The true history of the Paisley design
December 6, 2014 1:02 PM   Subscribe

How Ambi became Paisley: "It began as a teardrop in Babylon. Where the sunlight came from Astarte, shameless goddess of the fecund feminine. The boteh. Stylized rendition of the date palm shoot, tree of life, fertility symbol. It danced through Celtic art, until the heavy feet of Roman legionaries tramped over the Alps. Then it fled the wrath of Mars and Jupiter, dove underground as Empire rose ." From Shailja Patel's Migritude. Here's a short film about the Migritude project (book on Amazon).
posted by dhruva (6 comments total) 36 users marked this as a favorite
 
This is a very interesting post, thank you.
posted by the man of twists and turns at 1:14 PM on December 6, 2014 [2 favorites]


Shailja Patel

dhruva, I'm thinking a diaspora link might be of value, seeing as how she is a third generation Kenyan.
posted by infini at 1:27 PM on December 6, 2014


The Paisley pattern and Sma'Shot Day.
posted by Segundus at 2:34 PM on December 6, 2014 [2 favorites]


I'm thinking a diaspora link might be of value

Do you mean a tag?
posted by dhruva at 3:04 PM on December 6, 2014 [1 favorite]


The first link is extravagant in beauty and content, wonderfully written
posted by Oyéah at 6:24 PM on December 6, 2014


Do you mean a tag?

er yeah... tag, that's it!

... what do I know, I'm a $5 n00b
posted by infini at 3:23 AM on December 7, 2014 [1 favorite]


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