A Handicraft Trip
At 4 am, our nomadic journey started. This trip was not like the other nomadic trips we normally organize for travelers. It was only us, the team, going to the area to make a profile of each nomadic family and the handicrafts they’d already made and had in their homes for sale. We had a long way ahead to reach the Zagros mountains and its hospitable people. The wait was sweet but not as sweet as meeting them, so we decided to take Koohrang road; less kilometers but higher altitudes. We were passing through mountain ranges up to 3000. The snow-covered peaks were sublime and the locals believed, by the next snow, the road would be closed till the next spring.
Nomadic Handicraft
Around evening, bearing sweet exhaustion on our shoulders, we reached the village and went directly to Khoda Rahm & Parvar’s house; a cozy stone house in the corner of the village with a lovely porch, a small garden and a few cats, dogs, hens & roosters. We rested in a delectable silence which was only occasionally broken by the sound of domestic animals wandering around. The next morning, after a good and well-deserved night’s sleep, we had warm fresh milk and local bread for breakfast and started our day.
For me, humans and their interactions, their ways of connection and communication, are the most arresting things on such occasions. I just love it when I’m in close contact with nomads, especially nomad women. When they tell me about what handicrafts they’ve made or what patterns they have used on their carpets. I love it when they feel their art is being seen and appreciated.
Apart from the ancient cemetery shadowed by an old walnut tree, what gave a rather gothic look to the village in some ways was that some houses were empty since it was getting chilly and some villagers prefer leaving the mountains in the cold season. The remaining souls were the permanent residents of the village who spend most of their days farming in the village’s beautiful gardens, taking care of the animals, and making handicrafts. These people are the epitome of self-sufficiency. They eat what they produce themselves and make whatever they truly need. Luxury has no place in the mountains. Minimalism is the wiser way of life there.
I have tasted the most genuine and organic tastes in this village. This time we were lucky enough to taste the freshly picked barberry from the mountains. The sour sweetness was a bliss to taste. In summer, tomatoes, grapes, and peaches are the gustatory gifts and souvenirs. It was not without reason that Judy, our dear traveller, wanted to spend a whole week in this village to “freshen her body with fresh fruits & yogurt”.
Bibi Gohar’s Nomadic Handicrafts
One of the highlights of this trip was watching Bibi Gohar weave behind the carpet loom. She would weave and talk about the good old days when her late mother used to extract natural green & yellow colors from the herbs of the surrounding mountains. She would sigh and say how nowadays nobody knows how to do that. She sang a short song for us too, the one the women usually sing while weaving. Her husband was in the city with their children but she had decided not to leave the village … “I’d never leave Khoye” she said.
On our way back, we stopped for an hour in Chin village to pick up some oak bread. The distance between these two villages is only two hours but the differences are huge. I dearly wish better days for Chin and other villages. May their people, who are equally lovely and hospitable, be as motivated in their art and endeavours as people in Khoye.
Since Seyyed was not in Chin, we went to another house, Seyyed’s friends. One could learn a lot just by listening to the phone call between these two old friends now that one of them was far far away in Isfahan with better facilities but confined, imprisoned within four walls, and the other one free in the middle of the Zagros ranges, yet worrying and preparing for the upcoming cold winter days.