What is Mutabi and how is it done?

Mutabi can be introduced as one of the authentic Iranian arts and weavings, which is unfortunately becoming extinct. Weaving is done by special handwheels in Meybod city of Yazd province and is used for the weaving of nomadic tents.

In this article about Farsh Farhan, we are going to talk about the hand-woven art of Mutabi, and after examining its history, we will go to the steps of making it and how to weave it, and at the end, we will provide you with additional explanations about it.

Studying the history of Mutabi

Mutabi, as you can guess from its name, is a combination of two words “Mo” and “Tabi”, which is actually an authentic and traditional art that is made by spinning goat hair and making strong and special threads for weaving. Nomadic ropes and tents are used.

Perhaps Mutabi can be introduced as one of the few handwoven arts that has not changed in its method since its inception. Like many original and old arts, it is natural that it is not possible to specify an exact date for the beginning of this art, but the thing that can be stated with certainty about this art is that Mutabi started from Meibod city in Yazd.

Meibod city is one of the oldest cities of Yazd province and even Iran due to its age of more than 7000 years, and for this reason, the existence of old handicrafts in its various parts is common.

It may be interesting to you that in the old times, each village of Meibod city was engaged in a special art, such as Beshnighan village with zilo weaving, Firozabad with chair weaving, Lower Meibod with gardening and summer work, Upper Meibod with pottery and Befroye with mutabi. is known

It may be a little difficult to review the entire process of Mutabi in detail, but we will try to review the entire work for you in the next section:

Steps to perform Mutabi

In order to make Mutabi completely, strong threads and strings must be woven with goat hair, and then these hairs are used to weave ropes, black tents of nomads, camels’ equipment, harnessing livestock, etc.

Since the main place of use of strings woven by Mutabi is in nomadic tents, which have a black color, that is why this operation is performed on the hair of black goats.

At the beginning of the work, by tying the hands and feet of the goats, the herdsman picks the goats’ hair using a tool similar to very large scissors. Now, these hairs are brought to a person called Mutab, and this artist transforms these hairs into strong strings.

Read more: traditional hand-woven carpet and tips for buying it

Mutabi step by step tutorial

Step 1: Goat hair is separated into thin strands by using a ziga board and a rope attached to the board.

The second step: Some water is poured on the hair that has been straightened using hand brooms to moisten it a little, and then they are wrapped in a wick and put into sacks called Hamboone.

The third step: the sack of goat hair is tied to the waist of the motab by a special belt, which is connected to a rope on one side, and the other end of this rope is connected to the spinning wheel.

Fourth step: Mutab connects two ends of goat hair wick strings to the other side of the spinning wheel from inside the sack.

Fifth step: Now by walking backwards, Mutab causes the rope attached to the wheel to be pulled back and causes the wheel to rotate. It rotates from one side of the wheel and from the other side the loose hair starts spinning.

Sixth step: After finishing the braiding of the hair, the Mutab person separates them from the wheel and measures the circumference of the two rods that are connected to the ground and somehow tries to tighten them by rotating the strings.

Seventh step: The Mutab person can complete his Mutab work by weaving the strings (similar to the weaving of girls’ hair) into strong ropes or selling these strings to the nomads to use for weaving their tents.

The difference between weaving and spinning

Maybe for many of you who are familiar with spinning, this question will arise, is Abba Mutabi the same as spinning? To answer this question, we must say definitely no!!

Spinning is much older than cotton and is one of the first industries that humans have achieved.
Today, spinning is done using professional devices and equipment, while Mutabi is being done with the same equipment from the very first day.
Traditional spinning was done using only a piece of wood called a spindle, while Mutabi’s equipment is much more complex.
After a while when the spinning wheel was invented, its mechanism was such that both hands of the worker were free while working and he could have more control over the work, while in the Mutabi machine, both hands of the master worker are involved.
Spinning products are completely different from Mutabi braids.
The most important characteristic of Mutabi weaves is that they expand in the heat of summer, and the same issue for the weaving of nomadic tents makes the interior of the tent cool. Also, when it rains and water reaches the fabric of the tents, these fabrics contract and prevent water from entering the tent.

The most important problems of Mutabi handicrafts

It is very bad news to announce that currently in the whole country only one person in Meybod city is engaged in Mutabi handicraft and this art is becoming obsolete like many other handicrafts in our country.

The reason for this can be introduced in the mode problem in the way of this hand art, which we will learn about some of them below:

1. The difficulty of Mutabi’s work is higher than many jobs and handicrafts.

2. At the time of braiding goat hair, due to the scattering of fine fibers from the hair in the air, many masters of this handicraft would suffer from shortness of breath after a few years.

3. The wages of the people who worked in this profession were very low compared to their hard work.

4. There has been almost no special place for this handicraft.

5. Since the buyers of Mutabi products are only certain people, no specific market in Meibod province, which is the birthplace of this art, was considered for buying and selling this product.

6. The last option is the presence of many dealers in this hand art, who never allow the artists of this special hand art to receive the wages of their labors.

In this article, we tried to tell you all the necessary points about Mutabi hand art in detail, so that maybe we can raise a little attention to this special art of Iranians and maybe take measures to prevent this wonderful art from becoming obsolete. be done. Hoping that day 🙂