19 March 2024

Tuesday, 12:13

AESTHETICS OF NEW LIFE

Symbols of the exhibition “Carpets and Legends” demonstrate the commonality of the traditions of New Year celebrations in China and Azerbaijan

Author:

15.03.2018

The New Year comes to the East and Asia in the spring, when flowers and trees blossom, when the birds build nests, and people cultivate the land and sow the fields. Mother Nature is reborn giving us joy, hope and faith in a better future. This process followed the same pattern throughout the history. So it is today.

The exhibition organized by the Azerbaijan Carpet Museum together with the Embassy of the People's Republic of China under the title New Year in Chinese Calendar as part of the project Carpets and Legends raised a genuine interest among the guests and residents of the city. The theme of the exhibition is dedicated to the Chinese New Year. Official opening ceremony was attended by the embassy staff led by Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the People's Republic of China in Azerbaijan Mr. Wei Jinhua, Azerbaijani MP, writer-publicist Elmira Akhundova, cultural and art figures, representatives of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, public organizations. Director of the museum, Shirin Melikova, told the audience about the cultural ties between our countries dating back to the days of the Silk Road. Underlining the importance of the presence in carpet art of elements that unite the traditions of our countries, which bear encrypted messages to new generations, she added: “The great Chinese civilization, which gave the world an incredible number of discoveries, had a great influence on the culture of the whole world. In the culture of our peoples, an image of a dog is a symbol protecting a person from evil spirits.” Since 2018 is a year of the Dog, according to the Chinese calendar, the exhibition is full of symbolic and realistic images of this animal found in the culture of China and carpet products of Azerbaijan of the 19th and 20th centuries. Carpets from Gazakh, Shirvan and Karabakh were presented at the exhibition. Several carpets were taken from the museum's storehouses and exhibited for the first time.

 

Totemic animal

The carpets from Karabakh are especially remarkable since they often has a realistic image of a dog. Dogs are depicted next to horses or people, next to other animals. In Azerbaijan, a dog performs the functions of a domestic animal, which faithfully serves a person as his guard, assistant hunter, and so on. In China, a dog is a totemic animal. Its image can be found in New Year's engravings on wood, clay products, paper clippings, embroideries, sculptures and houses. Colourful carnivals also has a tradition of demonstrating an image of another totemic animal, dragon the protector.

The image of a dog as a totemic animal encoded in symbols and its realistic image as an integral element of human life conceptually united the constituent parts of the exhibition, which included the carpets accompanied by multimedia such as animated clips, explaining in detail the nature and essence of symbolic images, as well as video stories demonstrating the tradition of dog symbolism in the Chinese folk culture.

 

Multimedia support

The characters turn into animated images from schematic designs artistically embodied on the carpet canvas. Incidentally, interpretation through multimedia is the best visual aid for visitors of the exhibition. This innovation caused a lively and genuine interest especially among the children and novice artists. Just like a video information bloc about the art of China, which is thematically associated with the symbol of a dog.

The New Year is the celebration of spring. The verbal translation of the term “New Year” from Chinese into Russian means the Spring Festival! It is often unofficially called the Lunar New Year, because the date of this holiday is calculated based on the lunar-solar Chinese calendar, and the exact date is determined from the lunar phases. According to historical sources, this holiday had been celebrated in China 180 years before our era.

In the cultural tradition of the Azerbaijani people, spring festivities start with the Novruz, which is, according to scientists, “at least 3700, maximum 5000 years old.” Novruz and the Chinese New Year are the most beloved and most popular holidays in both countries. If a Chinese symbol of the New Year is a totemic animal dog and the festivities last for 15 days (16.02-02.03.2018), Novruz is always celebrated on the spring equinox (March 20-21) and lasts for five days , albeit the preparations begins a month before the actual holiday.

 

Traditions

In China. Traditionally, the people are engaged in careful house cleaning meaning that one cleans his life from any setbacks freeing up space for happiness. On these days, the Chinese always pay a tribute to the house where they have grown up, unite with their family members for a festive dinner. On the first day, fireworks are launched to scare off evil spirits and bring the spirit of happiness to the family. The next morning children congratulate their parents, wishing them health, and in return receive money in red paper envelopes. Colleagues are also supposed to exchange such envelopes. According to a legend, red colour brings luck. According to Chinese tradition, such envelopes are used to present a bonus for the holiday, tips, some money to the newlyweds on the wedding day. The amount of money must always be even. But in recent years, gift certificates have become popular. The New Year celebrations usually end with the launch of red lanterns. This is a very ancient tradition with mythological roots. A legend has it that the Chinese at the beginning of each year are hiding from a terrible monster that comes and devours everything: cattle, grain, food supplies and even people. To appease a gluttonous monster, people put food at the front door. The more is the food, the better. Once people noticed that the monster was frightened of a small child dressed in red clothes, and decided that it was this colour that terrorises the monster. Since then, people has been hanging red lanterns and red scrolls on their doors and windows. They believe that this frightens off the monster making it to bypass the dwellings of the people. Folklore performances are arranged on this particular day of red lanterns: walking on stilts, lion dance and the dance of Yangge, which is included in UNESCO’s 2006 list of intangible cultural heritage for China. It is noteworthy that every Chinese region has its own story for this dance. But no matter what is the version of the story, the Chinese use scarves, umbrellas, drums, fans, etc. The plot is based on myths, legends, literary works, scenes from everyday life, historical legends. The New Year days are the best time for reconciliation: all grievances are forgotten and everyone wishes each other happiness and peace. During the opening ceremony of the exhibition, Chinese Ambassador to Azerbaijan, Wei Jinhua, said that the New Year for the Chinese people is as important and valuable as Novruz for Azerbaijanis.

In Azerbaijan. As mentioned above, preparations for Novruz start one month before the day of the spring equinox (March 20-21). We also have a tradition of celebrating weekly ritual Tuesdays before the Novruz. The first Tuesday is the Day of Water: on this day, water and water sources come into motion, as if reborn with the coming of spring. Purification of water is also one of the preserved traditions of our people. It is believed that to jump over a stream or a narrow riverbed means washing away past sins. On the last night of the year before going to bed, it is common to pour water on each other. It is believed that the movement of water stops in all reservoirs on this day and all living creatures including the trees bow to the water. The second Tuesday is the Day of Fire, which carries purification. The third Tuesday is the Day of Wind. The fourth Tuesday is the final day, the Day of Soil. It is believed that it is on this day that the soil wakes up from hibernation and a new life begins.

On this day, we traditionally clean our houses, opening windows and doors, letting in air masses (the energy of Qi in Chinese). That is the energy of life. As we can see, since ancient times it has been customary for the people to pay tribute to all four elements. This ancient ritual approach has remained in the memory of people as a tradition up until our days. However, our ancestors gave it a completely different meaning. Ritual and practical. They, obviously, were able not only to show respect to the elements, but also to interact with them. Unfortunately, we have lost this tradition. On the last Tuesday before Novruz, bonfires are lit everywhere and everyone regardless of age should jump over them seven times. Fire cannot be extinguished with water. It is necessary to wait until it dies out by itself, and then to collect the ash and throw it away from home. According to the belief, fire burns all the misfortunes compiled during the past year and are thrown out with ashes. Like the Chinese, we should be at home around a festive table on the first day of the holiday. There is a popular saying: “If one is not at home on the first day of Novruz, one will be away from home for seven years.” We pay a particular attention to the selection of food on the table. Traditionally, there should be seven dishes on the table all starting with the letter “s”. Including samani (sprouted wheat with green shoots). According to a popular belief, the first day of Novruz is considered spring, second - summer, third - autumn, and the fourth - winter. The conditions of these days determine the conditions for each of these seasons during a year.

Assistant director of the Carpet Museum, Aynur Mammadova, reminded an interesting ritual tradition associated with carpets. On the day when the house is cleaned, carpets are taken out for cleaning on the street. It is believed that a girl should sit on the carpet and make a wish, which will come true thanks to the state of nature on the New Year's eve.

 

Carpets as part of ritual life

Azerbaijani carpets are a special part of national rituals, the same as in the life of any other people. In ancient times, carpet weaving was a feminine activity. Today this is part of the applied art. Each ethnic region of Azerbaijan is characterized by a certain pattern of ornaments and colour scheme. Pile carpets of from Karabakh depict realistic stories from everyday life of Azerbaijanis. It is often possible to see a number of dogs and horses, horse riders, and sheep on them. Historically, dogs are represented on them both in a realistic manner and in coded symbols, when they were believed to be totemic animals. But one thing in the work of carpet weavers has always remained unchanged: faith in a better future. In fact, the creators of these carpets encrypt the details of their everyday life on them. Experienced and knowledgeable art experts are able to read messages from the past and the last century. These messages deserve to be known indeed. Not only as an aesthetic representation of composition and colour but also as encoded messages to descendants, as a confession to the world, as evidence of ethnic, historical and temporal belonging to a certain geographical location on the world map, that is Azerbaijan.



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