Turkman Namazlighs, A discussion about key and ritual symbols of culture

Hand-woven textiles of Turkman race have been made in various sizes in response to needs of emigration life. Namazligh is one of the most prominent Turkman hand-made textiles woven by women from ancient times as an identity-giving and functional element for doing ritual practice of praying. The purpose behind weaving and using such textile is not simply restricted to religious aspects but it comprises social and cultural aspects as well to the extent that, like an inseparable element of life, it is used in the most important socio-cultural rites of Turkman race. In each culture, there are key symbols which represent important meanings, values and beliefs of that society. Such symbols are classified into summarizing and explanatory ones. The first group mostly consists of sacred symbols which have a key role in transference and continuation of pivotal meanings and values of a culture. Accordingly, by using analytic-descriptive method and doing library as well as field studies in the field of key symbols, Namazligh and its symbolic significance in Turkman culture of Agh Ghala region have been studied. The origin and reasons of using certain designs in Namazlighs are dependent on the life style of Turkman race and are under the influence of pre-Islamic beliefs and elements of natural environment which survived in the textiles via creating new concepts after their conversion to Islam in mid-sixteenth century. Thus, as key and sacred symbol, Namazligh brings this question to the mind that what is the relationship between social, ritual and cultural aspects of Namazligh and Turkman race? The results of this study show that, such hand-woven textile represents the most important Islamic and pre-Islamic beliefs and values of Turkmans besides their most significant cultural elements. The cultural function of Namazligh is, in addition to transference of such meanings, to internalize them in the members of society and suggesting a kind of emotional attachment and motivation for following such meanings. Thus, it is like a context for creating designs which are related to a certain belief and has specific functions such as repelling evil-eyed injuries, security, birth and fertilization.