History of felt making in Mongolia

The felt is the earliest known form of textile fabric and played an important part in the life of early man. Over the centuries, felt has been made in many countries for various applications. For example Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan, Turkey herdsmen using -felt coat  “kepeneks” and felt rug, India-embroidery felt,  Scandinavia-felt boot, Britain- beaver hat. Nomads in Central Asia are using felt mainly for ger. (yurta)

The tradition of felt making in Mongolia first referred to by Hunnu Empire. Mongolian Hunnu's Felt Carpet was found in the Hunnu tombs at Noyon Uul and has been dated to between the third century BCE( before the common era) and first century. Now the carpet is hanging on display in the National History Museum. Detail of a fragment from an Hunnu carpet depicting a highly stylized image of an animal figure, central panel showing spirals pattern. The technique and design is unique earliest Mongolian handwork style.

Mongolia often calls itself the "Felt Nation". The traditional Mongolian dwelling is known as a yurt-Ger. The entire ger is covered by a layer of thick felt. The felt insulation and the shape of the ger allow it to stay cool in the summer and warm in the winter with little heat. Mongolian nomadic type like travel. During travel, felt is light and it has no transport problem.

The technique used by the Mongolian nomads in the production of felt was simple and classical. Felt making process is implemented non washing wool, not using soap and additional substance only using water.  

Both the new wool and the mother felt are then rolled up tightly around the pole.  Wet hides are wrapped around the felt and then a strong rope binds the roll together.

Ropes are then attached to horses or camels which then pull the roll across the steppe.

Felt has played an essential role in Mongolian life. Its basic function cover for the ger, Mongolians making felt rug –Shirdeg, cup of plate’s bag, clothing, cushions, purses and much more. Geometric, animal, plants and nature forms motifs can be used to designing felt items. Beige color and camel yarn can be used to hand stitch as a Specific Feature of Mongolian felt rug.

Over the centuries felt has been made in many countries for great variety of uses. Jahannes de Plano Carpini gives a vivid description of felted tents when he visited the court of Kuyuk khan from 1245-1247 A.D

"Their walls be covered with felt.  Their doors are made of felt also…Their manners are partly prayse -worthie and partly detestable….They purified their beds, carts, and felts in  fire if polluted…. Howbeit, there are of discretion to make felts of camel hair wherewith they clothe themselves, and which they hold against the wind.. (Carpini1900)".

Ulaanbaatar ger district:

By Adrian Bridge 08 Aug 2008

Yurool- It is the poetry of good wishes. Yurools are said when a new ger is set up, during a wedding ceremony, when making airag, shearing sheep or making felt.  It is a mongolian tradition, when you have met someone during making felt. You need to say:

Your felt is
Whiter than snow
Harder than bone
Smoother than ice
More valuable than silver

“Yorool” for felting
On the fine virgin land
Family and relations work together
To create art with their ten fingers
Preparing the airag and the yoghurt
Choosing a time in summer

The white grease filled wool
Of one hundred million sheep
Laid out and pieced together
The laid out wool sprinkled
With the waters of one hundred streams

Carefully rolled up
Properly tied up
Rolled again and again
Drawn by a gelding horse:

May this fabric named felt
Be boundless in size
White felt unbroken
Without blemish here or there

Whiter than snow
Harder than bone
Smoother than ice
More valuable than silver

May this fine compressed felt
Become the cover of seventy homes
And may the people who made it
Live to see one hundred autumns

May its back be as silk
White as a shell
May it be too tough to fall apart
Too eternal too wear out

A Day in Mongolia by B.Sharav(1869-1939)

Skilful Craftswomen of the Rich Cradle: Kazakh domestic crafts production in western Mongolia

Anna Portisch, Department of Anthropology, SOAS, London

....Some 100,000 Kazakhs live in the western-most province of Mongolia, its ‘Rich Cradle’, or Bayan-Oelgii as the province is called in Mongolian. Most people are either directly or through family networks engaged in pastoral nomadism and during the summer months live in yurts (kiiz yi, literally ‘felt house’). Many of the domestic crafts used to furnish the yurt are made from raw materials derived from the animals herded. Sheep’s and lamb’s wool is used to make felt for the cover of the yurt itself and for the felt carpets (syrmaq) that furnish its interior; camel’s wool is used to make thread; and yak and horse’s hair is used to make rope and woven ribbons. Soft furnishings are made for use in one’s own home and are given as part of wedding-related gift-exchanges between clans. Felt carpets, for instance, are made for sitting and sleeping on and to seat respected guests on; they may be used to pray on; and large felt carpets are used to carry the body of the dead to the grave. Felt carpets are also the most important handmade artefacts in the bundle of gifts given by the bride’s mother to the newly-wedded couple and the groom’s relatives.