THE BIRTH AND DEATH SYMBOLIZES MOTIFS IN HATAY/REYHANLI KİLİMS

Abstract

In this study; the motifs of birth and death detected in Hatay / Reyhanlı kilims which are stillliving handicrafts products in our folk culture were examined. Although weaving has a longhistory in Hatay, when we look at the data obtained from the field research and literature, it ismentioned that silk weaving is important, information about dirt, plain or other weaving isencountered in limited sources. The spindle whorls found in the archaeological excavations in theHatay region and found in the findings of the middle paleolithic period are evidence that theweaving in the region is based on very ancient histories. After weaving with wool, linen andcotton fibers, it is known that silk weavings are started and developed after the silkwormcultivation, which is known and learned through the silk road caravans. Later in the 1700s, it wasensured that Sivas and Eskişehir Yörüks settled in the Reyhanlı region in order to developagriculture and animal husbandry in the Amik plain. Reyhanlı tribal yörükleri dealing with animalhusbandry, dyed the yarn obtained from sheep with herbal dyes, poured their emotions andfeelings into motifs and finally weaved Hatay/Reyhanlı kilims that carry unique characteristictraces. In this study; the motifs representing the birth and death in the kilims of theHatay/Reyhanlı region were determined in the literature and the Ankara Foundation WorksMuseum and the descriptions of these motifs were examined together with their drawings.