On
the southernmost border of the Russian Federation lies Daghestan, a land of ancient
villages perched among the Great Caucasus Mountains by the shores of the Caspian
Sea. Beneath this rural Islamic society, animist tattoos on women and decoration
on ritual spoon boxes share symbols that are believed to protect the hearth and
the family. Three experts have recorded this fascinating system of folk
medicine, allowing the women's own voices to reveal the living vocabulary of this
hidden body language. The result provides a key to the symbols that adorn spoon
boxes and other original objects found in Daghestan as well as throughout the
carpet world. – 96 pages with more than 140 colour images and 180
specially drawn tattoos that illustrate this unique vanishing tradition.
96 pages, llustrated throughout in colour.
Published
by Bennett & Bloom in association with Desert Hearts in 2006
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