Back to Motifs
Although the basic design is a stylized female, this pattern is known by various names in Anatolia. Some of which are gelin kiz, cocuklu kiz, aman kiz, karadoseme, seleser, kahkullu kiz, cengel, sarmal, cakmakli, eger kasi, turna katari. It is the symbol of motherhood and fertility.
To observe the evolution of the motif we start with a mother goddess statuette of 3000 B.C. found in Ahlatlibel near Ankara. Here are different variations of this form applied on weaving yields.
When the same process applied to another mother goddess statue also found in Ahlatlibel, it is observed that the original form has gone through several changes yielding the motifs illustrated below.
The final form of the motif represented below, can be traced on Kilim Rugs from Cankiri, Adana, Kayseri, Antalya and Nigde.
Here are illustrations of various elibelinde motifs found on Anatolia weaves.
