One of the most important symbolic motifs woven into rugs and kilims throughout Turkey and Central Asia and my absolute favorite design is Elibelinde, also known as Cybele or 'Hands on Hips', or 'The Mother Earth Goddess'. Because a goddess can never have too many names, she is also rather regally referred to as 'The Goddess of Anatolia'. Representing a mother goddess figure,sometimes depicted with a child in her womb, she is an ancient Anatolian symbol of motherhood, female strength, fertility,and abundance. Believed to date to neolithic times this symbol is still woven into the modern Turkish rugs and kilims of today. A young woman weaver can sometimes weave a stylized figurine of herself,
My first blog post on the beautifully unique Marsh Arab weavings (wordpress)was back in 2013 when Iraqi Kurdish friends were bringing bundles of these vibrant textured weavings into my rug store and although no-one really knew where they came from,my clients were snapping them up for the flamboyant,wild and unique weavings that they were.Sadly as I only have one left in stock (and one in my personal collection) and haven't seen any good examples for wholesale in a couple of years,we may well be headed towards the 'end of an era' so I thought it was worthwhile revisiting my original blog. I hope you enjoy it for the second time. I have always been fascinated by these magnificent primitive emb
