Hooked rugs and rural life
Hooked rugs provide a look into the daily life of our ancestors and our traditions. They testify to the ingenuity of the women of the time to decorate their homes and to provide comfort to their families. Embedded with a life of their own, worn and torn, cut and sewn, they are a window to the past, our past, telling the story of proud and hardworking people that long before it became a trends, were recycling the old to make the new, using all they have to be self-sufficient and independent. The technique has not changed much throughout time. Many writers and scholars have examined the origins, history and traditions of hooked rugs and various regions. One thing for certain, the origins and tradition of rug hooking is North American, and it is possible that it started in different places around the same time out of necessity. Old rugs are hooked on burlap. Burlap is a cloth made of jute imported first from India in early nineteenth century. It became popular by the 1850-19860s, and consequently the rugs cannot be dated prior to that. Jute is a plant grown for its fiber as hessian or burlap. In Canada burlap was easily available by 1890 mostly in the form of potatoes bags. Rural life was quite hard in the early nineteenth century and the activities of the families followed the seasons. The families were quite large and usually isolated from the neighbors who were miles away. Family values were strong and most families were frugal but self-supporting. Taxes levied on British goods were for the British Rulers'. Louis-Josepg Papineau (1786-1871), led a boycott of these foreign goods in a public talk in Saint-Laurent Quebec on May 15 1837 . The Canadians (at the time only those of French origin called themselves Canadian) wanted more autonomy in their political dealing - This lead to the rebellion of 1837 - 1838. The frugal means and boycott of importation brought French Canadians to find other ways, such as using local linen and wool for clothing and recycling old materials - such as old dresses, shirts and burlap sacks to create blankets and mats. OF 1837-1838. Many women where familiar with the French embroidery tambour technique which uses a needle hook to pull the thread in a chain stitch through sheer fabric tightly stretched on a tambour frame.. The technique is similar to that of rug hooking and could easily be its ancestor. Photos are a courtesy of the Musee des Maitres et Artisans du Quebec |
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