What do afghans from Afghanistan look like?

November 26, 2013 6:11 PM

I'm looking for links/books/a place to start researching to find out more about the origin of afghan blankets. I just ordered the yarn to knit a largish blanket of my own design. In thinking of a name for the pattern I got to wondering whether the word "afghan" as applied to blankets really had anything to do with Afghanistan.

The internet seems to agree that it does, but I can't find any pictures of what actual afghans from Afghanistan are/were like. The best I could find is vague descriptions like:

"Afghans were first made in Afghanistan and commonly featured geometric designs with many holes in the pattern" (wikipedia).

In contrast, it's easy to find information on the knitting traditions of Estonia, Shetland, or Iceland.

Where would I even start looking for primary sources for this?

posted by sparklemotion to Society & Culture (7 answers total)

I'm thinking that traditional textiles were embroidered or woven. Embassy site on history of textiles there.
posted by Ideefixe at 7:06 PM on November 26, 2013 [1 favorite]

Good note here:

Attested from 1833 as a type of blanket or wrap (in full, Afghan shawl); 1973 as a style of sheepskin coat; 1877 as a type of carpet; 1895 as a breed of hunting dog.

From this book, it looks like the word comes from this:

Amritsar had become an important center of shawl manufacture owing to the migration of a large number of Kashmir craftsman from their country to escape the Afghan tyranny.

So, a particular type of woollen wrap enters English with the name "Afghan shawl," which is then shortened to "Afghan" and generalized to "blanket."
posted by Miko at 7:25 PM on November 26, 2013

Best answer: Knitting and crocheting are not traditional Afghani crafts.

That said:

- A lot of people in the Indian Subcontinent knit and crochet nowadays, because those popular hobbies were brought to that part of the world by the British. It definitely gets cold enough for warm wooly things in some parts of India, Pakistan, and Afghanistan.

and

- As Miko implies, just because "traditional Afghans" probably weren't knitted or crocheted doesn't mean there isn't an origin somewhere. They might have been woven, or used some other technique.

FWIW most of the warm wool oriented handicrafts I'm familiar with from the subcontinent are wovens, not knits.

I have a Kashmiri wool shawl. It looks about like this.

Woven wool shawls are ubiquitous in northern India, Pakistan, and Afghanistan. I'm actually trying to use Google Image Search to try to find more specific results, but there are too many cheapo polyester pashminas clouding up the results. That said, the traditional style is basically the grandmother of the pashminas you've seen. Simple workaday lambswool, usually in earth tones, often with either a decorative weave or embroidery. Nowadays due to the popularity of cheap pashminas you can get them in every color. This is a pretty good example of what a typical South Asian shawl looks like (though these are extremely elaborate). The designs vary across the region, but the big woolen rectangle is pretty ubiquitous.

I'm not sure how much this has changed since the nineteenth century, which is probably when "Afghan" meaning "warm woolen blanket type thing" came into English.
posted by Sara C. at 8:25 PM on November 26, 2013 [1 favorite]

That said, the traditional style is basically the grandmother of the pashminas you've seen. Simple workaday lambswool, usually in earth tones, often with either a decorative weave or embroidery.

I can second this. I am Afghan (grew up in America), and my grandparents had shawls/blankets made of solid lambswool in brown, with a simple decorative border in a brighter color like green. They don't look much like what Americans call an afghan, they're more like a thicker wool shawl or pashmina. IIRC, my grandfather's was either felted or woven, and definitely not knitted or crocheted.

I'm blanking on the specific Persian word for this kind of blanket/shawl, but I can ask my mom tomorrow night and get back to you.
posted by yasaman at 9:01 PM on November 26, 2013 [3 favorites]

I worked in a shop that sold suzani throws, pillows and rugs made and shipped to us from women in Afghanistan. I always sort of figured that this was the kind of textile Westerners meant by afghans and the term eventually incorporated other kinds of craftsmanship.
posted by mibo at 9:02 PM on November 26, 2013

Best answer: As Miko and particularly Sara C., yasaman and mibo say, my understanding from seeing museum collections is that traditional 19th century textiles in Afghanistan were mostly woven (and some felted). To oversimplify a bit, we are talking about things including woven wool shawls (i.e. including Kashmir/Cashmere/Pashmina) and woven rugs.

So called "Oriental" rugs have been popular in Europe since the 15th century (appear in paintings).

When you look up the history of the crochet granny square (which many afghan blankets are often made of), it seems that The Weldon Company of London first produced the Granny Square as a printed pattern for using up leftover yarn in 1897 (see here for info).

People seem to speculate that the crochet/knit afghan blankets came to be called that based on a resemblance to the colorful Afghan textiles.
posted by gudrun at 9:47 PM on November 26, 2013 [2 favorites]

From a 1909 book Christians at Mecca:

The Pilgrimage was never without its commercial side. In the days of the idols a fair was held at Mecca. It is now, for the aforesaid three months, the greatest market in the Mussulman world. Many persons resort there entirely for commercial purposes. The main street is converted into a bazaar, and the products of every country in the East are offered for sale. There may be seen red and yellow goat-skins from Morocco and the fez from Tunis. The European Turk displays broidered stuffs; his Anatolian brother, silk carpets. The eye may wander from Angora shawls and the finely worked Afghan shawl, to handkerchiefs of silk and Persian cachemire. The Indian unrolls gorgeous stuffs, and tempts the Bedouin with chased and inlaid weapons. There are rows upon rows of amber mouthpieces, preserves, and sweetmeats. The Yemen Arab brings leather objects and pipe-snakes. Negroes from the Soudan contribute their humbler cotton goods and baskets. Pearls, spices, cloth, and silk made up, in Bartema's words, "a famous mart of many rich things."

posted by XMLicious at 9:58 PM on November 26, 2013