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A salt bag is a bag in which
to hold salt. That is so obvious that it hardly
seems worth saying but why would a shepherd need
so much salt. Again obviously not to season his
food. The real story may not be so obvious to
everyone. The salt is rock salt to feed to the
sheep. Taverns in the US will often give away
salty snacks to cause custommers to drink more.
There are times when shepherds need the sheep to
drink and retain more water. Rock salt causes the
sheep to drink more and retain that water weight.
In the winter snow blankets the upper meadows and
sheep must feed in the lowland where they can
still find forage. Often sheep will graze in
farmers fields where they exchange fertilizer for
whatever is left after the harvest. Water is not
as critical at this time since there is likely to
be better access to water in the lowland.
As
the snow melts and the grasses grow the shepherds
move the flock to the upper meadows. This may be
done in a migration such as we see with the
Bakhtiari tribe or in a relatively stationary
model closer to Swiss style Transhumance. Whichever
model is used there is typically areas where
there is good grass significantly higher
altitudes than the springs or wells suitable to
water a flock. The longer a lamb can go between
watering the more forage will be available to
them. So the shepherds will salt the flock at a
watering hole so that they take on extra water
which can then allow the flock to go about three
days longer without water then an unsalted flock
in the same conditions. This allows the flock to
feed in the thicker grasses of the upper meadows.
Stronger healthier sheep more than make up for
the added cost of the salt.
A true salt bag needs to be tightly woven and
sturdy to haul the chunks of rock salt. The neck
of the bag is narrower to keep salt in and water
out.
Why are Luri or Sanjabi Kurd salt bags relatively
common and Teke Turkmen bags so rare as I cannot
remember seeing one? To need a salt bag one would
have to have sheep and high meadows without
water. I can but assume that Teke shepherds do
not have that need.
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The
Thomas Cole Jaf Kurd salt bag 19th c
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Jaff Kurd Salt Bags The Jaff Kurds are
Sorani or Southern Kurds living in Kermanshah
province. At the risk of being anecdotal it seems
that the Jaff weave more saltbags then most
Kurds.
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