| Subject | : | A window into the past? |
| Author | : | Christoph Huber |
| Date | : | 02-20-2000 on 06:41 a.m. |
| huber-ch@pilatusnet.ch Dear all T. Emelyanenko writes in ‘Music for the eyes’ (Antwerpen, 1997) about the Karakalpak head-dresses kimishek and saukele. The former is a kind of veil which was embroidered on red cloth by the bride not long before the wedding ceremony. As part of the dowry she also had to make a second one with a white ground for her future mother-in-law. The saukale is a small cap which shall have its sources in a warrior’s helmlet. I ask myself where the often repeated connection between wedding and the colour white is coming from. White ground tentbands shall have a connection to wedding and every white panel torba is labelled as a dowry piece. Why? In the above mentioned Karakalpak tradition white seems to be associated with (the purity and prestige of) high age just as we know it from the white Turkmen chirpys. The Turkmen bride wore according to A. Bairieva (Ghereh 19, 1999) a green (blue, black) chirpy over a red dress. Green has here the meaning of young and vigorous, which makes sense to me... My current working hypothesis (which I would like to test here by you all) says that the Turkmen wedding has to be seen as a window into the past. Uuk bash which once had their practical function during migration have lost, just as for example luxurious tentbands, the kejebe or Karakalpak warrior’s helmlet, their importance in every-day-live and survived only in the wedding ceremony. I think one could find a lot of objects which we are connecting with the Turkmen wedding and which had an other (or at least broader) use some time in the past. If this theory would be correct one could start to speculate for example about a practical function for the ancestors of asmalyks. Perhaps they were a sort of armour for the vulnerable flanks of the camels? Medieval knights had such things for their horses and why shouldn’t have the Turkmens something similar when kidnapping a bride or someone else? Regards, Christoph |
| Subject | : | RE:A window into the past? |
| Author | : | Steve Price |
| Date | : | 02-20-2000 on 09:02 a.m. |
| sprice@hsc.vcu.edu Dear Christoph, You present an interesting idea. Nothing concrete comes to my mind when I look for examples to contribute, but it might be worth pointing out that a wedding is a "window to the past" in most cultures in the sense that it includes many elements that are holdovers from days gone by. Consider the modern wedding in the USA. The bride is formally given by her father; the groom lifts her veil for what represents his first look at her face and then kisses her for what would have been the first time in an earlier society. And so forth. As for the association of white with the wedding, that is traditional in our culture so we may have simply projected it onto the Turkmen. In many African cultures it is associated with death. On the other hand, it does seem to be a verifiable fact that tentbands with pile decoration on white backgrounds, and asmalyks (all the ones I've seen have white backgrounds unless you count the oddball that I posted around Christmas) are wedding trappings. There is even photographic evidence for the more skeptical. Steve Price |
| Subject | : | RE:A window into the past? |
| Author | : | Marvin Amstey |
| Date | : | 02-20-2000 on 12:42 p.m. |
| mamstey1@rochester.rr.com From past reading - at least about Turkish rugs - green was a color that represented the prophet, Mohammad. However, this just might have been an author's speculation or a dealer's sales story. Regards, Marvin |
| Subject | : | RE:A window into the past? |
| Author | : | Christoph+Huber |
| Date | : | 02-20-2000 on 02:01 p.m. |
| huber-ch@pilatusnet.ch Dear Steve Apart from the fact that I could claim the most impressive asmalyks as having a red ground, I’m still not convinced that the observation that white ground tentbands were taken out of the “treasure-chests” mainly on such occasions as weddings, is reason enough for the conclusion that they “really” have something to do with the wedding ceremony itself. And if we accept for moment the hypothesis that asmalyks could originally have had another raison d’être than solely the decoration of the wedding caravan, then their main ground colour as well could possibly have no direct connection to the wedding neither. What I’m trying to ask is whether the simultaneous occurrence of certain objects and festive activities is enough to establish a really specific connection between them. Especially considering that our data possibly doesn’t reflect every occasion white ground tentbands (,...) were used and furthermore is coming from a time when the decline of Turkmen culture was already rather advanced. Regards, Christoph |
| Subject | : | RE:A window into the past? |
| Author | : | Steve Price |
| Date | : | 02-21-2000 on 02:27 p.m. |
| sprice@hsc.vcu.edu Dear Christoph, If I understand you correctly, you are pointing out that not everything that was used during a wedding was purely a wedding item. One analogy in our culture, I suppose, would be the formal attire worn by the groom. It is traditionally worn for his wedding, but is worn at some other special occasions as well. I think this is probably true for most of the artifacts that appear during a wedding in the west. Many are "special occasion" items, rather than strictly wedding appurtenances. It would be surprising if the same were not true among the Turkmen, although I have no idea what constituted a special occasion in their society beyond the obvious one, the wedding. Did they have planting or harvest festivals? Days commemorating important events or people? Funeral customs? Coming of age? It's good to remind ourselves from time to time when considering something like wedding items that the objects and customs surrounding their use may extend well beyond our initial focus. Steve Price |
| Subject | : | RE:A window into the past? |
| Author | : | Stephen+Louw |
| Date | : | 02-23-2000 on 09:52 a.m. |
| slouw@global.co.za I think Steve's statement, "It's good to remind ourselves from time to time when considering something like wedding items that the objects and customs surrounding their use may extend well beyond our initial focus" captures accurately the sentiment of most Turkotek contributors. What I would like to do is to broaden this to include something mentioned in the introduction to the Salon. Clearly, the wedding (and other festive occasions) is likely to have made use of some of the finest quality weavings which may (but probably were not) produced especially for the wedding. But I suspect that with the really quite fundamental commercialisation of all facets of Turkmen society in the second half of the nineteenth century a display of the ability to produce textiles was also a display of potential value of one's labour power. In this way the “multiple purpose” aspect to weaving is extended in ways that were in keeping with the changes noted by Helfgott in the Persian carpet producing societies. It certainly adds some weight to his claim that the average age at which a women was married (or, more accurately, sold into marriage) shifted from her early- to late-teens. A second point: I am intrigued by Christoph's suggestion that an asmalyk might have served as "a sort of armour for the vulnerable flanks of the camels?" Even if camels were used for warfare (as opposed to Altai horses), surely they offered little in the way of physical protection? Regards to all Stephen |
| Subject | : | RE:A window into the past? |
| Author | : | Jerry Silverman |
| Date | : | 02-23-2000 on 06:51 p.m. |
| From the previous posting: A second point: I am intrigued by Christoph's suggestion that an asmalyk might have served as "a sort of armour for the vulnerable flanks of the camels?" Even if camels were used for warfare (as opposed to Altai horses), surely they offered little in the way of physical protection? This sounds like a theory that might be tested empirically. Has anyone seen an asmalyk with a hole in it that could have been made when it was pierced by a lance or an arrow? (I offer this knowing the horrible possibility that it will give retailers another story to lard on in the sales pitch to explain a hole.) I, for one, don't recall ever having seen an asmalyk that looked as though this might have happened. But maybe they were repaired after battle? What comes to mind is the padding that is put on horses that are used in bullfighting in Portugal. But that is much thicker and undecorated...more like the quilts movers use to protect furniture while it's in the truck. Cordially, -Jerry- |