Oya
BY Safir Kaylan | August 11, 2010
At the edge of a scarf
Oya, known as the "women's art"is a way of decorating the edges of women's scarves, linens, and headdresses all of which are mostly made of cotton and in some cases of-printed cloths.
Oya is a minor textile art and is not very well known; it carries the colors of the Anatolian landscape. Flowers such as the rose, hyacinth, violet, lemon flower, daisy and honeysuckle are some of the sources of inspiration. The use of the colors of plant leaves and trees, landscape designs of the hills and rocks, motifs of the traditional objects such as spoons and wedding baskets and figures of birds, butterflies and lizards provide this traditional craft with a rich and unique repertoire.
One of the reasons oya edging was born and developed in Anatolia is its location: the area once was part-of the Silk Road. Silk was the original thread of this craft but today cotton and synthetic threads are more frequently used. Some records date the origin of oya back to the 8th century BC during the reign of the Phrygians of Anatolia.
In today's fashion world oya blends ancient and modern design components. The contemporary ethnic trends that surges from time to time embraces this traditional hand-craft and use it on the edges of funky scarves, cool beach towels, with jazzy jewelry and with any other suitably trendy accessories. There are many different techniques, means and design interpretations in the making of oya edging. By using needles, crochet hooks, shuttles, hairpins, beads and tassels, it is possible to make a wide variety of oya. Hairpin oya edging is made by threading beads and other small decorative objects like pearls or sequins into a thread of a single color. In beaded edging, colorful beads are added to the end of needled or crocheted oya pieces. Oya is also used for men's head wraps which are decked in layers especially in the western part of Turkey.
Besides being a way of embelishing the textiles, oya edging is also a means of communication. Different colors carry different messages. Oya edging becomes an unspoken language of the emotions and sentiments of the Anatolian women who employ it. When women combine these colors with descriptive shapes and patterns of selected flowers, plants and figurative items, they convey their messages in a symbolic way to others around them.
Some examples from the www.turkishculture.org: Girls engaged to marry the man they love wore pink hyacinths and almond blossoms. Plum blossom oya was worn by brides. A new bride who has a disagreeable relationship with her husband chose - "pepper spice"- oya for her head, as if to say- "my marriage was unhappy from the start"- But if she bound red pepper oya around her head, this would be a sign that her relationship with her husband was as spicy as red hot pepper.
