Kurdshop - In Mesopotamian geography, Kurds and Kurdistan provide their needs in four seasons of the year according to the needs of each season. Most of the needs of the Kurds are based on livestock, agriculture, and natural life in general. Today we are talking about something that has always been present in Kurdish culture but is somewhat in danger of extinction nowadays. There are probably a lot of things people could talk about, but we are talking about “Rashk” (which is a type of shoe knitted from wool and goat hair).
Rashk: In autumn, when the grass begins to turn yellow and the leaves fall, it is winter news that people are getting ready for their final preparations for the winter. When these preparations are made, the goats also enter the barn. In this situation, the Kurds have a lot of natural resources that they use properly in everything. Example: Raising goats requires a lot of patience, skill, and hard work.
There are two types of goats, white goats (sheep) and black goats (goats). Of course, both types of goats are useful not only for their meat but also for everything they have. Among the black goats, fat goats and castrated males are killed in the winter and their meat is turned into Qawrma or Qilya, their skin is turned into Mashka (goatskin), and their hair is turned into Rashk. Rashk is the Kurdish winter shoe. Kurdistan's geography in the highlands becomes a difficult place to live in winter and Rashk is one of the main necessities of life that is made for those places.
How to make Rashk: Women collect large loads of the skin of goats. They remove the skins by hand and remove the hair from goats. Then, they use a special comb called "Sha" and pass the hairs through the brush one by one. Later, they gather them and cut them into threads. Then they knit it in rows with a shovel. After knitting the Rashks, the “Shrukhwa” (the string of the Rashks) are passed through the holes (the hole in the Rashk that is made to tie the holes and tighten the Rashk). When a person wears these shoes, because of their characteristics, his feet do not feel cold or get wet. This is because of the characteristics of goat hair when gets wet, it becomes hard and tightens and does not absorb water, and does not get wet inside.
Black goat hair is used to make not only Rashk but also blankets and tents. This shows that the Kurds use their knowledge of nature in every way because the Kurds are not a people far from nature, but they live by nature itself.
