MOTIFS WHICH ARE SYMBOLIZING NAZAR BELIEF ON FLAT WEAVINGS OF KIRŞEHİR DISTRICT

Abstract

The weaving in Kırşehir is thought to be started during the migration period of Turks to Anatolia. Firstly, the migrated Selçuklu people who are the scouts of Islamic spread era, the Turks who have migrated to Anatolia and the tribes who have migrated to Kırşehir in order to suppress the internal disturbances have been located in the vicinity of Kırşehir and spreaded the weaving culture along that region. In addition, with the establishement of Anatolian Women Association which has been established at the same time with Ahi Community and relocation of Ahi Evran and his wife Fatma Bacı to Kırşehir who are the leaders of those communities, the association has continued to spread knitting and weaving cultures in Kırşehir region. The lasting of this tradition for centuries, the traditional weavings of the region such as yaygı, prayer rug, carpet pillow, wall rug, sofa rug, yanlama, covering of the yüklük, sack, haral has been woven for utilization and has become an important mainstay for the weavers. In this study, among rich motif variety of the region weavings, motifs which are considered to be a part of the nazar faith have been examined and it is intended to explain their different forms with examples. Nazar is considered to be the harmful power within some people’s gaze, and it is believed that a negative effect such as illness, disability or death may occur by gazing into a person, an animal or an object. Among the folk, nazar is also referred to as “the eye”, “touch of the eye”, “to be coveted”, “the dirty eye”, “the evil eye”, “the bad eye”. The eye, the burdock, the amulet, the hand-finger-crest and the hook patterns symbolize protection within the nazar faith, and in the weavings, they exist as motifs with different shapes according to the region. It can be seen that the motifs which symbolize the nazar belief are typically located on the regional flat weavings and named as eye; “eye” and “apple”, burdock; “burdock” and “sack motif”, hand-finger-comb; “finger”, hook; “tazı kuyruğu”. Other motifs such as amulet and cross which symbolizes nazar belief has not found on flat weavings in region.