In Azerbaijan, carpets are traditionally handmade textiles of varying sizes, with a dense texture and a pile or pileless surface, whose patterns are unique to each region that produces them.
The art of carpet making is a family tradition passed orally and through experience. Traditionally, carpet making and rug making are jobs almost exclusively performed by women. Every girl had to learn the art of weaving carpets in the past, and the carpets she produced would be part of her dowry. The men shear sheep in spring and autumn, while the women collect dyestuff and spin and dye yarns in spring, summer, and autumn. During winter, the looms are woven by the female members of the extended family, the girls learning from their mothers and grandmothers, and the wives assisting their mothers-in-law.
The carpet is made from multicolored wool, cotton, or silk yarn that is dyed using natural dyes on horizontal or vertical looms. Pile carpets are woven by weaving pile yarns around the warp threads, while pile-less carpets are usually woven by interlacing structural warps with patterning wefts. It is unusually solemn to cut a finished carpet from the loom. The mother of a newly married son who had woven a large rug for his new home. An upcoming new carpet meant a feast, but a rug that has been completed meant an even greater event. A finished carpet used to be laid out in front of the house so that passers-by could stretch them even more with their feet after they had already been knotted.
Weaving carpets plays a significant role in the daily lives and customs of the communities in which they are found. This is reflected in the meanings of the designs and their applications. In addition to being widely used for home furniture and decoration, carpets serve a number of medical functions, as well as ceremonies commemorating the birth of a child, mourning rituals, and prayers.
As Azerbaijan gained independence from the Soviet Union, the Azerbaijani government focused on preserving, studying, promoting, and developing carpet weaving traditions. Additionally, President Ilham Aliyev approved a State Program in February 2018 for the protection and development of carpet art in the Republic of Azerbaijan 2018-2022 in order to establish new workplaces and provide qualified personnel training in the field of carpet-weaving as well as create raw material supply for this industry. A lot of attention was also paid to wool processing, wool and silk yarn manufacturing, and plants for coloring and producing dyes.
References
(https://ich.unesco.org/en/RL/traditional-art-of-azerbaijani-carpet-weaving-in-the-republic-of-azerbaijan-00389) (https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Azerbaijani_carpet) (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Azerbaijani_carpet_weaving)