Quarterly Scientific-Research Goljaam

The study of Sun and Mehr motifs and symbols, their continuity and transformation, related religions and myths in all Iranian pre-historic cultural fields and Islamic period especially in the traditional carpet art is an inevitable necessity in order to get more acquainted with the content of the work. With the change of moon-worshipping custom to Sun-worshipping one, the elements and motifs of the past religion were realized in the elements of the new religion and left many motifs in various arts and particularly in the carpet of different regions of Iran, such as Fars area. Mithraism is the most important related religion with the sun that becomes a global religion and other related symbols with this religion are being illustrated in various Iranian fields, especially Iranian rural and tribal carpet-weaving until today. In this article, the semantic and visual motifs of Sun and Mehr in the Persian carpets and handcrafts have been analyzed by the comparative-analytical as well as library method. By studying various pictures from handcrafts with the required content in various urban, rural and tribal styles, all related motifs were examined in a three-fold categorization. Broad geographical understanding of motifs is among the findings of this research. 

 Investigation and research on contemporary carpets is a vital and original perceptions of "identity" problem and relevant expressions with time and environment is certainly not a easy task. As we deal with some general concepts such as identity, the research literature is often directed to complex and philosophical issues. In the study of cultural encounters and interactions in Ardabil carpets it can be seen that an unbalanced process in social-artistic relations with some style-owned and dynamic cities in the last half century has caused that its simplicity and originality be affected and apparent contradictions can be observed. This paper is a comparative study of 36 samples of carpets from "Aran, Azerbaijan" and "Ardabil" to explore the concept of identity in both traditional and contemporary works, and find the reason for lack of identity via leaving common native identity for reproduced exotic identities.