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THROWBACK THURSDAY: SMOOTH AS SILK“Patience and the mulberry leave becomes a silk gown” – Chinese ProverbThe legend of the discovery of silk in China goes back to 4000 BC: Lei Zu, the wife of Emperor Huang Di, the Yellow Emperor, was sipping her midday tea under a mulberry tree when something unexpectedly fell into her cup. She looked to see what it was she saw a cocoon starting to unravel slowly. After the silk cocoon completely unravelled it stretched the entire garden long and Lei Zu saw the silkworm that was the creator of this magnificent silky thread. She imagined...

THE PERSIAN DOG – SALUKIWe are all too familiar with the very distinguished and highly prized Persian cat. Even though the Persians have very little to do with this modern day esteemed breed of cat, the name lends to it the grandeur that the Persians are known for. They do nothing in half measures!How interesting then to find the Saluki or “Persian Greyhound”. The origin of the name is unknown but they were bred in the Fertile Crescent and hunt by sight, running their prey down to kill or retrieve and they were exclusively used by the Bedouins. They are...

OF SPINDLES AND KNOTSSpinning and weaving no doubt played a very important role in the Ancient world right up to the time that machinery replaced the hand spun and woven methods. There is hardly a civilization that does not have a mother goddess that taught weaving to the female humans and these goddesses are often depicted with spindles and distaffs. There are countless stories of how the universe was woven or our fates are interwoven and there are many tales containing life lessons through the methodology of spinning and weaving. To the Ancients actual physical spinning and weaving were synonymous...

The Yaghnobi people (Yaghnobi: yaγnōbī́t; Tajik: яғнобиҳо, yağnobiho/jaƣnoʙiho) are an ethnic minority in Tajikistan. They inhabit Tajikistan's Sughd province in the valleys of the Yaghnob, Qul and Varzob rivers. The Yaghnobis are considered to be descendants of the Sogdian-speaking peoples who once inhabited most of Central Asia beyond the Amu Darya River in what was ancient Sogdia.They speak the Yaghnobi language, a living Eastern Iranian language (the other living members being Pashto, Ossetic and the Pamir languages). Yaghnobi is spoken in the upper valley of the Yaghnob River in the Zarafshan area of Tajikistan by the Yaghnobi people. It is...

CHAPTER 17: The King and the CarpenterOnce upon a time in Iran there was a king. His name was Hushang Shah. He was a kind and just ruler of a vast land that was never ruled before. In order to see the reality of life in his kingdom he would dress as a commoner every month and visit cities, towns and villages in his kingdom. On one particular nightly visit he saw an old carpenter making a door out of wood. He was carving many motifs and symbols of Iran on the door. The king went over to greet him...