Traditions of Country Rugs

Country rugs come from in various styles, form different parts of the world. Roughness and coarse may be country style in some places, but delicacy might define country in other regions. Country rugs were made centuries B.C. and each culture’s tradition was carried on by the ancient housewives, peasants, till the hand-crafters of today.
 
The Armenian rug history dates from XIV - IX B. C and it includes the world famous Persian carpets, at first known as khali, which were even mentioned in the Bible. The Caucasus people were dyeing the wool in some plants mixture and then used it to make woven fabrics, which they covered in paintings, which often illustrated saints or religious elements. When a Turkish tribe conquered Persia, their native women started to adapt their famous Turkish knots to the Persian rugs that are hand-knotted even today. The most coarsely knotted country rugs come from Kurdistan, while the Kashan people make the finest ones.

The used material for the country rug is the one that is available in the local area. In regions where cotton is produced, this is preferred over wool, which is the most known country fabric. In semi-nomadic regions, the pastors, like the Balouch and the Afghans use wool for the warp and weft, because they can’t produce cotton themselves. Another type of country rug is made of rag, which has been the specialty of women living in the country or on the frontier. These were popular at the beginning of the 20th century, along with the "Arts and Crafts movement," but they were forgotten during the World Wars.

The colouring of the country rugs seems like a wide range, because of they the many ornaments, but in fact, in the modern city rugs there can be found more colours. In some rural regions, like in India or Mexico, some crafters still use vegetable dyes, like indigo or madder, to paint the rugs. The nomadic people were also probably the first who made carpets (other variants sustain that Chinese, Egyptians or Mayas were the inventors) to cover the earth in their home tents. Regarding the prints, country rugs may have geometric Oriental patterns, floral Persian patterns, and carved pattern, traditional from China. The calligraphist, who used to write manuscripts, were collaborating at making the carpets` designs, as the tulip design evolved from the painters' brush to ceramic forms, into carpets.

Nowadays, in some Oriental countries, where their traditional country rugs are highly appreciated by tourists form more modern societies, the carpet sellers often bile away the rugs' surfaces intentionally, so they have an older and mystical aspect and get greater sales. In the Oriental culture, the country rug is attributed a high value and magic powers, like the flying carpets described since old times in Oriental literature.