Thursday
Up early and off to the Kumtepa bazaar near Marginal Because today is Eid, people have been to the mosque so when we arrived, there were hardly any stalls open.
(Eid al-Adha is the latter of the two Eid holidays. It honors the willingness of Abraham (Ibrahim) to sacrifice his son, as an act of submission to God's command, before God then intervened, through his angel Jibra'il and informs him that his sacrifice has already been accepted. The meat from the sacrificed animal is preferred to be divided into three parts. The family retains one third of the share; another third is given to relatives, friends and neighbors; and the remaining third is given to the poor and needy.)
It was a blessing there were few stalls open, as if it had been up and running, we would have been overwhelmed by the choice of Ikats. Shoy is silk and Adrassa is a silk cotton mix with varying percentages of silk and cotton.
A young man who is getting married soon
is at the bazaar to chose a chapan. (padded coat)
The women are dressing him up.
Lots of smiles and laughter.
Bought Peters skill cap from this lady.
Her hands are painted with henna for Eid
Played dress ups with the local woman trying on some ikat coats. Bought one which I will use as a dressing gown. This lady was looking for a new coat to wear to her grandsons circumcision.
I bought ikat from this man.
Skull caps
Visited the home of a skull cap maker in chust. The whole extended family were there. The table was laid with about 20 bowls of different sweets, cakes and the best dried fruits ever. And of course cups of the inevitable green tea which is very refreshing. We were as much an attraction to the family. The women who do the making demonstrated how it is done. Amazingly detailed. Takes about a week to make one cap and the price was $54. Both Win and I felt very embarrassed as we didn't buy and the family had gone to much trouble.
Weaving the braid for a skull cap.
The family. We were as much a curiosity for them as the skull caps were for us.
Plov at the 6 storey teahouse
The best lunch of Plov at the "6 story tea house".
Sitting on cushions around the table.
Plov - the national dish.
Don't let anyone tell you it is boring.
The kitchen - to cook the Plov
Gas fire under each pot
In the middle of a roundabout
From the soviet era
Stopped at the right bank of the Syrdarya river . Walked the ruins of Baburs former city of Ahsikent. Sardor our guide is passionate about the Ferghana valley and Uzbekistan and insisted we climb to the top.
For me, the highlight of the day was visiting Margilan and the workshop of hereditary weaving master Fazlitdin Dadajanov. He and his sons showed the ikat technique from beginning to end.
This is hard to explain but I think it goes like this. One silk thread of about 300metres long is wound around a frame. On the right would be enough threads to make one ikat pattern. The pattern is drawn on the threads and you can just see on the right where the son is starting to tie off a colour with sticky tape.
Finished ikat is about 350mm wide.
Above you see where the threads have been dyed and are ready to go ono the loom.
Fine bands of ikat which will be used
as a trim on skirts or jackets.
The father designs the ikat on graph paper, which will eventually be made into
the cards which will determine that the pattern is woven just as designed.
The other end of the loom >It takes one month to set up this jacquard loom which has 7000 threads across its about metre width.
I understand more than I ever have about ikat, but there is still a large element of magic in it.
Win and Sardor checking out the stock
Fazlitdin is a true lover of his craft.
He imported an Indian weaver to stay with them for 6 months to teach new techniques.
They use lots of natural dyes.
Spent probably an hour in their selling room, oohing and aching over the ikats. Finally we both had decided on what we wanted and money exchanged hands.
Home for a quick rest and off to our lovely driver Marmer's home for dinner. Lovely welcoming extended family. His wife starts with big hugs and kisses. they were childhood sweetheart and have been married for 38 years. 5 kids and 11 grandkids quite a number of whom live with them.
