Painting the hands with henna. Photograph courtesy Shutterstock.Op zondagmiddag 28 januari presenteren Stichting Güney en het Textile Research Centre een kennismaking met het Turkse Henna Feest (Kina Gecesi)

In Turkije is de henna-avond een symbolisch ritueel waarbij de henna een diepe betekenis heeft. Henna staat voor vreugde, schoonheid en bescherming tegen boze geesten en negatieve energie. Hoe dieper de kleur van de henna, hoe sterker de band tussen het paar wordt geacht te zijn omdat de rode kleur van de henna liefde representeert. Het staat ook symbool voor vruchtbaarheid en een voorspoedige toekomst.

Henna party in Turkey. Photograph courtesy Shutterstock.Op de bijeenkomst zondagmiddag wordt uitgelegd én gedemonstreerd hoe de Henna aangebracht wordt, dit wordt door een professionele kunstenaar gedaan. De traditionele Henna feestkleding en andere textielstukken zullen ook worden tentoongesteld.

Traditionele Turkse muziek vult de lucht terwijl vrouwen volksliederen zingen en levendige dansen uitvoeren zoals de "oyun havası" of "halay." Gasten doen mee met het dansen, waardoor een energieke en feestelijke sfeer ontstaat.

Een belangrijk jaar:

In de eerste plaats onze verontschuldigingen voor de enigszins ‘kale’ lay-out van deze Nieuwsbrief. Het bedrijf Tinyletter, dat tot nu toe de distributie verzorgde (we hebben ruim 3,000 abonnees), heeft aangekondigd per februari 2024 al zijn activiteiten stop te zetten en het blijkt dat het zijn dienstverlening al heeft afgeslankt door geen illustraties meer op te nemen. We zijn dringend op zoek naar een nieuw (en betaalbaar) systeem waarmee we onze vrienden regelmatig op de hoogte kunnen houden van onze activiteiten. We kunnen u in elk geval verzekeren dat het adressenbestand voor de huidige Nieuwsbrief opnieuw zal worden gebruikt voor de nieuwe vorm.

Maar belangrijker nog: wij willen al onze vrienden en relaties een gelukkig nieuwjaar wensen. Moge 2024 een vredig jaar worden, ook voor degenen die momenteel onder geweld lijden. Hier in Leiden beschouwen we onze zorgeloze en harmonieuze omgeving soms als vanzelfsprekend. Maar hoe vreselijk is de situatie elders!

Friday, 17 March, I participated in a study day at the TRC in Leiden about identifying the main types of velvet. Below I want to describe what we did during the day and some of the things we learned about.

TRC study day 'What is velvet?', 17 March 2023. Photograph by the author.

We started in the morning with a do-it-yourself exercise: weaving velvet! This was done in order to understand the basic principles of this type of cloth. We were actually weaving a closely related form, namely velveteen, rather than velvet. What is the difference? Well, velveteen has loops worked in the weft, while 'real' velvet has ‘warp’ loops.

Rens Heringa, 1932-2022We have just heard the sad news that Rens (Renske) Heringa (1932-2022) died on 14 December last.

Rens grew up in Twente among textile producers, and from the early 1950s lived for many years in Indonesia. She has long been a grande dame in the field of Indonesian textiles and Indonesian batiks in particular.

She was involved in helping to build up the TRC collection of Indonesian items with advice, suggestions and actual objects. Her presence will be missed.

by Caroline Stone – Seville, December 17th.

Indigo from one of the indigo bearing plants has been a favourite dye-stuff for millennia. Caucasian Georgia, with its rich textile tradition and intersected by major trade routes, was no exception.

Lurji supra ('blue table cloth') from late 20th century Georgia, made of block printed cotton, now in the TRC collection (TRC 2021.2159).

Karen Brown from Ontario, Canada, visited the TRC on the 12th September, particularly attracted by the large TRC collection of North American quilts.

Some days ago she sent us a YouTube film about her visit to the TRC, which she published on her YouTube channel.

The TRC’s latest exhibition (on until the end of December 2022) explores how African, Asian and European textiles and dress have influenced each other. But their influences also extend to North America, as the following example illustrates.

The large tract of land now known as Louisiana (USA) was a French colony, officially until 1803 (the socalled Louisiana Purchase when the remaining French parts of Louisiana were ceded to the Americans). Louisiana included the busy port city of New Orleans, built in large part by enslaved labour. But New Orleans also had a population of between 400 to 800 gens de couleur libres, or free people of African descent. These free blacks spoke French and called themselves Creoles.

Painting of Creole woman in tignon, with lace collar and jewellery. From the Historic New Orleans Collection.For part of the 18th century, much of Louisiana was controlled by the Spanish. During that time, the Creole population doubled. Creole women had a reputation for beauty and for dressing elegantly. They worked as seamstresses and laundresses, kept taverns and boarding houses; wore European fashion and decorated their hair with feathers and jewels.

Louisiana’s Spanish Governor Esteban Rodríguez Miró was disturbed by reports of Creole women’s ‘haughty’ manners, their ‘excessive attention to dress’, and the many relationships between white men and Creole women.

In 1786 he enacted the tignon law: every free black woman in New Orleans now had to cover her hair with a scarf or handkerchief (called tignon, probably after the French word chignon, or hairstyle) in public, just like an enslaved woman. Hair could no longer be elaborately curled or decorated with feathers or jewellery. The law sought to remind Creole women of their “inferior” status.

You can tell the summer holidays are over! All sorts of things are happening at the TRC.

New films

TRC intern Kelly Wong, for example, has made four short films about volunteers at TRC - what they like about their work and their favourite (currently) items from the TRC Collection. The main problem being there are so many items to choose from and with new pieces coming in on a regular basis it can be very hard to choose a favourite! These and other TRC films can be seen at the TRC YouTube channel. You can also click on the individual thumbnails below.

Rekindle your passion / Meet our volunteersLearning by doing / Meet our volunteers

Your favourite project that you have worked on? Ask the volunteers Your favourite item in the TRC collection? Ask the volunteers