ETERNAL VALUES
It is possible that multi-petal rosettes , images of a rhombus were symbols of Tengre ( dingir ), which was the deity of the sky as well as signs utu , symbols of the day , sun , light and fire 11 . In Chuvash carpet weaving , they went back to the concept of kez ( eye ) and embodied in a combination of two medallions ( rhombuses ) and small details . It resembled an anthropomorphic image of eternal face , which became the face of vigilant Allah during the contamination of Islam and paganism among the Muslim Tatars .
As for the most fundamental term “ kelem ”, among Tatar pagan rituals there was a genre “ keleu ” ( from teleu ( to desire )), which meant an appeal to the nature of the priests ( keleukartlary ), asking for the continuation of life and all kinds of blessings . References to the sun were : “ Sun , be a witness ”; “ Sun , come out , show yourself ”; to the ground – “ Give me strength , earth ”; to the fire – “ The language of fire ”, “ Bashlyik telekne , kuterik beekne , koyash , shagit-bul ”. They performed kelek in specially designated places keleulek , sacred groves , as well as in houses keleuyorty , where the weaving looms were located . The Chuvash pir voryny , borrowed from the Tatars , should be understood not literally as a “ place of flax ”, but as a place for a sacred elder ( pir ) 13 , weaving kelem ( a noun from keleu ). It is encoded in the language of carpet weaving in the pictogram , a hymn to nature and higher powers .
“ Tradition is not the worship of ashes , but the preservation of fire ”,
Gustav Mahler
A Sample of a Kelem . Slit-Tapestry weaving . End of the XIX century , Zakazanuy
Perhaps , the content of the coded term asalapsugu , which perhaps goes back to the sacred herb ysyryk , used for magic spell ( ysyry , teselәu which means to speak , conjure ), also becomes clearer in a new way .
Only the comprehension of the laws of ancient syncretism , where labour , rhythm , magic , poetic art of the word constitute a single , indissoluble whole can help to reveal the genesis of carpet weaving of the Turkic peoples and to see the full panorama and semantics of its mythological images .
Kelem . Slit-Tapestry weaving . Second half of the XIX century Minor Kovali ,
Vysokogorsk district of the Republic of Tatarstan
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