Azerbaijan · Textile / Dyeing (Wax-Resist Batik)

Kelaghayi Silk Headscarf Making

Kəlagəyi

The weaving, hand-dyeing, and wax-resist stamped decoration of kelaghayi, Azerbaijan's traditional square silk headscarf, produced today in only two historic Silk Road centers, Sheki and the village of Basgal, using vegetable-derived dyes and wooden stamps coated in a resin, paraffin, and solid-oil wax solution — a hot-batik method whose specific decorative patterns and colors carry documented symbolic meanings tied to particular life occasions, and which can function as a coded personal message: to acknowledge love, ask forgiveness, or communicate other private meaning entirely through the scarf's chosen design.

Risk level: Endangered · Inscribed by UNESCO in November 2014 on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity as 'Traditional art and symbolism of Kelaghayi, making and wearing women's silk headscarves' (originally titled 'Traditional Making and Wearing of Women's Silk Headscarf and Its Symbolism'). This is a genuine, confirmed UNESCO inscription.

Alternate Names
Kalagaz (Istanbul dialect); kelāyağı/keleyağı (Kars dialect); kalaghay (Armenian)
Geographic Center
Sheki and the village of Basgal, Ismayilli district
Community / Ethnic Group
Azerbaijani
Estimated Origin
Kelaghayi's appearance in women's clothing is linked to the historical development of sericulture (silk cultivation) in Azerbaijan since ancient times; numerous foreign travelers and diplomats, including Adam Olearius, Anthony Jenkinson, Evliya Çelebi, Alexandre Dumas, and Fedot Kotov, documented kelaghayi in their own travel notes across different centuries, and Marco Polo is specifically documented as having admired silk headscarves from Barda and Shamakhi; Basgal's silk products gained fame beyond Azerbaijan's borders during the first half of the 19th century, and in 1862 Azerbaijani silk was showcased for the first time at the International Exhibition in London, where Basgal weaver Nasir Abdulaziz was awarded a silver medal and diploma for his fine kelaghayi and ganovuz (a very thin, bright silk fabric); by the end of the Soviet period, silk weaving and kelaghayi making, once practiced in every household in Basgal, had fallen to the verge of disappearing, before a documented revival began in the early 2000s with the establishment of a dedicated kelaghayi factory in the village
Cultural Function
Kelaghayi patterns and colors carry specific symbolic meaning tied to particular social occasions — weddings, mourning ceremonies, daily activities, and celebrations — and per direct practitioner testimony from Jalil Efendiyev, the scarf's design follows deliberate internal logic: mountain outlines around the border represent the earthly world, while patterns at the center represent the world beyond, rendered in richer color and detail; beyond decoration, specific kelaghayi patterns can function as a private, coded means of communication, used historically to acknowledge love, ask forgiveness, or convey other personal messages; the word itself appears across multiple regional languages and dialects with only minor variation — kalagaz in Istanbul, kelāyağı or keleyağı in Kars, kəlagəyi in Azerbaijan, and kalaghay in Armenian — reflecting a shared textile vocabulary spanning several ethnic communities of the wider region
Primary Materials
Thin natural silk thread, sourced from sericulture producers
Primary Tools
A loom for weaving silk fabric; wooden stamps for wax-resist pattern application
Process Overview
Weaving silk thread into square cloth, boiling and drying the cloth, dyeing it with natural vegetable-derived dyes, and stamping it with wax-coated wooden blocks in an established symbolic pattern
Traditional Applications
Women's headwear, worn to cover the head and shoulders, carrying specific symbolic meaning tied to social occasions and, at times, private personal messages
Contemporary Applications
Continued traditional wear, significant cultural-tourism interest including masterclasses and museum visits at the Basgal Silk Centre, and contemporary fashion reinterpretation by a new generation of designers drawing on the headscarf's traditional symbolism
Notable Practitioners
Nasir Abdulaziz, 19th-century Basgal weaver awarded a silver medal at the 1862 International Exhibition in London; Jalil Efendiyev, owner of the Baskal Kelaghayi Silk Centre, documented directly explaining the tradition's pattern symbolism; Nizami, master dyer documented directly describing the natural dye-preparation process
Key References
UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage, 'Traditional art and symbolism of Kelaghayi, making and wearing women's silk headscarves' (official inscription text); AZERTAC, 'Kelaghayi making in picturesque Azerbaijani village of Basgal'; JAMnews, 'All about kelaghayis - Azerbaijani traditional headscarves'; Euronews, 'On the Silk Road in Azerbaijan: Learn how the UNESCO-recognised Kelaghayi headscarf is made'
Verification Status
Desk-Researched

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