Adyghe fan ZHYF yesterday, today, tomorrow

The Adyghe (Circassian) fan or in Adyghe language "zhyf" (from the Adyghe word "zhy" translated as "air") has always been and remains one of the interesting elements of Adyghe traditional women's costume, a striking sample of the Adyghes gold embroidery art, a fan for a child's cradle and for elders, a decorative and protected interior item. Nowadays, a golden embroidered fan with a family sign - tamga becomes a family heirloom and sometimes a work of decorative and applied arts, which is carefully preserved both in regional museums and in federal and worldwide treasuries.
Meanwhile, in Adygea, thanks to modern craftswomen who create their own author's fans in ethnic style, zhyf has already become a beautiful souvenir for tourists and a useful amulet toy for children. And in the near future, it may become another regional cultural brand, the main object of a mass event in the regional event tourism.
 
HISTORICALLY, in ancient times, Adyghe fans, not similar in design to European and Oriental ones, were considered as a sacred ceremonial attribute and were intended to fan the fire in family hearth. Such fans were originally made of straw and decorated with geometric patterns and symbolic signs with designations of animals and birds. Over time, the fan became an element of women's life, which lost its sacred status. Then the masters began to make them, decorating them with ornamental compositions created, according to their own taste and in accordance with their artistic intention (1).
By studying preserved samples of fans, these compositions were distributed in the four sides of the panel, which eventually became considered as a canon for manufacture of such an item. And the drawings of embroidered ornaments on zhyf canvas had their own metaphorical language and could beautifully "say" various good wishes or gracefully praise nature, homeland, family, and, perhaps, "encode with ornaments" secret messages. Sometimes this language of the Adyghe fans was much more complicated than the gallant "fan language" in France in the 17-18 centuries.
After having become one of the household items of the Adyghes, which used it both for caring for the sick and for the older generation in hot weather, and as a fan for lulling children, in this case it was placed on the crossbar of a child's cradle, zhyf began to be made in the form of a rectangular flag of velvet on a cardboard base. The craftswomen decorated it with a wide variety of patterns and ornaments of vegetable and zoomorphic types, fulfilling their artistic idea and protected meaning into embroidery sown with gold and silver threads (1).
Gradually, the Adyghe (Circassian) fans, so-called flag-shaped fans, beautifully embroidered with gold and silver threads and decorated with woven gallons and braided curly pendants, became brilliant examples of the Adyghe gold embroidery art. The young girls willingly supplemented by it their festive women's clothing with decorative and practical purposes. In the house, with clock case and towels hangers, decorated with embroidery of "in-fasten" ("adyghe ida") and "smooth" sewing ("bazar ida"), zhyf became a part of the interior decor of girls' and guests rooms.
In the catalog book "Adyghe cultural objects in the Collection of the Russian museum of Ethnography", zhyf is characterized as "women's hand fan with the patterns on both sides" and as "a large fan for a child's cradle with a pattern on one side" (2, 37). In the second case, fans were “used for lulling, cooling and protecting children from insects" (2, 212-213). They were decorated with vegetable and/or zoomorphic ornaments which had their own metaphorical meanings.
At the beginning of the 20th century, because of historical circumstances and various reasons, the Adyghe (Circassian) fan ZHYF ceased to be used in everyday life of the Adyghes. And those samples which were still kept in some families were given to museums for storage. For example, during 1925-1927, 16 fans of velvet with ornamental embroidered patterns were included together with other gold-embroidered items in the funds of the Adyghean regional museum of History and Ethnography, founded in Krasnodar in 1925 by the Society for study of the Adyghean autonomous oblast (3, 34). Nowadays, this priceless heritage is kept in the funds of the National Museum of the Republic of Adygea.
Since the 1990s, during the revival of the gold embroidery art of the Adyghes (Circassians) in the North Caucasus, the masters began to make Adyghe fans again. However, this time they were not intended either for fanning fire in hearth, or for caring for sick person, or as a fan for a child's cradle. Zhyf was revived as a visual object of the Adyghe culture with reconstructing ancient ornamental compositions. Among such masters there are Yuri Stash, Vyacheslav Mastafov, Zarema Tukhuzheva, Safiyet Set (Panesh), Nuriyet Teuchezh.

TODAY, modern gold embroiderers consider as a matter of honor to create their own fan in Adyghe ethnic style, imitate or invent ornaments for its panels, sometimes by violating the embroidery traditional canons for such an item, but according to their artistic vision. Among such masters there are Madina Khatsukova, Anzhela Isaeva, Farizet Gunger (Tseeva), Zarema Khutim. In general, fans are made as a wedding attribute of the Adyghe national women's costume, as a bright sample for the master's exhibition collection or as a decorative and protected object for living rooms interior. In the latter case, family tamgas are often embroidered on such fans.
The new destination of zhyf became its scenic using. For more than ten years, the State academic ensemble of Adyghe national dances "Nalmes" has been performing the ancient dances "Kafe" and "Zefak" with Adyghe fans. In recent years, zhyf began to be manufactured for returning it to its former use method, that is, as a cooling amulet fan. The master of gold embroidery from Krasnodar Ruzana Khuako makes small fans for children with a wooden handle, with embroidery and braided decorations on a rectangular canvas of zhyf. They are convenient to use as a child’s toy and as a fan or a home amulet in everyday life.
At the heart of such a fan is a gold lace fan of the Adyghe weaving master Fatima Teuchezh, which was conceived as a souvenir-amulet from Adygea. Its main differences are in size of the items itself, which varies, and in a zhyf handle, decorated with gallons and symbols, braided with gold or silver metallic threads. Such a fan of is made as a talisman by metaphorical figurative items made in the braiding technique, one of the Adyghe (Circassian) golden embroidery art techniques.
So, the figured patterns of the lace fan, created with Adyghe flat braid, include, on the one hand, the caterpillar symbol – wish for material well-being and, on the other hand, the butterfly symbol – wish for spiritual development and prosperity. The fan cloth corners are decorated with traditional Adyghe knots of happiness and good luck "Denlech" in the quatrefoil-shaped form, also made with the flat braid.
The appearance of new purpose for the Adyghe (Circassian) fan as a souvenir-amulet for tourists expands today the geographical area of use for this bright example of the modern golden embroidery art of the Adyghes (Circassians). Although the fan ZHYF, a unique item in its own way, has not yet become a calling card of any region. However, the original traditional shape and ornamental symbolism of this item, its historically sacred meaning and versatility distinguish the fan from other cultural and everyday objects of the Adyghe people.

IN FUTURE, it give new opportunities for preservation and promotion of Zhyf, namely, it will be possible to establish the Day of the Adyghe (Circassian) Fan as one of landmark events of the event tourism or to hold the ZHYFS-DZHEGU or Festival of Adyghe fans on the Day of the Circassian woman, June 23, in the likeness of the Red Lantern Festival in China. Or, by following the example of the Japanese National Kabuki Theater which uses huge Japanese fans in dancing, theatrical events with Adyghe fans will be created in the region.  Such spectacular actions can further strengthen the position of the golden embroidery art of the Adyghes (Circassians) as the local brand of Russia and create another bright cultural and tourist brand of Adygea.
As the French proverb of the 18th century says: "A fan in the hands of the beauty is a scepter for possessing the whole world".

Sources:
1. Fan. Detailed description of the exhibit, audio guide, interesting facts. Artefact official website (culture.ru )// https://ar.culture.ru/ru/subject/veer ?ysclid=lfqkmbs7o7267216546
2. Adyghe cultural objects in the Collection of the Russian museum of Ethnography (authors: Dmitriev V.A., Mastafov V.B.) St. Petersburg. 2016
3. Teuchezh N.K. Golden embroidery of the Adyghes (Circassians): historical and ethnographic aspect. Introd. article in "Adyghes (Circassians) golden embroidery. Art album". "Katchestvo". Maykop. 2021