Kyrgyz Non-Pile Artistic Fabrics

Non-pile artistic fabrics.

In ancient times, all women to some extent were skilled in weaving {Antipina, Makhova, 1968. p. 48-58; Antipina, 1962. p. 50-64; Ivanov, Makhova, 1960; Sultanalieva, 2010). Various woolen fabrics, and in the valley regions of southern Kyrgyzstan, cotton fabrics (taar) were produced for outer clothing and household items. Often, embroidery was done on home-woven fabrics.

The width of non-pile patterned fabrics (terme, kara taar, kadzhary or bukary, besh keshtё) ranges from 4 to 70 cm; they are used to fasten the wooden parts of the yurt, woolen covers, and to make saddle blankets, bags, etc. They are spun using a wooden hand spindle (iyik) with a whorl (iyik bash) of flattened shape made from clay, lead, stone, or wood (Antipina, Makhova, 1968, p. 49. Antipina, 1962, p. 51; Karmysheva, 1979, p. 257-259). In the process of
spinning wool (zhun iyiruu), one can obtain single (zhalan, jip) or twisted and plied threads (chyyratma jip), which are wound into large balls (turmёk). The spun wool is dyed if necessary.

Favorite colors are red, blue, yellow, and brown. Cotton threads were spun on a homemade loom (charkh), which was widely used among the settled population of Central Asia, as well as in Xinjiang and India.

The Kyrgyz loom is wooden, narrow-beamed, of horizontal type; it is simple in design and has minor regional differences.

Its main parts are the sword-shaped beam (kylch), the heddle (kuluk), the board (takta), and the separator (sherik).

The yarn is wound onto driven ground pegs (kazyq). The warp threads are gathered at the separator with woolen thread into loops (sherik baylooch). The takta, lying between the heddles and the separator, allows changing the shed.

Weaving is mainly done in warm weather outdoors, near the dwelling or under a canopy – the craftswoman, sitting on her haunches, works rhythmically without straightening her back.

Until recently, Kyrgyz people decorated the yurt only with fabrics of their own production. The narrowest strips (tizgich boo) connect the dome poles and tie the edges of the lattice walls of the yurt during its installation; wider strips (zhel bob) reinforce the yurt, while strips of tuurdook boo, uzuk boo, etik boo fix the woolen covers; narrow strips (bokcho boo) tie up bundles with belongings, framing the edges of the horse saddle blanket. Wider strips - chalgych (10-12 cm) - connect the top of the lattice walls of the yurt. The decorative aspect of the yurt is enhanced by colorful wide strips, up to 70 cm (kerege taguu), and frieze strips (tegirich), which are laid behind the dome poles.

For sewing horse saddle blankets and for the pack saddle bag kurdzhun in the south, strips of kadzhary are used. For wide patterned strips on the framework of the yurt, kerege taguu is typically made of terme, for the frieze - kadzhary and bet keshtё, and for the decoration of the yurt's dome from the outside - bet keshtё.

The most labor-intensive is the production of thick, durable, clearly patterned terme fabric, which is widespread not only among the Kyrgyz but also among other peoples of Central Asia (Antipina, Makhova, 1968, p. 52). These fabrics can also be double-sided (eki juzduu), usually in two contrasting colors: red-blue, white-brown, or black-yellow-orange-blue (Antipina, 1962, p. 57-60). The strips are framed with one or two borders, into which additional colors are introduced. For terme, the equality of the background and pattern is characteristic; the same ornaments are often interpreted differently, for example, muyz, kochkor muyz (ram's horn); tuura muyz (straight horn); kaykalak (curved); zholbors tyrmak (tiger claws); tai tuyak (foal's hoof); kara kash (black eyebrows); am ayak (horse's hoof); kekilik kash (partridge eyebrows); koy koz (ram's eye); it tamан (dog's paw); chychkan izi (mouse's track); togyz dobyo (nine hills); shak (branch); kyrk shak (forty branches); ai kochot (moon pattern); tegerik kochot (circle); kazan kulak (ear of a cauldron); ala monchok (multicolored beads), etc.

Kadzhary is a soft, smooth, and relatively thinner fabric compared to terme, which is widespread in southern Kyrgyzstan and known to the Kyrgyz of Pamir and Xinjiang (Shibaev, 1955, p. 119; Abramzon, 1959, p. 360-366). The yarn for it is dyed in various shades of red, blue, and orange; white and brown threads of natural color are used in small patterns or edges. The most characteristic combinations are: red with blue, red with white, brown with red or blue. The pattern is created by warp threads dyed in two colors and is revealed only on the front side. A mandatory element of the fabric is the alternation of smooth and patterned longitudinal stripes.

Typical ornaments include diamonds, triangles, hook-shaped, and S-shaped motifs.

In addition to commonly accepted Kyrgyz names such as kochkor muyz (ram's horn), kyial (fantasy), it kuirok (dog's tail), badam (almond), there are also some specific ones: tarakcha (comb), kylch (sword), ai nuska (moon pattern), tumarcha (amulet), etc. Among the Kyrgyz of southern Xinjiang, kadzhary features patterns like targakcha (comb), baldak (a stand on which a hunter places his hand with a hunting bird), pashayы, kochkorok, ters-kayyk, ysylym, as well as the pattern bagzhagay (Andreev, 1958, p. 34).

Begі keshtё is the brightest and most colorful fabric with a light background, the pattern is as if embroidered with smooth red, blue, yellow, and occasionally green wool threads, sometimes cotton was also used. The fabric is widespread in southern Kyrgyzstan, mainly among the Kyrgyz of the ichkilik group, as well as in the northern part of the Osh region and partially in the Talas valley. Along with commonly accepted patterns, there are also patterns characteristic only for besh keshtё: “chuurma” (arranged one after another), “panjara” (grid, openwork carving), tor keshtё (net, grid), iyrek (zigzag), tegerik (circle), echki tuyak (goat's hoof), kabyrga (rib), karga tyrmak (crow's claws), balykcha (little fish), chayan (scorpion), alma gul (apple blossom), karagay butak (fir branch), kalempir kochot (pepper), shak gul (branch flower), ala bakan (rack-hanger), etc.

In our time, patterned weaving is preserved in the villages, and terme is woven everywhere. Besh keshtё and kadzhary are not woven everywhere in the south of the country, mainly by elderly craftswomen. Nevertheless, pile carpets and other products made from patterned fabrics remain an integral element of the decoration of stationary dwellings, especially in the south.

Ethnography