ELLIPSES AND CIRCLES MOTIFS

Cucumber, oak leaf and other patterns

Weavers, when describing fabric patterns, define pattern form. Textile patterns with ellipsis motifs were found in many places in Lithuania. According to presenters born at the beginning of the 20th century, ellipsis motifs in fabrics look like cucumbers,* that is why they are called cucumber (agurkiniai).

Let us look to answers, collected in field research, to the question: how, when and why cucumber patterns were made.

In the middle of the 20th century and later, cucumber patterns, made of elements of one size were woven in East Lithuania. Patterns of elements of two sizes resemble patterns of elements of one size . They were noted in Southwest Lithuania. These patterns were mentioned by only a few weavers.* It is possible that presenters mixed them with combinations of one-size elements.

It is asserted that the cucumber pattern was a pattern that was woven through four threads.* In many places in Southeast and East Lithuania the motif of elements of three sizes is called cucumber * or four-thread (keturnytukas)*. A pattern of elements of four or more sizes is called six-thread cucumber (šešianytis agurkinis) .* Other weavers in the second half of the 20th century called the patterns eight-thread cucumbers in fours (aštuonnyčiai agurkai po keturis).* It is written down that the oldest patterns of elements of one size are called cucumber in the margins of East Lithuania in the middle of the 20th century. Many respondents assert that combinations of motifs of three-size elements were known the best in the 20th century. Patterns of elements of four and more sizes are occurrences mostly of the middle from the 20th century or later.

In West Lithuania there are very few mentions of cucumber patterns: this must be a name that came later. In West Lithuania cucumber patterns are hardly mentioned, but oak leaf patterns are known. The same pattern forms are understood variously in Lithuania.

Motifs of similar forms are defined in a different way in many places during the period of time: e.g. blank (aklinis)*, cucumber*, oak leaf (ąžuolo lapai)*, lily (lelija) and balunka *, little cross (kryžiukas)*, non-cucumber (neagurkinis)*, wheeled (ratinis)*, šaudyklalės, šautuviukai*. Cucumber patterns are only a part of a certain time period and place culture.