All this, combined with a huge variety of traditional images and symbols offered by craftsmen in various colours and shades, leads to the creation of products that, in addition to their direct functional purpose, turn into the masterpieces.
As already noted, carpets and carpet products, in virtue of a number of factors engaged in the process of creation, are, first of all, the element of nomadic culture. As an ancient type of craft, representing, predominantly, a functional value, carpets and carpet products were widely made and used by other nomadic and semi-nomadic peoples on the territory of central part of Eurasia, also known as Great Steppe, in Turkey, Iran, South Azerbaijan, Afghanistan and Pakistan until Siberia and the Altai range. For the most part, these regions constitute a single Turkic world with a single system of sacred values and symbols.
In each of these regions, mafrash is known under different names. But in Azerbaijan itself, in its various regions, we come across such designations of this item as farmash, mafraj. For example, in the Shirvan region, mafrash is called narpaj, since the designation of a male camel sounds like nar.
In total, the collection of the Azerbaijan National Carpet Museum contains more than 300 mafrashes made in a carpet technique. Created in the traditions of different regional schools of Azerbaijan, mafrashes are of great value not only as carriers of ethnic culture, but also as items, along with carpets, directly reflecting the aesthetic and spiritual values of Azerbaijani people. The museum’s collection also includes such a unique example as a set of the 19th century, consisting of two mafrashes and a khurjun, decorated in the same design and in the same colour scheme.
All this is undoubtedly of interest to both the general public and researchers (ethnographers, historians, cultural scientists) – not only in Azerbaijan, but also in other Turkic speaking countries. Just as Azerbaijani carpets invariably attract people around the world, the numerous and diverse mafrashes from the collection of the Azerbaijan National Carpet Museum, presented in the context of other regions and cultures, will definitely attract attention in various parts of Europe and Asia.
From this point of view, the traveling exhibition project demonstrating mafrashes, the most striking examples of carpet product, seems predominant as this collection reflects, on the one hand, the uniqueness of the culture of the nomadic tribes of Azerbaijan as their worldview and way of life, and on the other hand, it is an integral part of the unified system of the Turkic world.
Also, it is worth remembering that a carpet and carpet products are not a dogma. This is a living craft, a lifestyle, a system of values that is relevant to this day. This is an art that can exist organically not only within the traditional way of life, but also in accordance with the modern understanding of beauty and harmony. Moreover, built according to the laws of nature and folk wisdom, according to the laws tested by time, carpet patterns are able to bring a sense of stability, rationality and order to modern interiors. In other words, even today, in an age of shaken values, a carpet is able to give a modern person that harmonious perception of the world without which our existence is impossible.
Dr. Amina Melikova, Director of the Azerbaijan National Carpet Museum