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The Finnish Ryijy
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16283 |
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Section : |
CULTURE
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| Issue
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3 / 1989 |
1,996 Words |
| Author
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Eloise Paananen
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Glorious splashes of colors reminiscent of the Aurora Borealis, deep somber tones of granite and earth, pastels or shockingly bright combinations, symbolic messages of the Kalevala epic poem, stylized or free-form geometric figures--all are given substance in the fascinating folk art of the Finnish ryijy rug. Centuries ago, ryijys were plain and hardy, woven for warmth and survival. Contemporary ryijys are an art form; many of them are wall hangings designed and created by renowned Finnish artists.
Although people marvel today at the creative mastery of the designer and weaver, the technique was used outside of Scandinavia as early as the Sumerian period, in the third millennium before Christ. Statues of rulers indicate that tufted loincloths and capes replaced furs and the same type of tufted camel hair cape later became the garb of Christian hermits. Artists of the Middle Ages depicted John the Baptist in such attire.
Vikings brought the fashion to the Scandinavian coasts around A.D. 800, and eventually to Finland. The Finnish folk ryijy (from ancient Scandinavian ry or ru, meaning something rough and shaggy) is thus actually a cultural loan.
Development Of The Folk Art
In the beginning, ryijys were used for blankets in place of furs and hides because drenching would not harm them. They also retained warmth better than anything else during long boat voyages. In Norway, such rugs were called "boat" ryas; in Finland "island" ryijys. Having little decoration, they were made of natural-colored, water-resistant, home bred sheep's wool with thick tufts tightly knotted. One rug was spread on the boat's bottom with tufts down. Some of these rugs were so big that two or three people could sleep under them. Simple woolen boat rugs were used up until the last century in the outlying areas of Scandinavia--along the Norwegian coast, along the east coast of Sweden, on the large islands of Oland and Aland, in the Turku archipelago, and in other Finnish coastal regions.
At the beginning of the modern era, these rugs took on new duties. From the fourteenth century until 1809 while Finland was part of Sweden, ryijys were regulation equipment for the Swedish-Finish army and navy. Rugs for soldiers, collected from islanders as a tax, were as simple as possible. When the civilian population began using them as bed coverlets, more decorations were added. Records show that the rugs were used in Finnish castles, crown manors, parsonages, and the homes of Turku burghers. When used as a bed coverlet, the ryijy's tufts were next to the bed, and its smooth side faced upward. Thus it was this smooth side that was decorated and woven in bands of colors. This decoration appears to be a Finnish invention, and many of these "better" rugs were brought from Finland to to the royal court in Stockholm. King Gustavus Vasa was especially fond of the colorful Finnish ryijys.
The most treasured of the Finnish folk ryijys were woven between the 1770s and the 1820s, when rug weavers began knotting short and dense pile on the face of the rug in bright colors and fashionable patterns. The designs were spread through tapestries, pattern books, and samplers. The rural gentry promoted the idea of weaving patterned ryijys among the country folk, and the patterns were conveyed by women who worked as weavers at manors and parsonages. Weavers traveled from house to
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