Carpet Weaving on the Territory of Kazakhstan as a Reflection of the Traditional Worldview of Nomads

The article deals with issues related to the tradition of carpet production on the territory of Kazakhstan where, for the most part, tribes engaged in nomadic livestock raising lived. Analyzing the technological component of this traditional craft, the author focuses on the main factor that influenced carpet weaving along with arts and crafts-the nomadic method of production of the Kazakhs. The study of the ideological component that accompanies the process of making various types of carpets allows us to conclude that it has a sacred meaning and subordination to myth, rite, and ritual. At the mythmaking level, the process of making carpets, like any other activity among nomads, personified the process of creating the world, the marriage of Kok-Tengri (Heaven) and Zher-Su (Earth), and the creation of the Cosmos from Chaos. The process of carpet weaving, as well as the process of making felt, symbolized the act of creation, the marriage of Heaven and Earth, and male and female principles. The study of various types of ornaments that Kazakhs and their ancestors used to decorate carpets allows us to conclude that the ornament applied to carpet products was the bearer of the most valuable information about the mythological worldview of the people. Carpets in their structure reproduced the structure of the Universe, which has a binary, ternary, and quaternary system. The ornament has turned into a kind of coded text, reflecting ideas about the cosmogonic structure of the Universe and an awareness of the harmony of the world. The location of Kazakhstan on the northern routes of the Sogdian Road (Great Silk Road) allowed the spread of various ideas, due to which carpet weaving was influenced by other peoples in technical and stylistic design.