Jajim
Creation Place
Mazendaran province, Tabaristan of the past, is part of ancient land of Iran, located south of Caspian Sea. As witnessed by extant evidences and archaeologists findings, this area has been home to one of important human settlements.
Caves like Hatu and Kemerband, near Trugen village or Shahid abad, 2kms. west of Behshahr, and Aliteppe close to Alteppe or Aliteppe, 2kms. east of Beshhar, are among the most famous caves in Mazendaran.
In the course of research by a group of professors from Philadelphia University in 1949-1951, remains of skulls and bones of Mesolithic and Neolithic periods came to light, well indicating the importance of this place as a prime human settlement following the Glacial periods, and showing that man inhabited the place from around the eight millennium BC.
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* Woolen spread used as floor cover, etc.
This Province may be topographically divided into three sections: the main mountainous area in the south, Mianband in the middle and a plain to the north.
The mountainous area shaped by Alborz Chain to the South, almost parallel with southern shores of Caspian Sea, separates Mazendaran from southern parts of Alborz. Some parts, elevated more than 3000 ms. from sea level are snow clad half of the year.
This mountain chain has an average width of 70 kms. in Mazendaran Province comprising of minor Chains like: Mazar chub, Nour, Band pay, Savad koh, Doukhusheh, Hezar Jarib and Shah Kuh. In central Alborz (between Chaulus and Babulrud, is located the most extended Mountains of Mazendaran. The eastern Alborz too, comprises of a few minor ranges like: Varian (south of Neka) Sefidkuh, Hezarjarib and Jahanmura.
There are several rivers flowing in Mazendaran, (mostly in North-South short direction, but perennial).All of them rise from Alborz range, forming the Caspian Sea basin entering it at various spots.
Included among them are: Tajan,(120kms.) rising round Rudbar, in the mountainous Hezarjarib, and after passing east of Sari, enters the Caspian Sea in Khazar Shahr (Farahabad). Zarem Rud (Zalem Rud)(around 100 kms. long, running from east to west, being one of its important tributaries. Tajan is of prime importance because it is habitat to Sturgeon fishes.
Neka Rud (round 180 kms. long), also, rises from Hezar Jarib and Shad kuh ranges, passing through Neka city. By and large, this green area is irrigated by several springs rising from mountain chaines and turning into rivers and rivulets.
The climate is temperate and humid. Alborz range extending in the south of the province, closeness, to sea and lush vegetation are among major elements giving hands in formation of this climate.
In the mountainous regions cold and humid climate dominate, where- as in the plains temperate and humid climate prevails.
Vegetation of Hezar Jarib region comprises of forest trees, shrubs, pastures and wild plants growing in every part of the province.
Thick and extensive forests of Mazendaran are among the thickest and most valuable forests in Iran. Their estimated area is round 1 million hectares and gets thicker moving from plains to higher elevations.
The main forest species being: blue beech, aok(Quercus infectoria), azedarach, alder (mainly growing on valley borders), maple, Namdar (from linden family), box tree, elm, chestnot, iron wood (parrotica persica). Furthermore wild walnuts, pomegranates, medlars, and raspberries are worth mentioning and plentifull.
The lush HezarJarib is a fertile prosperous region which, like other coastal areas of Caspian Sea has a good annual precipitation, and is covered every where with lively grass and lush jungles.
In the landscape from Alborz ridge to Turquoise sea, everywhere there is jungle, meadows with many-colored wild trees growing on mountains, in valleys and on plains; smell of sea moisture, odour of rotten wood, smoke scent from unknown shrubs, scent of thousands of flowers, smell of verdure and mist filling the air.
This most beautiful and absorbing region, laying on the eastern Alborz foothills borders with Behshahr and Galugah on the north, Bandar Torkoman and Gorgan on the east, Sari on the west and Damghan, Semnan and Varamin on the south.
This is a most strategic region serving as a mountain pass through Alborz chain, comprising of thausands of villages like: Olar, Abchin, Azrak, Orad, Parkola, Chalekdeh, Rudbar La.ie, Rudbar Yakhkesh, Zelet, Zyarat Kola, Shirkola, Gharibmehalleh, Sefidchah, Yanehsar, etc; hence its denomination Hezar Jarib(Thousand villages).
People's economy rests on agriculture and animal husbandry; though the books of travellers and geographers who have visited this area contain accounts of silkworm culture and production of silk products from old age, and in some periods they actually comprised the most important products, presently silk worm culture is scarce and scattered, silk products being reduced to embroidered silks, bed cloth wrappers, monochrome or checkered handkerchiefs, silk waist bands and cloth material. The main product of Hezar Jarib is wheat and oat, and in the plains both irrigated and dry farming thrives along side with horticulture.
In the mountainous region which is used as summer resort, pastures are found for cattle grazing during hot summer months; and animal husbandry includes raising cow, sheep and poultry.
In addition to mentioned silk textiles, the prevailing handicrafts are various hand woven textiles, like wool cloth and shawls (a monochrome coarse type of fabric prepared from undyed wool and wool Jajims * which are the most important textile products in this mountainous region.
Woolen textiles were also used for tents called mountain hut ( perga-pery). These are flat weave textiles, and though weaving technique varies from village to village, they are similar in one basic feature: most propbably this craft was introduced into this region by emigrating Kurdish people spread from Kelardasht up to Quchan, in north-east Iran.
On previous emigrations to Mazendaran province, one might mention the emigration of Kurds who were probably forced to move here and inhabit in Behshahr ( Zaghmarz quarter), Nour (Kurdkheil Quarter) and Juybar ( Kurdmehalleh).
Masoud Keyhan in 1310 AH (1931 AD) mentions several tribal emigrations: Abdolmaleki(QashQai) tribe to Zaghmarz Mazendaran in Qajar period, Emranlous to Galugah, and Kolbad clans to a place located between Ashraf ( present Behshahr) and Bandar
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* Coarse loosely woven wool cloth, used as floor cover and various spreads by nomades and humble people. Some fine types are produced too.
Gaz(corresponding with present Galugah); also emigration of four clans to suburban Amol and emigration of Khawjehvand tribe to
Kojur and emigration of Grily and Neka clans to the banks of Nekarud.
Natural characteristics of the place and historic conditions (migration of Kurdish and Torkomen clans) and coexistence of urban, rural and tribal communities in close vicinity have, blended their art and aesthetic taste, and contributed to full flourish of this art in the region.
Materials
The most important material for weaving Jajims, i.e. sheep wool etc. is abundantly available in all mountainous regions of north Iran. Production of woolen handicrafts has been possible only for abundance of raw materials, encouraging weavers to gradually improve the quality of their products.
The natural environment for the Urial (aries vignei), is limited to Alborz chain, south of Caspian Sea. Most domesticated breeds being descendants of this ancestor. This breed has two layered wool, the inner layer (fleece) being hard and curly, while the outer layer is soft and long. Wool color in different breeds varies greatly, including: ivory, light brown, dark brown, gray, black cream, etc.
Shearing:
Shearing is done once or twice per year, mostly taking place after leaving behind the winter cold in Farvardin and Ordibehesht( March and April).
The yield from every sheep varies between 1-3 kgs. To have clean wool two devices are used: they pass the herd from a stream or rivulet first, or the wools are washed after shearing.
In the regions that produce wool of the finest quality, spinning wool into worsted is done with great care; wool is washed and rinsed several times, so that it is thoroughly cleansed and its fat residue reduced to the desired level.
The best water for cleansing wool is the flowing river water and spring water, zealously safeguarded by succeeding generations. To enhance water cleansing power and removing superficicial fats, plants like common soap root and ash are used.
Cleansing is important in two respects: not only rubbing off dirt and undesirable residue but adding to dyeing quality of wool.
After wool in gently washed in water some colors would be better absorbed with better clarity and shine. After cleansing, wool is graded according to color and quality, so that coarse and rough wool is separated from soft fleece obtained from shoulders, chest and under belly of sheep’s.
Spinning
Spinning wool is a tiresome chore, which seems end less. The most common means being spindle, which is, a thin conic rod passed through a round wooden or ceramic plate.
To begin, the cleansed wool fibers are twisted round the left hand and combed with thumb and the index fingers into the desired thickness. Then the short twisted thread of wool is attached to the obtrusions on both ends of the spindle rod, giving it a gentle twist and allowing the spindle to turn freely for itself and continue the spinning on its own.
The wool used in weaving some Jajims have been very fine and the native people of Mazendaran were adept in spinning finest wools, especially in spinning threads used in weaving those Jajims used as trousseau covers, prepared from one year lamb fleece.
Since the finest sheep fleece is obtained in the first year this type of fine wool is used in weaving gelims. In spinning this fine wool a special instrument, chal, is used.
Dyeing
Though handi crafts woven in this region don't enjoy diverse designs and patterns, but their form and color are the apparent manifestations of this art and its means of direct impact.
It is in close relation with nature and this colorful ambience that thousands of meaningful designs are created. From the turquoise dome of the splendid sky, to colorful designs of the surrounding nature, have got a flourishing dynamic life, well reflected in their hand woven textiles.
For centuries dyeing technique has aided this art to create unmatched works and enriching an ancient civilization; the vernacular knowledge of this technique has been orally handed down from generation to generation, and being aided by the fruitful nature, has got richer and richer. Color enjoys multiple attractions, and because of its nature captures eyes before anything else.
Various colors and diverse combinations of them are among the first and foremost elements bringing about beauty and quality Jajims. Colors are prepared from various dyestuff and all preparations are natural. Worth mentioning among them are:
Madder (rubia-tinctorum)
In most parts of Iran this plant grows in wild state, but in this region the greater part of needed madder is procured in Damghan. Various methods of dyeing with madder have been preserved and passed to succeeding generations up to now.
Most dyestuff is obtained from the root. For this purpose, the root is dried and after removing the outer skin, crushed. In dyeing with madder various shades are obtained depending on fixatives used, but mostly red tonalities are obtained.
Indigo(indigofera-tinctoria)
Historians take India as its native origin. If is of prime importance in dyeing fibers. In Iran it is cultivated in Baluchistan and south Iran. Most probably it was introduced in Iran via Khorasan.The leaves of this plant which contain 75% to 90% dyestuff are dried first; after being macerated they are allowed to ferment in vats of water, and the colorless indigo is liberated; stirring of the liquid cause’s oxidation of the colorless material to form blue sediment indigo, which gives a natural blue color of great permanence.
The traditional mode of dyeing indigo with, using vats lasted 2-7 days. In some cases date syrup and honey are added, and in place of water, cow urine is used.
Chamomile (white star) (Anthemis-wieder manniana)
A herb of genus Anthemis reaching 60 cms. in height, bearing flowers akin to those of coralberry. Sometimes wild chamomiles are found at road sides. In dyeing, first the herb, including the flowers and the stem are macerated and boild for an hour; the dye thus obtained is filtrated and poured into dyeing vats. The woolen hanks are submerged in the liquid and stirred until all are evenly dyed; finally the hanks are pressed to remove xtra water, and dried in shade. To give the color a better shine, at is heated in soap solution with rice chaff. By and large, rice chaff is used in preparation of most dyes is order to make them more clear and shiny. Chamomile flowers were used to obtain cream and yellow dyes.
Oak (Quercus-persica)
Jaft or tan are terms used in naming grinded and powdered Oak bark, the dyestuff base found in the bark. With addition of some additives as fixative materials, diverse colors like brown, gray, black and gold are obtained.
Adding fixatives to dyestuffs, while making them more durabale and shiny, helps obtaining various colors and shades from a single dyestuff. In Mazendaran, oak is mainly used in obtaining black color.
Walnut (Juglens-regia) hull
Walnut is a rather tall tree, 5-25 m. in height, growing wild on Alborz Mountains and in many jungels in Gilan and Mazandaran. Touching the crushed nut hulls or leaves would tint hands and the color would not be washed easily. The main dyestuff of walnut comes from the hulls, decocted for getting dark colors.
To extract the dye from the hull, first the crushed hulls are soaked for one day in copper or glazed vessels. Then it is decocted for and hour and filtrated, this liquid is used in dyeing; one of fixatives used in dyeing with walnut is dried black curd which is added to dyeing bath. In Mazendaran, oak is mainly used to obtain brown color.
Nettle (urtica-diocica)
Nettle is a plant that grows in humid regions and contains large amounts of tannin and ferric compounds. It conveniently turns wool fibers into yellow, gold and brown colors.
The leaves lose their stinging quality after withering and drying to the extent that it is even relished by auadrupeds. Nettle is used for obtaining yellow and mild green colors.
Palam = Danewort ( Sambacus – ebulus)
In local dialect called plakhum too, seemingly taken from porkhun (full of blood), because, when ripe it gives a red dye. In fall the seeds and the plant turn to dark red and then whither and decay. The fruit is small and spherical and turns black on ripening. In the fall the shrubs are collected and layed in the sun. Then the colored seeds are trashed from stem and leaves. The seeds are then boiled in water and madder waste is added. Then dyeing bath is prepared.
From danewort light orange to a color similar to that of madder is obtained. When the dyeing bath is turned off, the hanks are left in their place to gradually get cold. Then they are squeeced and dried in the shade. Danewort leaves are used as hair and ulcer rinse.
Sorkhab = Vermilion plant (phytolacceae) (Juki Sorkhab, Sorkhab kuki( miniature palam(danewort)
This plant is not used for medicinal purposes; indigenous people consider it poisonous, and even animals avoid it. Its difference with palam being that, palakhum seeds when ripened and dried are hollow, whereas vermilon plant seeds remain solid spherical after ripening and drying.
Lerg=Butternut of North America (pterocarya Fraxinifolia)
Lerg is a rather large tree scattered in jungles round Caspian Sea with different local names like Lerg, Kahl, Kuchi, Mulkul and Mutal.
The bark of this tree remains smooth and gray for a certain period of time, but gradually deep longitudinal furrows appear and gets darker in color. In dyeing with lerg, first the bark and foliage are gathered to dry in open air. When dry, the bark and foliage are separately grinded, because interestingly enough, leaves and bark yield different colors, and blending these, a third type of color is obtained.
Pomegranate (punica- granat) rind
Pomegranate trees are planted almost everywhere in Iran and abound in wild state in Caspian coastal regions and jungles of north Iran. The rind which is used in dyeing wool and silk is separated and dried in the sun in falls. After boiling the rind and filtrating the liquid it is used for dyeing. With various admixtures different colors are obtained. Some weavers get a very fine gold from pomegranate rind.
The dye solvent is water and it can be used without fixatives in dyeing. It is also used in preparation of black and gray colors. To get a more durable or darker color, dyeing process is repeated several times. In Mazendaran they obtaine an unsurpassed gold with an admixture of pomegranate rind with cow urine and alum.
Kermes, cochineal
Kermes is the best animal dye abundant in wild state on oak trees in jungles of Mazendaran province. Various shades of colors are obtained from kermes severally, or in combination with herbal dyes.
Its fixative may be barberry juice, Qara(Palmier mokl, bdellium) or lees, which has acidic quality. To soften the wool after dyeing, hanks may be removed from dyeing bath, add fig leave powder to the mixture while still hot and continue boiling; wool that is submeged in this way gets exquisitely brilliant and glaring.
In Mazendaran Kermen is used in preparation of dark red colors. Dyeing with kermes is done in vats. In this mode, first kermes and sour grape powder are boild, and then the hanks are left in the liquid for a week and then removed and rinsed in flowing water.
Included among other plants used for dyeing are alder (the mixture of roots and bark give exquisite reds), fig, grapevine, etc.
Weaving
Textiles are collections containing most exquisite and Finest ideas of man, manifested on the most used commodity, because man, in his long history had no choice but resort to weaving textiles for clothe, floor cover, various cloths used in protecting humans and animals against climatic and seasonal changes; or even using them for docration and ornament. These textiles are products of creative imaginations and technical skills of people living in humble and adverse conditions.
Nevertheless people of this ancient land have devotedly upkept their beliefs, to the extent that a glance at designs carved on their gravestones and ancient grave goods well indicate the ancient beliefs of Iranian peoples : objects like goddesses figurines; spear heads; awl; cup; mace head; dagger; various spearheads: light, wide and long; diverse arrows; swords; war helmets; shields; necklace; bracelet; earring; mirror; terracotta vessels, figurines of deer and wild goat together witn objects of daily use have come to light, and designs carved on grave stones of men and women in this land are prayer mohr and rosary; comb; a Holy Koran on rack; ring, necklace covering breast; cypress; dagger; sword; horse; mace; mace with six prongs; spear; axe; scissors; ear ring and sea-cocoanut, well indicate that new religious beliefs prohibit leaving goods in graves: now though the hero cannot be buried with his horse and the lady with her ear ring and weaving implements, nevertheless, their designs fulfill roles played by real things.
These beliefs are visible not only in their creeds and rites but in commodities of daily use, well continued in them. Since textiles, if not preserved by using special techniques, would perish rather soon after production, the real history and background of weaving by various peoples could not be known with any degree of certainty.
Bone and wooden weaving implements like cards, spindlie, wooden looms and other ancient weaving tools could not last long under the earth. These people procurred weaving materials from their natural surroundings. In other words in the course of successive centuries, by shearing cattle fleece, getting dyestuffs from plants and making tools from wood, astonishingly numerous textiles were created. Here, animal husbandry, selecting and raising better breeds of sheep, goat, etc. guaranteed abundance of the first and foremost weaning commodity, wool, and discovery of rich animal and herbal dye resources would facilitate a steady and certain supply of the needed dyestuff.
Textile products have gone a long way throughout history, from the most rudimentary techniques of mixing animal and plant fibersto textile produced by most sophisticated computerized machines.
But this achievements owe a lot to steady endeavors of women of all ethnicities, because from the old, most weaving art was left to women, and still form part of their daily chores in rural and nomedic styles of life.
Usually women do not weave on a routine basis, but do this whenever they are ready and find the time. Seasonal changes too, bear major impacts on weaving activates. These textiles greatly contribute to raise woman and her family status in marriage contracts and form greater part of bride's trousseau.
In the past, like today, observing marriage rites and ceremonies by the family elders were of vital importance and went much further than two peoples giving hand of marriage to each other; hence learning weaving and getting skilled in it were among necessary duties of young girls. Each and every piece of these textiles are created through love, well indicating family traditions, and serving as tokens of fertility and good fortune at the hands of the future bride.
Barriers to full presence of women in social life brought them to convey their feelings to later generations through designs of their textiles. These factors have been zealously intermingled to create exquisite trousseau covers, transforming applied goods into full fledged art objects in the course of history. Because they are produced beyond expecting any, material rewards, just as means for expressing artistic taste and creational abilities; in a word they are created to emphasize brides as human beings.
It seems that the weavers have perched on very branch, taking benefit from every flower they wished. All these textiles have warp and weft, and whenever weft number exceeds that of warps, the warps are not visible, specially when wefts are beaten tightly close together, in which ease the color of the textile is determined by weft color. For this reason, in this kind of weave warps could be monochrome or even undyed. This kind of weave prevails in gilim weaving in all villages of Hezar Jarib and Khalil Mehalleh. The present writer believes that all these textiles are means of expressing feelings. In all of these textiles the weavers have succeeded in expressing their feelings and its conveyance to the beholder, thus hitting at a poetic composition, leaving well behind the limited forms of handicrafts, and entering the realm of arts. Weaving these textiles have greatly evolved, from the simplest methods of weaving with fingers to securing warps on looms. By interweaving natural wool warps and wefts, a plain hand-woven textile is produced and with beating wefts and hiding warps, streaks of natural wool come to light. With slow gradual development of weaving loom, spinning, and dyeing, great weaving achievements have been possible. The weaving method used in weaving glims and other textiles in this region greatly differs with knotted style of carpet weaving, and limit the weavers in their designing. But this hindrance has never led to monotonous, boring and banal textiles. The weavers, aided by their creativity and abstract vision,, rather than producing plain monotonous textiles, have taken a different path, to the extent that every corner of their products has a peculiar character and originality. Though in these textiles there has been sort of insistence on absence of pattern and design, but the exquisite pallete has somehow compensated for this. Included among this region’s handwoven textiles are: clothe fabric known as chugha; jajim for top of Korsi*; jajim used as blanket; Jou-glim; glim used as trousseau cover; Khorgin (bag); Sofreh, eating spread, applied spreads, Serperga; porzou; bed-clothes wrappers; etc.
Chugha: (wool and silk jajims used for clothe): chugha is a kind of textile with a width round 30 cms. and lengths of 5, 10, 15 and 20 meters, with weft-faced weave.
The woolen type being cream, camel, gray and black colored. Usually the warps are of cotton and sometimes of wool. In silk
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* a usually wooden Frame for winter use, covered all about with quilts and blankets, under which a rudimentary brazier keeps the space warm, used at days and nights.
chughas natural silk spinned in traditional way was used for both warps and wefts, with red, gold, cream and black most commonly used.
Aba-ie cloth: This woolen fabric is suitable for winter wear. They are weft-faced, with cotton warps; sometimes wool is used for warp. Their difference with woolen chugha, being in width. Weaving a special type of this fabric, with a length exceeding four meters and width less than one, with the sole purpose of wrapping objects of daily use and bed-clothes under the tents as very common in the past.
Blakent jajims: These are weft-faced weave. Too, with coare wool used in woolen warp and weft. They were woven in a width between 50-70 cms in various lengths, then according to need and prurpose two or three widths were sewed together.
A special type of them woven with finer wool in square and three length, were used as ru-korsi (korsi-spread) though these textiles are generally woven with undyed wool in native color, the weavers artistic taste has left its mark in designing and space division, using diverse colors.
In these works contradicting colors are used in weaving the grounds, giving room to medallion or ecoincon-medallion design that enjoys a certain abstract beauty and diversity of designs.
Jouglim: Textile woven in the most simple and balanced method, wherein warps and wefts move over and under each other and are interwoven. These types of textiles, because showing their warps and wefts of the same color are not of decorative aspects. Whenever warps and wefts are of different colors the textile looks salt-and-pepper. Jou-gelims too, are made by sewing two, three or more widths of various lengths, generally 4-5 meters. They are used for desiccating wheat and oat (hence its denomination). The natives of this region believe that doing this in harvesting season would bless their yields.
Khor jin or Chante: these are woven for personal use, not transport or as container for storage of foodstuffs and provisions. Most hand-woven chantes are strictly for personal use, and are made by women who wish to weave some sort of purse or bag for their sons or spouses, that is why, they are rarely seen in similar shapes and size in various villages.
Sofreh (eating spread): each household has two spreads: one for keeping bread, and spread for eating too, and the other used for paste, not differing much, all being square in shape and in similar dimensions. Those spreads woven as trousseau items are of higher quality in regard to quality of wool, pallete and design.
Serperga(r): perga is a rather nomadic lodge, rarely seen in present Mazendaran. In practice they are tunnel shaped structures made with curved woods and covered with jajims woven with goat wool. Perga ( r) also mean household objects, thus textiles used for cover and decoration were called perga(r) too.
It is woven with wool in its native color, both warps and wefts are woolen. It is a knothed weave like carpets, but decorated with long piles. It had stripes on the surface so that when hanged under the tent top for decorative purposes could be secured in place. Perga(r) is a weft faced weave with apptoximate width of 70 cms.
Ru-Jehazi glim: (Trousseau spread glim). By and large the zenith of weaving art in Hezar Jarib region is witnessed in Ru-jehazi jajim. This too is a double faced hand woven textile, weft faced on both right and back sides. Colorful wefts are passed under and over hidden warps and the designs are shown by changing weft colors. In this textile group a greater diversity of color is visible and, dyers and weavers are more generous.
Ru-jehazi: is a most exquisite and fine woolen textile, produced with great care in all production steps: spinning, dyeing and weaving.
The weaver, the bride or her mother, has taken every pain to use colorful wefts in her creation, and even in plain parts polychromed wefts are used in creation of the ground.
In some cases the diversity of colors exceeds even that of abrash-bafi (dapple-gray weaving technique used in producing fine horse blankets) and is freed from every check. The weaver has not shyed from putting contradicting colors side by side, and with great generosity in selecting her plentyfull palette, aided by dexterousity in composition of greatly diversed colors, has created unsurpased extraordinary textile. In these textiles color is not of the material and crystallized type, but is extensive and all embracing. The secret of glim palette is genero sity in color volumes, patches of pure and abstract colors, filled with artistic and aesthetic taste, alongside best wishes and expectations for beginning a new life of continual beauty. Color composition and layout in all these textiles are mental and abstract, while following a systematic order which permits plain ground jajims of this region may be divided into categories like: econcoin; enconcoin and demi-medallion; or enconcoin in enconcoin; plain medallion; encoincon-medallion –plain ground; stripped ground; checkered, etc.
All executed not by following a design but through division and placement of colors, and in regard to palette, the creator does not follow particular rules and proportions. The method of repeating colors and intentional scattering patches of color in these textiles are noteworthy. These fine textiles were meant to be used as bride spread, whereon marriage ceremony was performed, and to be kept by the bride as a good omen.
These textiles are separately woven at least in 2 to 3 equal and parallel pieces; then they are sewn together. Diversity of abstract designs and the palette, well indicate aesthetic taste of the weaver, girls expecting her bridal ceremony. The outcome of steady, dynamic and zealous endeavors of the would be brides was fascinating textiles with mild pleasant colors that never lost their unwithering freshness.
Tools and implements used in weaving Mazendaran jajims, particularly Ru-jehazi jajims
Chal: a wooden instrument for spinning fine threads and winding threads round bobbin (massore).
Chalche: wooden rod in a cow skull for opening hanks of thread.
Massore: a piece of walnut wood for winding threads.
Makoo: wooden instrument rarely made from bull horn for holding the bobbin and tight weave.
Shâne: weaving instrument made from reed. The glim warps are passed over it and helped placing wefts on glim surface.
Dafteen: (weavers comb) a pair of wood instruments made from sturdy walnut and enhancing weight of cards in glim weaving
Vard: instrument comprising of two wooden rods with cotton thread in the middle for passing wefts through warp threads.
Navard: (cloth beam), warps are wound round this beam to get tight.
Meteet: wooden instrument made from two pieces of very hard wood with needles on both ends. These pieces are layed on top of each other and adjusted in various widths. While weaving is going on, they control the textile weave, preventing width fluctuations.
Creation Place
Mazendaran province, Tabaristan of the past, is part of ancient land of Iran, located south of Caspian Sea. As witnessed by extant evidences and archaeologists findings, this area has been home to one of important human settlements.
Caves like Hatu and Kemerband, near Trugen village or Shahid abad, 2kms. west of Behshahr, and Aliteppe close to Alteppe or Aliteppe, 2kms. east of Beshhar, are among the most famous caves in Mazendaran.
In the course of research by a group of professors from Philadelphia University in 1949-1951, remains of skulls and bones of Mesolithic and Neolithic periods came to light, well indicating the importance of this place as a prime human settlement following the Glacial periods, and showing that man inhabited the place from around the eight millennium BC.
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* Woolen spread used as floor cover, etc.
This Province may be topographically divided into three sections: the main mountainous area in the south, Mianband in the middle and a plain to the north.
The mountainous area shaped by Alborz Chain to the South, almost parallel with southern shores of Caspian Sea, separates Mazendaran from southern parts of Alborz. Some parts, elevated more than 3000 ms. from sea level are snow clad half of the year.
This mountain chain has an average width of 70 kms. in Mazendaran Province comprising of minor Chains like: Mazar chub, Nour, Band pay, Savad koh, Doukhusheh, Hezar Jarib and Shah Kuh. In central Alborz (between Chaulus and Babulrud, is located the most extended Mountains of Mazendaran. The eastern Alborz too, comprises of a few minor ranges like: Varian (south of Neka) Sefidkuh, Hezarjarib and Jahanmura.
There are several rivers flowing in Mazendaran, (mostly in North-South short direction, but perennial).All of them rise from Alborz range, forming the Caspian Sea basin entering it at various spots.
Included among them are: Tajan,(120kms.) rising round Rudbar, in the mountainous Hezarjarib, and after passing east of Sari, enters the Caspian Sea in Khazar Shahr (Farahabad). Zarem Rud (Zalem Rud)(around 100 kms. long, running from east to west, being one of its important tributaries. Tajan is of prime importance because it is habitat to Sturgeon fishes.
Neka Rud (round 180 kms. long), also, rises from Hezar Jarib and Shad kuh ranges, passing through Neka city. By and large, this green area is irrigated by several springs rising from mountain chaines and turning into rivers and rivulets.
The climate is temperate and humid. Alborz range extending in the south of the province, closeness, to sea and lush vegetation are among major elements giving hands in formation of this climate.
In the mountainous regions cold and humid climate dominate, where- as in the plains temperate and humid climate prevails.
Vegetation of Hezar Jarib region comprises of forest trees, shrubs, pastures and wild plants growing in every part of the province.
Thick and extensive forests of Mazendaran are among the thickest and most valuable forests in Iran. Their estimated area is round 1 million hectares and gets thicker moving from plains to higher elevations.
The main forest species being: blue beech, aok(Quercus infectoria), azedarach, alder (mainly growing on valley borders), maple, Namdar (from linden family), box tree, elm, chestnot, iron wood (parrotica persica). Furthermore wild walnuts, pomegranates, medlars, and raspberries are worth mentioning and plentifull.
The lush HezarJarib is a fertile prosperous region which, like other coastal areas of Caspian Sea has a good annual precipitation, and is covered every where with lively grass and lush jungles.
In the landscape from Alborz ridge to Turquoise sea, everywhere there is jungle, meadows with many-colored wild trees growing on mountains, in valleys and on plains; smell of sea moisture, odour of rotten wood, smoke scent from unknown shrubs, scent of thousands of flowers, smell of verdure and mist filling the air.
This most beautiful and absorbing region, laying on the eastern Alborz foothills borders with Behshahr and Galugah on the north, Bandar Torkoman and Gorgan on the east, Sari on the west and Damghan, Semnan and Varamin on the south.
This is a most strategic region serving as a mountain pass through Alborz chain, comprising of thausands of villages like: Olar, Abchin, Azrak, Orad, Parkola, Chalekdeh, Rudbar La.ie, Rudbar Yakhkesh, Zelet, Zyarat Kola, Shirkola, Gharibmehalleh, Sefidchah, Yanehsar, etc; hence its denomination Hezar Jarib(Thousand villages).
People's economy rests on agriculture and animal husbandry; though the books of travellers and geographers who have visited this area contain accounts of silkworm culture and production of silk products from old age, and in some periods they actually comprised the most important products, presently silk worm culture is scarce and scattered, silk products being reduced to embroidered silks, bed cloth wrappers, monochrome or checkered handkerchiefs, silk waist bands and cloth material. The main product of Hezar Jarib is wheat and oat, and in the plains both irrigated and dry farming thrives along side with horticulture.
In the mountainous region which is used as summer resort, pastures are found for cattle grazing during hot summer months; and animal husbandry includes raising cow, sheep and poultry.
In addition to mentioned silk textiles, the prevailing handicrafts are various hand woven textiles, like wool cloth and shawls (a monochrome coarse type of fabric prepared from undyed wool and wool Jajims * which are the most important textile products in this mountainous region.
Woolen textiles were also used for tents called mountain hut ( perga-pery). These are flat weave textiles, and though weaving technique varies from village to village, they are similar in one basic feature: most propbably this craft was introduced into this region by emigrating Kurdish people spread from Kelardasht up to Quchan, in north-east Iran.
On previous emigrations to Mazendaran province, one might mention the emigration of Kurds who were probably forced to move here and inhabit in Behshahr ( Zaghmarz quarter), Nour (Kurdkheil Quarter) and Juybar ( Kurdmehalleh).
Masoud Keyhan in 1310 AH (1931 AD) mentions several tribal emigrations: Abdolmaleki(QashQai) tribe to Zaghmarz Mazendaran in Qajar period, Emranlous to Galugah, and Kolbad clans to a place located between Ashraf ( present Behshahr) and Bandar
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* Coarse loosely woven wool cloth, used as floor cover and various spreads by nomades and humble people. Some fine types are produced too.
Gaz(corresponding with present Galugah); also emigration of four clans to suburban Amol and emigration of Khawjehvand tribe to
Kojur and emigration of Grily and Neka clans to the banks of Nekarud.
Natural characteristics of the place and historic conditions (migration of Kurdish and Torkomen clans) and coexistence of urban, rural and tribal communities in close vicinity have, blended their art and aesthetic taste, and contributed to full flourish of this art in the region.
Materials
The most important material for weaving Jajims, i.e. sheep wool etc. is abundantly available in all mountainous regions of north Iran. Production of woolen handicrafts has been possible only for abundance of raw materials, encouraging weavers to gradually improve the quality of their products.
The natural environment for the Urial (aries vignei), is limited to Alborz chain, south of Caspian Sea. Most domesticated breeds being descendants of this ancestor. This breed has two layered wool, the inner layer (fleece) being hard and curly, while the outer layer is soft and long. Wool color in different breeds varies greatly, including: ivory, light brown, dark brown, gray, black cream, etc.
Shearing:
Shearing is done once or twice per year, mostly taking place after leaving behind the winter cold in Farvardin and Ordibehesht( March and April).
The yield from every sheep varies between 1-3 kgs. To have clean wool two devices are used: they pass the herd from a stream or rivulet first, or the wools are washed after shearing.
In the regions that produce wool of the finest quality, spinning wool into worsted is done with great care; wool is washed and rinsed several times, so that it is thoroughly cleansed and its fat residue reduced to the desired level.
The best water for cleansing wool is the flowing river water and spring water, zealously safeguarded by succeeding generations. To enhance water cleansing power and removing superficicial fats, plants like common soap root and ash are used.
Cleansing is important in two respects: not only rubbing off dirt and undesirable residue but adding to dyeing quality of wool.
After wool in gently washed in water some colors would be better absorbed with better clarity and shine. After cleansing, wool is graded according to color and quality, so that coarse and rough wool is separated from soft fleece obtained from shoulders, chest and under belly of sheep’s.
Spinning
Spinning wool is a tiresome chore, which seems end less. The most common means being spindle, which is, a thin conic rod passed through a round wooden or ceramic plate.
To begin, the cleansed wool fibers are twisted round the left hand and combed with thumb and the index fingers into the desired thickness. Then the short twisted thread of wool is attached to the obtrusions on both ends of the spindle rod, giving it a gentle twist and allowing the spindle to turn freely for itself and continue the spinning on its own.
The wool used in weaving some Jajims have been very fine and the native people of Mazendaran were adept in spinning finest wools, especially in spinning threads used in weaving those Jajims used as trousseau covers, prepared from one year lamb fleece.
Since the finest sheep fleece is obtained in the first year this type of fine wool is used in weaving gelims. In spinning this fine wool a special instrument, chal, is used.
Dyeing
Though handi crafts woven in this region don't enjoy diverse designs and patterns, but their form and color are the apparent manifestations of this art and its means of direct impact.
It is in close relation with nature and this colorful ambience that thousands of meaningful designs are created. From the turquoise dome of the splendid sky, to colorful designs of the surrounding nature, have got a flourishing dynamic life, well reflected in their hand woven textiles.
For centuries dyeing technique has aided this art to create unmatched works and enriching an ancient civilization; the vernacular knowledge of this technique has been orally handed down from generation to generation, and being aided by the fruitful nature, has got richer and richer. Color enjoys multiple attractions, and because of its nature captures eyes before anything else.
Various colors and diverse combinations of them are among the first and foremost elements bringing about beauty and quality Jajims. Colors are prepared from various dyestuff and all preparations are natural. Worth mentioning among them are:
Madder (rubia-tinctorum)
In most parts of Iran this plant grows in wild state, but in this region the greater part of needed madder is procured in Damghan. Various methods of dyeing with madder have been preserved and passed to succeeding generations up to now.
Most dyestuff is obtained from the root. For this purpose, the root is dried and after removing the outer skin, crushed. In dyeing with madder various shades are obtained depending on fixatives used, but mostly red tonalities are obtained.
Indigo(indigofera-tinctoria)
Historians take India as its native origin. If is of prime importance in dyeing fibers. In Iran it is cultivated in Baluchistan and south Iran. Most probably it was introduced in Iran via Khorasan.The leaves of this plant which contain 75% to 90% dyestuff are dried first; after being macerated they are allowed to ferment in vats of water, and the colorless indigo is liberated; stirring of the liquid cause’s oxidation of the colorless material to form blue sediment indigo, which gives a natural blue color of great permanence.
The traditional mode of dyeing indigo with, using vats lasted 2-7 days. In some cases date syrup and honey are added, and in place of water, cow urine is used.
Chamomile (white star) (Anthemis-wieder manniana)
A herb of genus Anthemis reaching 60 cms. in height, bearing flowers akin to those of coralberry. Sometimes wild chamomiles are found at road sides. In dyeing, first the herb, including the flowers and the stem are macerated and boild for an hour; the dye thus obtained is filtrated and poured into dyeing vats. The woolen hanks are submerged in the liquid and stirred until all are evenly dyed; finally the hanks are pressed to remove xtra water, and dried in shade. To give the color a better shine, at is heated in soap solution with rice chaff. By and large, rice chaff is used in preparation of most dyes is order to make them more clear and shiny. Chamomile flowers were used to obtain cream and yellow dyes.
Oak (Quercus-persica)
Jaft or tan are terms used in naming grinded and powdered Oak bark, the dyestuff base found in the bark. With addition of some additives as fixative materials, diverse colors like brown, gray, black and gold are obtained.
Adding fixatives to dyestuffs, while making them more durabale and shiny, helps obtaining various colors and shades from a single dyestuff. In Mazendaran, oak is mainly used in obtaining black color.
Walnut (Juglens-regia) hull
Walnut is a rather tall tree, 5-25 m. in height, growing wild on Alborz Mountains and in many jungels in Gilan and Mazandaran. Touching the crushed nut hulls or leaves would tint hands and the color would not be washed easily. The main dyestuff of walnut comes from the hulls, decocted for getting dark colors.
To extract the dye from the hull, first the crushed hulls are soaked for one day in copper or glazed vessels. Then it is decocted for and hour and filtrated, this liquid is used in dyeing; one of fixatives used in dyeing with walnut is dried black curd which is added to dyeing bath. In Mazendaran, oak is mainly used to obtain brown color.
Nettle (urtica-diocica)
Nettle is a plant that grows in humid regions and contains large amounts of tannin and ferric compounds. It conveniently turns wool fibers into yellow, gold and brown colors.
The leaves lose their stinging quality after withering and drying to the extent that it is even relished by auadrupeds. Nettle is used for obtaining yellow and mild green colors.
Palam = Danewort ( Sambacus – ebulus)
In local dialect called plakhum too, seemingly taken from porkhun (full of blood), because, when ripe it gives a red dye. In fall the seeds and the plant turn to dark red and then whither and decay. The fruit is small and spherical and turns black on ripening. In the fall the shrubs are collected and layed in the sun. Then the colored seeds are trashed from stem and leaves. The seeds are then boiled in water and madder waste is added. Then dyeing bath is prepared.
From danewort light orange to a color similar to that of madder is obtained. When the dyeing bath is turned off, the hanks are left in their place to gradually get cold. Then they are squeeced and dried in the shade. Danewort leaves are used as hair and ulcer rinse.
Sorkhab = Vermilion plant (phytolacceae) (Juki Sorkhab, Sorkhab kuki( miniature palam(danewort)
This plant is not used for medicinal purposes; indigenous people consider it poisonous, and even animals avoid it. Its difference with palam being that, palakhum seeds when ripened and dried are hollow, whereas vermilon plant seeds remain solid spherical after ripening and drying.
Lerg=Butternut of North America (pterocarya Fraxinifolia)
Lerg is a rather large tree scattered in jungles round Caspian Sea with different local names like Lerg, Kahl, Kuchi, Mulkul and Mutal.
The bark of this tree remains smooth and gray for a certain period of time, but gradually deep longitudinal furrows appear and gets darker in color. In dyeing with lerg, first the bark and foliage are gathered to dry in open air. When dry, the bark and foliage are separately grinded, because interestingly enough, leaves and bark yield different colors, and blending these, a third type of color is obtained.
Pomegranate (punica- granat) rind
Pomegranate trees are planted almost everywhere in Iran and abound in wild state in Caspian coastal regions and jungles of north Iran. The rind which is used in dyeing wool and silk is separated and dried in the sun in falls. After boiling the rind and filtrating the liquid it is used for dyeing. With various admixtures different colors are obtained. Some weavers get a very fine gold from pomegranate rind.
The dye solvent is water and it can be used without fixatives in dyeing. It is also used in preparation of black and gray colors. To get a more durable or darker color, dyeing process is repeated several times. In Mazendaran they obtaine an unsurpassed gold with an admixture of pomegranate rind with cow urine and alum.
Kermes, cochineal
Kermes is the best animal dye abundant in wild state on oak trees in jungles of Mazendaran province. Various shades of colors are obtained from kermes severally, or in combination with herbal dyes.
Its fixative may be barberry juice, Qara(Palmier mokl, bdellium) or lees, which has acidic quality. To soften the wool after dyeing, hanks may be removed from dyeing bath, add fig leave powder to the mixture while still hot and continue boiling; wool that is submeged in this way gets exquisitely brilliant and glaring.
In Mazendaran Kermen is used in preparation of dark red colors. Dyeing with kermes is done in vats. In this mode, first kermes and sour grape powder are boild, and then the hanks are left in the liquid for a week and then removed and rinsed in flowing water.
Included among other plants used for dyeing are alder (the mixture of roots and bark give exquisite reds), fig, grapevine, etc.
Weaving
Textiles are collections containing most exquisite and Finest ideas of man, manifested on the most used commodity, because man, in his long history had no choice but resort to weaving textiles for clothe, floor cover, various cloths used in protecting humans and animals against climatic and seasonal changes; or even using them for docration and ornament. These textiles are products of creative imaginations and technical skills of people living in humble and adverse conditions.
Nevertheless people of this ancient land have devotedly upkept their beliefs, to the extent that a glance at designs carved on their gravestones and ancient grave goods well indicate the ancient beliefs of Iranian peoples : objects like goddesses figurines; spear heads; awl; cup; mace head; dagger; various spearheads: light, wide and long; diverse arrows; swords; war helmets; shields; necklace; bracelet; earring; mirror; terracotta vessels, figurines of deer and wild goat together witn objects of daily use have come to light, and designs carved on grave stones of men and women in this land are prayer mohr and rosary; comb; a Holy Koran on rack; ring, necklace covering breast; cypress; dagger; sword; horse; mace; mace with six prongs; spear; axe; scissors; ear ring and sea-cocoanut, well indicate that new religious beliefs prohibit leaving goods in graves: now though the hero cannot be buried with his horse and the lady with her ear ring and weaving implements, nevertheless, their designs fulfill roles played by real things.
These beliefs are visible not only in their creeds and rites but in commodities of daily use, well continued in them. Since textiles, if not preserved by using special techniques, would perish rather soon after production, the real history and background of weaving by various peoples could not be known with any degree of certainty.
Bone and wooden weaving implements like cards, spindlie, wooden looms and other ancient weaving tools could not last long under the earth. These people procurred weaving materials from their natural surroundings. In other words in the course of successive centuries, by shearing cattle fleece, getting dyestuffs from plants and making tools from wood, astonishingly numerous textiles were created. Here, animal husbandry, selecting and raising better breeds of sheep, goat, etc. guaranteed abundance of the first and foremost weaning commodity, wool, and discovery of rich animal and herbal dye resources would facilitate a steady and certain supply of the needed dyestuff.
Textile products have gone a long way throughout history, from the most rudimentary techniques of mixing animal and plant fibersto textile produced by most sophisticated computerized machines.
But this achievements owe a lot to steady endeavors of women of all ethnicities, because from the old, most weaving art was left to women, and still form part of their daily chores in rural and nomedic styles of life.
Usually women do not weave on a routine basis, but do this whenever they are ready and find the time. Seasonal changes too, bear major impacts on weaving activates. These textiles greatly contribute to raise woman and her family status in marriage contracts and form greater part of bride's trousseau.
In the past, like today, observing marriage rites and ceremonies by the family elders were of vital importance and went much further than two peoples giving hand of marriage to each other; hence learning weaving and getting skilled in it were among necessary duties of young girls. Each and every piece of these textiles are created through love, well indicating family traditions, and serving as tokens of fertility and good fortune at the hands of the future bride.
Barriers to full presence of women in social life brought them to convey their feelings to later generations through designs of their textiles. These factors have been zealously intermingled to create exquisite trousseau covers, transforming applied goods into full fledged art objects in the course of history. Because they are produced beyond expecting any, material rewards, just as means for expressing artistic taste and creational abilities; in a word they are created to emphasize brides as human beings.
It seems that the weavers have perched on very branch, taking benefit from every flower they wished. All these textiles have warp and weft, and whenever weft number exceeds that of warps, the warps are not visible, specially when wefts are beaten tightly close together, in which ease the color of the textile is determined by weft color. For this reason, in this kind of weave warps could be monochrome or even undyed. This kind of weave prevails in gilim weaving in all villages of Hezar Jarib and Khalil Mehalleh. The present writer believes that all these textiles are means of expressing feelings. In all of these textiles the weavers have succeeded in expressing their feelings and its conveyance to the beholder, thus hitting at a poetic composition, leaving well behind the limited forms of handicrafts, and entering the realm of arts. Weaving these textiles have greatly evolved, from the simplest methods of weaving with fingers to securing warps on looms. By interweaving natural wool warps and wefts, a plain hand-woven textile is produced and with beating wefts and hiding warps, streaks of natural wool come to light. With slow gradual development of weaving loom, spinning, and dyeing, great weaving achievements have been possible. The weaving method used in weaving glims and other textiles in this region greatly differs with knotted style of carpet weaving, and limit the weavers in their designing. But this hindrance has never led to monotonous, boring and banal textiles. The weavers, aided by their creativity and abstract vision,, rather than producing plain monotonous textiles, have taken a different path, to the extent that every corner of their products has a peculiar character and originality. Though in these textiles there has been sort of insistence on absence of pattern and design, but the exquisite pallete has somehow compensated for this. Included among this region’s handwoven textiles are: clothe fabric known as chugha; jajim for top of Korsi*; jajim used as blanket; Jou-glim; glim used as trousseau cover; Khorgin (bag); Sofreh, eating spread, applied spreads, Serperga; porzou; bed-clothes wrappers; etc.
Chugha: (wool and silk jajims used for clothe): chugha is a kind of textile with a width round 30 cms. and lengths of 5, 10, 15 and 20 meters, with weft-faced weave.
The woolen type being cream, camel, gray and black colored. Usually the warps are of cotton and sometimes of wool. In silk
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* a usually wooden Frame for winter use, covered all about with quilts and blankets, under which a rudimentary brazier keeps the space warm, used at days and nights.
chughas natural silk spinned in traditional way was used for both warps and wefts, with red, gold, cream and black most commonly used.
Aba-ie cloth: This woolen fabric is suitable for winter wear. They are weft-faced, with cotton warps; sometimes wool is used for warp. Their difference with woolen chugha, being in width. Weaving a special type of this fabric, with a length exceeding four meters and width less than one, with the sole purpose of wrapping objects of daily use and bed-clothes under the tents as very common in the past.
Blakent jajims: These are weft-faced weave. Too, with coare wool used in woolen warp and weft. They were woven in a width between 50-70 cms in various lengths, then according to need and prurpose two or three widths were sewed together.
A special type of them woven with finer wool in square and three length, were used as ru-korsi (korsi-spread) though these textiles are generally woven with undyed wool in native color, the weavers artistic taste has left its mark in designing and space division, using diverse colors.
In these works contradicting colors are used in weaving the grounds, giving room to medallion or ecoincon-medallion design that enjoys a certain abstract beauty and diversity of designs.
Jouglim: Textile woven in the most simple and balanced method, wherein warps and wefts move over and under each other and are interwoven. These types of textiles, because showing their warps and wefts of the same color are not of decorative aspects. Whenever warps and wefts are of different colors the textile looks salt-and-pepper. Jou-gelims too, are made by sewing two, three or more widths of various lengths, generally 4-5 meters. They are used for desiccating wheat and oat (hence its denomination). The natives of this region believe that doing this in harvesting season would bless their yields.
Khor jin or Chante: these are woven for personal use, not transport or as container for storage of foodstuffs and provisions. Most hand-woven chantes are strictly for personal use, and are made by women who wish to weave some sort of purse or bag for their sons or spouses, that is why, they are rarely seen in similar shapes and size in various villages.
Sofreh (eating spread): each household has two spreads: one for keeping bread, and spread for eating too, and the other used for paste, not differing much, all being square in shape and in similar dimensions. Those spreads woven as trousseau items are of higher quality in regard to quality of wool, pallete and design.
Serperga(r): perga is a rather nomadic lodge, rarely seen in present Mazendaran. In practice they are tunnel shaped structures made with curved woods and covered with jajims woven with goat wool. Perga ( r) also mean household objects, thus textiles used for cover and decoration were called perga(r) too.
It is woven with wool in its native color, both warps and wefts are woolen. It is a knothed weave like carpets, but decorated with long piles. It had stripes on the surface so that when hanged under the tent top for decorative purposes could be secured in place. Perga(r) is a weft faced weave with apptoximate width of 70 cms.
Ru-Jehazi glim: (Trousseau spread glim). By and large the zenith of weaving art in Hezar Jarib region is witnessed in Ru-jehazi jajim. This too is a double faced hand woven textile, weft faced on both right and back sides. Colorful wefts are passed under and over hidden warps and the designs are shown by changing weft colors. In this textile group a greater diversity of color is visible and, dyers and weavers are more generous.
Ru-jehazi: is a most exquisite and fine woolen textile, produced with great care in all production steps: spinning, dyeing and weaving.
The weaver, the bride or her mother, has taken every pain to use colorful wefts in her creation, and even in plain parts polychromed wefts are used in creation of the ground.
In some cases the diversity of colors exceeds even that of abrash-bafi (dapple-gray weaving technique used in producing fine horse blankets) and is freed from every check. The weaver has not shyed from putting contradicting colors side by side, and with great generosity in selecting her plentyfull palette, aided by dexterousity in composition of greatly diversed colors, has created unsurpased extraordinary textile. In these textiles color is not of the material and crystallized type, but is extensive and all embracing. The secret of glim palette is genero sity in color volumes, patches of pure and abstract colors, filled with artistic and aesthetic taste, alongside best wishes and expectations for beginning a new life of continual beauty. Color composition and layout in all these textiles are mental and abstract, while following a systematic order which permits plain ground jajims of this region may be divided into categories like: econcoin; enconcoin and demi-medallion; or enconcoin in enconcoin; plain medallion; encoincon-medallion –plain ground; stripped ground; checkered, etc.
All executed not by following a design but through division and placement of colors, and in regard to palette, the creator does not follow particular rules and proportions. The method of repeating colors and intentional scattering patches of color in these textiles are noteworthy. These fine textiles were meant to be used as bride spread, whereon marriage ceremony was performed, and to be kept by the bride as a good omen.
These textiles are separately woven at least in 2 to 3 equal and parallel pieces; then they are sewn together. Diversity of abstract designs and the palette, well indicate aesthetic taste of the weaver, girls expecting her bridal ceremony. The outcome of steady, dynamic and zealous endeavors of the would be brides was fascinating textiles with mild pleasant colors that never lost their unwithering freshness.
Tools and implements used in weaving Mazendaran jajims, particularly Ru-jehazi jajims
Chal: a wooden instrument for spinning fine threads and winding threads round bobbin (massore).
Chalche: wooden rod in a cow skull for opening hanks of thread.
Massore: a piece of walnut wood for winding threads.
Makoo: wooden instrument rarely made from bull horn for holding the bobbin and tight weave.
Shâne: weaving instrument made from reed. The glim warps are passed over it and helped placing wefts on glim surface.
Dafteen: (weavers comb) a pair of wood instruments made from sturdy walnut and enhancing weight of cards in glim weaving
Vard: instrument comprising of two wooden rods with cotton thread in the middle for passing wefts through warp threads.
Navard: (cloth beam), warps are wound round this beam to get tight.
Meteet: wooden instrument made from two pieces of very hard wood with needles on both ends. These pieces are layed on top of each other and adjusted in various widths. While weaving is going on, they control the textile weave, preventing width fluctuations.
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