Azernews.Az

By Laman Ismayilova

Tashkent has hosted an event titled 'Azerbaijani Kelagayi art and its presentation', Trend Life reported. The event held at the initiative and with the organization of the Azerbaijani embassy in Uzbekistan and Cultural Centre named after Heydar Aliyev.

Azerbaijani Ambassador to Uzbekistan Huseyn Guliyev, addressing the event, spoke about Azerbaijani women's national headscarf – kelagayi, which was included in UNESCO representative list of intangible cultural heritage under name of 'Kelagayi symbolism and traditional art'.He also spoke about works carried out by the Heydar Aliyev Foundation in this regard.

Uzbekistan-Azerbaijan Friendship Society CEO, professor Erkin Nuriddinov named Kelagayi as a work of art of Azerbaijani people, preserved for centuries.

The ceremony featured a documentary film 'Azerbaijani Kelagayi'.

Kelagayi made from fine and soft silk in a four-cornered shape. For many centuries, it was an integral part of Azerbaijani women's national costume that protects them from both the hot sun and cold wind as silk is cool in summer and warm in winter.

The color of the headscarves has symbolic meaning often tied to specific social occasions such as wedding, mourning ceremony, daily activity or festivities.

In a traditional Azerbaijani wedding ceremony, the bride wears a red kelagayi, which covers her face and embraces her body. The bridegroom’s shoulders are also covered with a kelagayi.

The older women wore a dark kelagayi, mostly black and dark blue, whereas younger women preferred the brighter ones, such as white, beige, etc.

Traditional Kelagayi has various botanical, isomorphic and geometrical ornaments; buta, peacock, rose, daffodil, carnation, tulip, lily, pomegranate, quince, plum blossoms and various shaped leaves on it.

The composition consisting of botanical and geometrical ornaments has symbolic and mysterious characteristics.

The main figure used in kelagayi is buta, a twisted teardrop that has been a symbol of the divine fire, which has been worshipped in Azerbaijan since ancient times.

The most famous kelagayis are "Shah buta", "Saya buta", "Khirda buta", "Heyrati", "Soghani", "Istiotu", "Albukhari", "Abi", "Gonshuchatladan", "Baghdadi", "Shamakhi", "Bestenigar", "Gelinlik", "Gizili", "Mikheyi", "Yemishani", "Zeytuni" and "Yelani".

National headscarves are especially famous in Sheki. Since the Middle Ages, the city, located on the Great Silk road, attracted merchants and traders for its handicrafts, especially silk scarves.

This art is thriving here for centuries. Nowadays kelagayis are manufactured in Basqal, a picturesque village near Shamakhi. Basqal is also known for its Silk Center and Kelagayi Museum, which provides visitors and tourists with a comprehensive picture of this ancient Azerbaijani art. In the museum visitors are told about the history of kelagayi making as well as the patterns and their meanings.

Although the days when kelagayi were so popular among women left behind, the tradition of covering head with kelagayi is still preserved in some regions of the country, mostly among older generations of women.

Being a symbol of beauty, grace, and honor, kelagayi remains a vibrant element of Azerbaijan national women's clothing.

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Laman Ismayilova is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Lam_Ismayilova

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