A tugh is a horsetail decorated standard that symbolized military authority in the Ottoman Empire. Their origins lie in the nomadic horse tribes of the Asian steppes. While on the march, a tugh could mark a camp site. In battle, they indicated the positions of leaders. While in camp, the number of tughs in front of a tent would indicate the rank of the tent's occupant - 3 for a pasha, 5 for a grand vizier, and 7 for a sultan.
There are few extant tugh to study. The remaining examples primarily are in museums in Europe, taken as part of the Türkenbeute (Spoils of War) after the Battle of Vienna in 1683. There are a few that are complete, and some that are in partial disrepair. From looking at the pictures of the tughs that are incomplete, it is apparent that the tugh is built around a solid wood staff that has been turned down to the desired size and shape.
The top of the staff is typically topped with a spherical finial. The shaft of the staff is wrapped in horsehair arranged in geometrical patterns. At the top of the staff, upright plumes of horsehair
encircle the finial. About half way down the staff, additional horsehair cascades down.
On learning about the tugh, it became a primary interest of mine to create a
replica, using as many plausibly period techniques as possible. Not a lot is understood by modern scholars about the particular methods of construction. I am not aware of any other craftspersons working on a similar project.
When I first became interested in the history and craft of the tugh, I spoke with Osman Usta. He has had the good fortune to have looked at quite a few of the extant tughs in Europe. Osman Usta explained that the curators of those museums generally had little specific knowledge of the tugh, and nobody to date had been able to master the techniques. Fortunately for me, Osman Usta and I both attended KASF in March 2020. It was held not far from his home in NC. We spoke further, and Osman Usta invited me to look at an extant tugh that was in his possession.
From my examination of the tugh, it was immediately apparent to me that the technique used for making the horsehair patterns down the wooden shaft was horsehair hitching. In some of the places where the horsehair has broken or worn through, you can see the underlying cord. This cord wraps in a spiral around the staff. The horsehair "strings" then are half hitched around the cord. Different colors of horsehair strings are used to create the patterns.
At the top of the braided section, you can see where the black horsehair strings are started with a type of knot known as a cow hitch. A row down, you can see where the white strings are worked in. The white strings then lay underneath the hitching worked in black, until it's time to bring them to the front to make the pattern.
Back in the day, I did some cowboying in California, and was familiar with some of the crafts and techniques used to make traditional vaquero style gear. There is a tradition of using horsehair in making equipment. For example, mane hair is used to make the mecate, which is a rein that is used on hackamore and snaffle bridles, and is a single length of plied horsehair strands.
Hitched horsehair is used to make highly decorated equipment from hatbands and belt inlays to headstalls, bridles, and reins. The specific origins of the art of hitched horsehair has been lost to time, but one of the stories that is told is that it originated with the Spaniards. The Spaniards learned from the sailers while on their voyage to the Americas. The raw material was available from the horses being transported in the holds of the ships. I have not been able to find any history or items that support this theory, but it does seem plausible that the craft could have been transferred from the Ottoman Empire to Spain, and then from there to the Americas.
The art of hitching horsehair has been passed down through generations of vaquero, and also, oddly enough, through the prison system. In particular, the Montana State Prison system has had horsehair hitching available as a skill for the inmates to learn. The inmates can then sell their creations in the prison store.
It has been quite some time since I had been around anyone doing horsehair hitching. I looked up some videos on YouTube and some websites and books to refresh my memory. I began working on what I call my "test piece", which is a 1" diameter piece of wood. I'll make some individual posts about that piece.
There are a few other parts of the tugh, however, that are not so familiar to me - the plumes, the cascade of horsehair in the center, metal working for making the finial and base, woodturning for making the shaft... The first tugh that I make will focus on working out the details of the horsehair. In the future, I plan on learning to use a lathe and to do some simple metal working. Ultimately, I would like to make a tugh using plausibly period techniques. For my first one, however, I will use some modern shortcuts.
References:
Turkish Cultural Foundation, Turkish Tughs
Ron and Shoni Maulding, History of Hitched Horsehair
Cowboys & Indians, Hitched Horsehair Bridles Have a History Behind Bars
Wyoming Arts Council, Horsehair Hitching
Western Folk Life Center, Doug Krause Video: Horsehair Worker (Ranch Handcraft)
Montana Magazine, Prison Break
Badisches Landesmuseum
Rastatt Residential Palace, The Turkish Booty
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