KASHAN ORIENTAL RUGS

Kashan oriental rugs are named for the city of Kashan, the capital city of the Isfahan province in north central Iran. Kashan is one of Iran’s oldest cities and was a well-known center of silk production, resulting in some of the finest Persian silk rugs of ancient times.

The most common traditional design of these Kashan oriental rugs is a central medallion with corners on a field that can contain any number of curvilinear floral forms and sprays, vines, and arabesques. The design of Kashan rugs has remained pretty much unchanged for centuries.

It is important to note that the same caveats that apply to all oriental rugs must be repeated:   

• The way to accurately identify a handwoven oriental rug is not just from the design, but from the way it is woven, and the materials used.

• Many countries produce rugs with designs that may copy another country’s rug.

Because of the individual nature of hand-woven rugs, we can study the most common examples (and there will be variations!) but we must be aware there are many exceptions to every example and the terms ’always’ and ‘never’ do not apply.

CONSTRUCTION OF KASHAN ORIENTAL RUGS

FOUNDATION

The foundation of Kashan oriental rugs consists of cotton warps (top to bottom cords) and 2 shoots of cotton wefts (side to side cords), usually dyed blue. The first weft is thicker and straight and the second is thinner and sinuous.

KNOT

Kashan oriental rugs use the Persian or Senneh asymmetrical knot. The yarn is placed in a loop around one of the warps (up and down foundation cords) and remains loose under the other. The 2 ends emerge on either side of the warp. The Kashan rugs will open to the left.

ENDS

The ends are usually finished with a cotton kilim (a flat area of varying size woven at the end of the rug before the fringe is finished) combined with a knotted fringe. An alternating red and blue or yellow and blue weft pattern can sometimes be found in the kilim.

SIDES

The sides are finished with a single cord overcast in wool.

PILE

The pile is composed of tightly woven wool and is usually clipped relatively short to allow the intricacy of the design to show through. Although they would be quite rare today, some Kashans are made of silk.

COLORS

The most common colors used in Kashan oriental rugs before 1970 were red and navy blue with the red used for the field and the navy blue for the major border.

From the 1970s until the 1980s, the color palette changed to a pale green/grey field with purple-blue wefts.

Since the 1980s, Kashan oriental rugs have gone back to the traditional colors of red and navy blue.

SIZES

Kashan oriental rugs are made in all sizes.

SIGNATURES or DATES

Although it may or may not be important as far as determining the value of these rugs, signatures and/or dates can sometimes be found woven into the borders. They could be the weaver’s name, the name of the person who commissioned the rug, the area in which the rug was woven, or even the name of the factory that made the rugs.

DRY ROT PROBLEM

Dry rot can be a problem with many tightly woven machine made or hand-knotted rugs, such as Kashans, Sarouks, and machine-made rugs such as Wiltons. Over a long period of time, the cotton foundation yarns can become brittle and break when attacked by fungi in the air. If this should be the case, there will be slits along the sides and interiors of these rugs.

KASHAN HISTORY

Please continue reading here to learn about the history of Kashan and Kashan rugs as well as Kashan oriental rugs design and more with photos included.

CONSPIRACY THEORIES

Conspiracy theories have been around for millennia, but serious research into the type of people who hold such beliefs only began about 30 years ago. Unfortunately, these early studies were not very good and had plenty of contradictions.

REAL CONSPIRACIES

Some conspiracies were real. Watergate was one. The tobacco industry’s continuing campaign of disinformation knowing their product caused cancer was a real conspiracy.

A conspiracy can be seen as an explanation of events which blames a group of powerful people who make secret plans to benefit themselves and harm the common good. Some of the more popular conspiracy theories include alien contact and the assassination of John F. Kennedy by multiple shooters.

THE PANDEMIC and BELIEF IN COMSPIRACY THEORIES

Even before the pandemic began, there was a growing distrust in health, science, and government information. During the pandemic, new conspiracy theories were brought to light such as Bill Gates as the master orchestrator of the pandemic and the injecting of chips into as many people as possible, as well as the pharmaceutical industry’s denial of the effectiveness of hydroxychloroquine and ivermectin.

LATEST RESEARCH STUDY

A team of researchers from Emory University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and the University of Regina recently undertook a massive effort to try to find common personality traits in those who tend to believe in conspiracy theories.

The researchers did a meta-analysis of data from every English language study ever conducted to look at a potential link to personality and motivation in those who have a belief in conspiracy theories. There was a total of 170 studies involving over 158,000 research participants.

After crunching the numbers, the researchers came up with three traits that correlated with the inclination to endorse conspiracy theories. They are:

• Perceiving threat or danger. 
• Relying on intuition and having odd beliefs and experiences.
• Being antagonistic and feeling superior leading to reduced humility.

Perceiving Threat or Danger

To conspiracy theorists, a lack of trust is a personality trait common denominator. They tend to believe the world is a dangerous place with others posing a threat, especially every institution. Pharmaceutical companies, universities, media outlets, and the government are just some of the targets for their distrust. Life to them is a violent struggle to survive.

This type of distrust is an example of the delusion that powerful people are out to get not only you but everyone else. (This is a bit different from ‘paranoia,’ the delusion that everyone is out to get you personally.)

In general, those who tend to believe in conspiracy theories feel powerless and cynical about the world. They feel alienated from others. It is no surprise that when a strong and loud leader comes along and admits they see the world in a similar light, but they have a plan, conspiracy theorists will flock to them.

Relying on Intuition and Having Odd Beliefs and Experiences

Those people who believe in conspiracy theories tend to rely on their intuition or gut to figure out what is really happening. Intuitive thinking is easy and fast, and in the distant past it has helped our species to evade predators. Analytical thinking, with its reliance on scientific data, is harder on the brain and more time-consuming. It is quicker and easier to believe in a grand conspiracy theory when you simply follow your instincts.

Abnormal personality traits, such as having odd beliefs and experiences, along with hostility and paranoia tend to give rise to distress and impairment for those who rely on their intuition to believe in conspiracy theories.

Another of the abnormal traits associated with these people is the tendency to have unusual experiences. For example, this can mean delusions, magical beliefs, or hallucinations. Although these unusual experiences in some instances can fuel creativity, they also can give people a disturbing perception of the world.

There is a caveat here. Abnormal personality traits, although they are strongly correlated with believing in conspiracy theories, do not explain another part of the data that came out of these studies. That data showed that most surveyed participants all over the world endorse at least one conspiracy theory!

It is, therefore, important to realize that it is not inevitable that people exhibiting abnormal traits will have a belief in a conspiracy theory. And not everyone who believes in a conspiracy theory should immediately see a psychiatrist and be prescribed anti-psychotic medicine!

Being Antagonistic and Feeling Superior

Leading to Reduced Humility

Please continue reading here for more information as well as an explanation of limitations of the study as well as what to do with the findings.

LABOR DAY

Labor Day is celebrated on the first Monday in September of every year. It is the only holiday in the year that does not focus on an individual or a national event.

The path to this proclamation was not a simple one. Rather, it was marked with hard work and risk by labor leaders and many thousands of workers. It was a celebration by the Knights of Labor in 1882 that brought the cause to the public’s attention.

Hundreds of thousands of demonstrators paraded in New York City in America’s first Labor Day parade. Many carried signs that said ‘8 hours for work, 8 hours for rest, 8 hours for recreation.’ Of course, they were parading for better working conditions as well.

The Labor Day movement spread from East to West in the following years. In 1887, Colorado was the first state to declare Labor Day a state holiday. By 1893, more than half of the states had an official Labor Day. President Grover Cleveland, thinking it was a good political move, signed the bill for a national Labor Day on June 28, 1894. Unfortunately, he was not reelected.

WHY A LABOR DAY HOLIDAY?

The original intent of Labor Day was to provide a holiday that would honor the social and economic achievements of America’s 'blue collar workers,' representing the millions who worked with their hands. Public festivities varied from parades and formally planned picnics to speeches and the recognition of particularly worthy individuals. It was also intended to provide a day of rest between the 4^th of July and Thanksgiving.

Today, Labor Day celebrates all American workers and their contributions to our nation. Monday was chosen because the three-day weekend offers an opportunity to step away (for most) from business, work at a store, hospital, office, plant, etc. It can be a weekend of rest and the recharging of our batteries, as well as doing the things with our family and friends that will soon be impractical because of the changing season and busy schedules. Since it is the last major holiday before the onset of autumn, Labor Day is generally seen as the last chance to enjoy the summer season.

WHO HAS TO WORK ON LABOR DAY?

Here are some groups of people, identified by Wall Street as essential 24/7, who have to work on Labor Day. Some of them even have to work harder on the national day off.

• Corrections Officers.
• Electrical Power Linemen.
• Police and Sheriff’s Officers.
• Nuclear Power Reactor Operations.
• Air Traffic Controllers
• Telecommunications Installers and Repair People.
• Railroad Conductors and Yardmen.         
• Firefighters.
• Water and Wastewater System Operators.
• Registered Nurses.

ONE LABOR DAY TRADITION THAT IS GONE FOREVER

Please continue reading here to find out what that tradition was as well as where the phrase 'wear no white after Labor Day' came from.