Parzun, Hakkari Province Women's Traditional Backpacks

Abstract

Hakkari is one of the important centres of sheep breeding and is associated with milk and wool products obtained from sheep. Milk and the products obtained by processing the milk obtained from sheep fed with endemic plants offer great taste. Knitted and woven works made by spun wool obtained from sheep too are admired in terms of their material, decoration and fine workmanship. Weaving made for clothing, carrying, floor covering and many other different purposes is also remarkable in terms of diversity. Although carrying goods on the back is a worldwide tradition, equipment used for carrying goods on back may differ from country to country or even from region to region. For example, while in the Black Sea Region women use baskets for carrying tea on their backs, we see weavings of smaller sizes than sacks with handles on both sides in the Aegean Region. In the Hakkari region, women's backpacks are woven in a rectangular shape, stitched to a square or close to square and take the shape of a triangle when they are taken on one's back. The research on these women's backpack, which is especially peculiar to the Hakkari region, is based on an ethnographic work field study covering thirty-two settlements of Hakkari. This study serves to introduce the "parzun", which is among the weavings of Hakkari for carrying purposes and which has an important place in the social life, culture and art of the region. The study is also aimed to protect this cultural asset and transfer it to future generations, as well as contributing to scientific studies to be carried out in this fiel d.