How it works
Chakan is the practice of stitching ornaments, flowers and symbolic designs in colored thread onto cotton or silk cloth. The work has several steps: choosing the textile and threads, drawing the ornaments on the fabric, filling them with needlework, and then sewing the finished garment or furnishing. The motifs are symbolic and mythological images of the surrounding nature and the cosmos, and are understood to express people's wishes and hopes.
In the past the threads were made from cotton and silk fibers and dyed with natural colors from plants and minerals. Today embroiderers use factory-made thread.
What lasted
Chakan marks the main occasions of life in southern Tajikistan. In the Khatlon region the chakan shirt is an important bridal dress, and grooms wear the toqi, the national skullcap, with chakan embroidery. Women and girls wear chakan dresses at traditional festivals and holidays. The embroidery also covers everyday household textiles: headscarves, curtains, pillows, bedspreads and cradle covers.
The skill is passed from mothers, grandmothers and older sisters to girls, and in groups through the ustod-shogird, or master and student, method. The date the tradition began is not recorded.
Where it stands today
UNESCO inscribed chakan on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in 2018. The tradition is widespread among women and girls across Tajikistan, with its center in Khatlon. It is also a livelihood: individual craftswomen sell their work in bazaars and through dress shops, which UNESCO describes as an important way of earning. Tajikistan has a national system for safeguarding intangible heritage of this kind, documented by the UNESCO center ICHCAP.
