Mountain women in Türkiye's Bitlis uphold wool-spinning tradition

In the Hizan district of Türkiye's Bitlis province, women from Yenicik village carry sacks of freshly sheared wool down from the highland pastures as they begin transforming raw fleece into yarn using centuries-old techniques.

Before sunrise, women from Yenicik village set out on foot toward the yayla, the seasonal highland pasture where their sheep graze during the warmer months.

The steep uphill walk begins a full day of labor that combines herding with the demanding, generations-old work of turning raw wool into yarn.

At the pasture, the women milk the sheep and collect the fleece sheared earlier in the season, filling containers with milk and stuffing sacks with raw wool.

The dual task reflects how closely the wool tradition is tied to the rhythms of daily herding life in the region.

With the day's work gathered, the women shoulder the heavy sacks of wool alongside containers of milk and begin the long walk back down to the village.

The distance and weight make the journey physically demanding, yet it remains an unbroken part of their daily routine.

Once home, they wash the wool to remove dirt and lanolin, then spread it out in the sun to dry completely.

This stage determines the quality of everything that follows, since properly cleaned and dried fleece is easier to separate and shape into workable fiber.

Dried wool is beaten repeatedly with wooden sticks, a technique that loosens the tightly packed fibers and adds volume before further processing.

The rhythmic hand striking softens the wool and prepares it for spinning into finer strands.

The wool is then drawn through a comb to separate the fibers, remove remaining debris and smooth them into an even, workable mass.

This careful combing stage bridges raw fleece and spinning, and demands patience built up over years of practice.

Using a hand spinning tool, the women twist the combed wool into finished thread, the final step before it becomes socks, prayer rugs, saddlebags and carpets.

Passed from mother to daughter for generations, the craft continues to meet household needs and provide pieces for weddings, even as modern alternatives become widely available.