Embroidery - a widespread form of Kyrgyz folk art in the past

Embroidery

Embroidery is one of the most widespread forms of Kyrgyz folk art in the past. The skill of embroidery was usually taught from the age of 10-12. Women passed on their mastery of embroidery to their daughters and granddaughters.

National artistic style finds its most vivid expression in embroidery. It is manifested in the relationships of colors and in the richness of ornamentation. This type of applied art is a valuable source for revealing the unique features of culture and for studying cultural connections with other peoples.

Due to different historical circumstances of the southern Kyrgyz and their ethnic environment, embroidery in the south took on unique forms that distinguish it from the embroidery of northern Kyrgyz. While preserving many archaic features, southern Kyrgyz embroidery is characterized by significant diversity in technical techniques and materials, as well as in artistic means of representation.

We can judge the character of the embroidery that existed among the Kyrgyz in the past and its ornamentation based on the memories of elderly artisans and the individual samples preserved among the population. Many of these have been documented in photographs and drawings during expeditions in Southern Kyrgyzstan. Valuable data on southern Kyrgyz embroidery is contained in collections gathered by S. M. Dudins in the Alaï Valley and Eastern Turkestan, which are stored in the State Museum of Ethnography of the Peoples of the USSR. The Historical Museum of the Kyrgyz SSR provides quite a substantial amount of material for studying embroidery. As comparative material, we have used exhibits from the Museum of Arts of the Uzbek SSR and the Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography of the USSR Academy of Sciences.

M. S. Andreev showed great interest in the embroidery of the Kyrgyz (Pamir and Alai). Touching on the technique of embroidery and the quality of the embroideries, the author focused primarily on the ornamentation. He established a significant variety of ornamental motifs and revealed some mutual influences in the patterns embroidered by Tajik and Kyrgyz women.

There is no other information about the embroidery of southern Kyrgyz in the literature. Some information about northern Kyrgyz embroidery is provided in an article by F. Gavrilov. In analyzing the ornamentation of the Kyrgyz of Susamyr, the author uncovered analogies with the ornaments of Uzbeks, Kazakhs, and Kyrgyz of Pamir.

E. I. Makhova's work introduces the traditions of the embroidery art of northern Kyrgyz in the past and present.

The lack of information in the literature about the richness and uniqueness of Kyrgyz embroidery, which existed on items of nomadic life, can explain the erroneous assertion that embroidery art is a product of the creativity of only the sedentary population of Central Asia. Kyrgyz embroidery also did not gain wide recognition because, unlike Uzbeks and Tajiks, who sold their works in the markets of Central Asia, the embroidered items of the Kyrgyz, despite their abundance and diversity, were never objects of trade.

Southern Kyrgyz have two names for embroidery: "keshte" and "saimа," with the term "Keshte," of Tajik origin, being the most commonly used among embroiderers. Northern Kyrgyz use the term "saimа."

The embroidery of southern Kyrgyz that is available for our observation can be classified into three historical periods.

The more archaic embroidered items date back approximately 80-90 years. They were likely characteristic of the natural economy that prevailed in a patriarchal-feudal society. During this time, embroidery on leather, suede, felt, and woolen fabric produced at home was common. The technical techniques of embroidery from this period are very diverse and include a large number of stitches that we now call ancient.

In the second period, which began in the 1990s, embroidery gradually began to undergo changes due to a number of reasons. The main ones were the transition to a new way of economic life, the engagement in cotton growing, and the intensified development of trade and commodity-money relations, which primarily led to a change in the materials used for embroidery.

In the mentioned periods, embroidery was most widely spread.

Among men's clothing, they embroidered waist scarves, gashniks, tubeteikas, and felt hats.

Women’s clothing was adorned more abundantly. The collars of children's and women's dresses, wrap skirts, and sashes were vividly embroidered. Women's headwear was embroidered in a unique and bright manner. For weddings, they embroidered gloves (made of red cloth) for the bride, a face cover, and pouches for storing toiletries. Overall, preparing the dowry through embroidery took a lot of time for women in the past. In wealthy families, it was prepared for years, using the labor of invited artisans.

Many embroidered items in the past were not common property: only the wealthy had access to embroidered silk suede robes, velvet clothing, decorative panels, and friezes.

Kyrgyz women also spent a lot of time decorating household items with embroidery, which gave a unique character to the interior of the yurt.

Embroidery, often together with appliqué, covered strips of felt that decorated the inside of the yurt's dome, embroidered felt carpets, and bags of various shapes (leather, felt, woolen, velvet, and homemade fabric) used for storing clothing and household items.

Kyrgyz women paid great attention to making decorative strips "tegirich," curtains for the yurt doors, and pillowcases. It was customary to embroider a wide border on black velvet wall carpets ("tush kiyiz"). The wedding curtain ("koshogё") was richly decorated. Embroidery could also be found on many household items, including the device for lifting a kettle ("tutkuch"), as well as on cases worn over the wooden parts of the yurt during migration;

Considerable attention was also paid to decorating riding accessories. They embroidered variously shaped saddle blankets on felt and fabric. The horse for the bride was covered with a rectangular saddle blanket embroidered with silk on velvet. This form is known to northern Kyrgyz and is presumably common to all Kyrgyz. For the groom's saddle, they embroidered a saddle blanket "dikak." As mentioned above, the Kyrgyz made it from home-produced fabrics: from patterned "kadzhar" and solid-colored "pniyaz," on which they embroidered. This saddle blanket always had a trapezoidal shape and was trimmed with fringe. It was prepared for the wedding, but it was more accessible to the wealthier. The northern Kyrgyz are not familiar with the "dikak" saddle blanket. Southern Kyrgyz, however, likely borrowed it from Uzbeks and Tajiks, where it became widely spread.

They embroidered felt saddle blankets of semi-oval shape, known as "shirdak," which sounds similar to the name of the mosaic felt carpet. These saddle blankets are only found in the western part of the Osh region among some groups of ichkiliks. However, since the ichkiliks are unfamiliar with the art of making mosaic "shirdak," the existence of this term among them raises certain interest. It can be assumed that the saddle blanket "shirdak" is genetically related to the felt underlay known as "sherdak," which is widely spread among the Mongols.

It was customary to cover the saddle with an embroidered square piece of velvet or cloth ("kypchuk").

The third period is the post-revolutionary time. As with other types of applied art, the period of basmachism had a severe impact on embroidery. Not only did it lead to the ruin of laboring peasant households, but it also resulted in the destruction of valuable works of folk art. Subsequently, with the onset of collective farming, new forms of life began to emerge. The position of Kyrgyz women changed sharply, as they were for the first time drawn into productive labor, public life, and introduced to a new culture. The influence of the city on rural life intensified. Under the influence of all this, significant changes occurred in the practice of embroidery. Gradually, the embroidery of items characteristic of nomadic life ceased. From past items, only the wall carpet "tush kiyiz," pillowcases, and occasionally the felt saddle blanket "shirdak," as well as the saddle blanket "dikak" for the male saddle, continued to be made. In the design of all these items, the previous style was mainly preserved in terms of technique, material, and color.

Kyrgyz also continue to decorate their modern homes with embroidery, but it has a completely different character now. They embroider on white factory-produced fabric, from which they sew window curtains, clothing drapes, and strips stretched across the top of the walls in the reception room. The beds appearing in many homes are adorned with embroidered valances. The embroidery of towels and handkerchiefs has also taken on larger dimensions.

Embroidery also covers door curtains, which are sewn from dense fabrics.

As for clothing items, embroidery has not developed. Only in some places (Uzgen and Osh districts) has it become fashionable to embroider girls' white dresses with black threads. As before, they continue to embroider waist scarves and tubeteikas, but they more often prefer to buy them from Uzbeks.

Production of carpets in Kyrgyzstan at the end of the 19th century