Field to Floor: Kurdish Kilim

Most have heard of “farm to table” restaurants. What is not to love about locally produced ingredients? Whereas this typically means paying extra for such a luxury in the United States, this is the standard for local restaurants in Turkey without the additional cost. On the other hand, who has heard of “field to floor?”

“Field to floor” is the luxury of having rugs on your floors that once roamed open fields. A purchase of such a rug is evidence that Kurdish pastoralism and carpet weaving are still practiced despite extensive migration to major cities.

 Along remote roads in southeastern Turkey between the Monastery of Saint Gabriel, the oldest surviving Syriac Orthodox Monastery dating back to the 5th century, and Kafro’s Pizzeria that recently opened in a Syriac village, we marveled at the fields. Around each corner we saw flocks of sheep and goats scattered across the fields. They followed their shepherds over the hills and through the valleys. Alongside the road we noticed small settlements made of white tents surrounded by lambs, baby goats and women hard at work.

These nomadic Kurdish shepherds are known to reside in mountain villages during the summer and in the lowland pastures during the winter months. Though pastoralism was once the primary vocation for Kurds, most have left shepherding behind in favor for other occupation opportunities in major cities. To our surprise we had the privilege of drinking tea with two women who have retained much of their traditional culture.

Stopping alongside the road, we were warmly greeted by a sheep we named Charlie and kindly invited for tea by a mother and her daughter. They were hospitable and shared with us their traditional way of life. They raise sheep and goats as those who had come before them. The men spend their days out in the fields with the flock and women raising the young animals, wash, cook, and tend to the settlement. Together they sheer the sheep, removing a sheep’s thick fleece which then can be made into yarn.

Earlier in our travels we passed through the city center of Midyat where we met Mustafa, a carpet weaver. He sat down at a loom to weave yarn made from local sheep and goats into a magnificent rug, just as his father had done before him. The type of rugs that Mustafa makes are known at “kilims”. They are distinguished by a flat weaving technique or a wooden loom. He expertly showed us how a fleece, like Charlie’s, can be transformed from yarn, weaved on a loom, and made into a kilim, a masterpiece worthy of any floor.

Thus, from the fields of our nomadic shepherd friends, through the loom of a master kilim maker, I have gained a wonderful addition to my floor and an appreciation of Kurdish pastoralism and carpet weaving.

Revised article by Rebekah Harper (Paulson), “Field to Floor,” West2East, https://www.west2east.org/stories/field-to-floor.