16/03/2026
The Journey
It was an autumn day. I was walking through a small and quiet village in Çanakkale. In the yard of an old house, I noticed a folded carpet leaning against the wall. Its colors were a little faded, but its patterns were still strong. It felt as if it had been waiting for someone to see it again for many years.
I asked the elderly woman sitting in front of the door about the carpet. She looked at it for a long moment and then slowly began to speak.
“This carpet was woven by my mother,” she said. “I was just a little girl back then. She used to weave it during the long winter nights. My father had just returned from the army at that time. My mother would say a prayer with every knot she tied.”
She pointed to one corner.
“You see this red pattern… it represents our family. My mother wove it so our home would always have abundance.”
Then she touched the center of the carpet.
“The blue pattern in the middle… my father loved the sea. She made it so we would never forget the wind and the sea of Çanakkale.”
Her voice trembled a little.
“This carpet saw weddings, holidays… and in my father’s last days, it was laid beside his bed.”
For a moment, we both stayed silent.
Then she looked at me and placed the carpet in my hands.
“If you take it,” she said, “take it somewhere good. Let someone remember its story when they look at it, not just when they walk on it.”
Days later, the carpet was hanging on the wall of my shop in Istanbul. As people come and go, sometimes I look at it and remember that moment.
Because I know…
it is not just a carpet.
It carries the work of a mother, the memories of a family, and the wind of Çanakkale within it. 🧶
