Silk ways - Ancient threads and modern networks By Ole Zethner and Rie Koustrup Koustrup & Co. 2007 Raw English translation of Danish text “Silkens veje – gamle tråde og nye netværk” by Ole Zethner. Numbers placed after each chapter refer to page numbers in the book. 1 Introduction Page 5 In more than 5.000 years people have found it pleasant to wear clothes of silk. Silk is cool in the summer, warm in the winter, but always comfortable. It is light, but at the same time strong, and the skin can breathe through silk. And silk is delightful for the eye – and for the fingers. Natural silk is spun by larvae of the silk moth. When the larva is going to pupate, is spins a case of silk around itself. Inside this case, the cocoon, the larva develops into a pupa and at last - if it is permitted to do it - into an adult moth. Often the larvae are called silk worms. However, zoologically the larvae have nothing to do with worms, as the moths are insects. Hence, we use the name silk larvae. Apart from a short description of wild silk butterflies, this book is about the mulberry silk moth, who’s larvae feed on leaves of the mulberry tree. The nature photographer Gerth Hansen has photographed the biological development, and the most important part-processes of silk production and the particular qualities of silk are accounted for. The WAYS OF SILK tells about the geographical silk roads, along which the silk was dispersed. Also, the importance of silk in the history of civilisation is treated. It is well-known, that silk fabrics originally came to us from China along the silk roads through Asia. Less known may be the great importance of silk and silk trade in Europe. The South-European sericulture has during long periods been quite considerable. Even in Denmark we have used Silk in about 1.000 years, and numerous Danes have since the time of King Christian 4. attempted to cultivate silk larvae and to spin and weave the silken thread. Silk clothes and trade with silk was through millennia been reserved for the rulers and their families. The silk larvae were cultivated by peasants, who by careful work improved their standard of living. The mechanised silk production was organised in the 1700 and1800s. Just as in other textile industries, the working days were hard and long, resulting in wearing-down and serious diseases of workers, of whom many were children and very young people. Old threads and new networks are knitted: From the empress of China, who had a cocoon dropping into her tea cup, to present days Chinese large-scale silk industries. From the rulers in the Byzantine and Ottoman empires to the cultivators of larvae and business people in present Greece. From the dominance of French sericulture and silk production in the 1700s till the mid-1800s, when a disease of the larvae caused a great decline. From the leadership of Japan of silk production and export until the 1970s, when China took over, a country which may be soon to be overtaken by others. The entry of artificial silk has gradually reduced the market share of natural silk to very little. However, lately the natural silk has entered a renaissance, supported by the organic “wave” 2 and quality-conscious suppliers. The increasing use of natural silk to other purposes than silk fabrics, for instance medicine and cosmetic products, has contributed supporting the position of silk. Hindmost in this book instructions are given to how to cultivate silk larvae. The e-mail address [email protected] may supply addresses of suppliers of silk moth eggs, information on mulberry trees and links to European silk museums and institutes. The Silk Butterflies Pages 6-8 The domesticated silk moth has two pairs of well developed wings, though it cannot longer fly, only flap a little on the surface. Even the larvae of silk moths are not among the world’s race champions. It moves slowly around on the mulberry leaves, when they feed. ___________________________________________________________________________ The mulberry silk moth (Bombyx mori) originates in China. It does not longer live wild in nature, but was tamed about 5.000 years ago. A near relation (Bombyx mandarina) is still found living wild on white mulberry in China. There are also other silk butterflies, that spin silk threads. Most belong to the family Saturnidae, which includes some of the largest species of butterflies found. They live wild on leaves of oak trees and other deciduous trees in Africa, Latin-America, Australia and Asia, where people throughout millennia have used the silk from the big cocoons. In a 2-3.000 year old grave in border areas between Siberia and China was found - seven meters down in the frozen soil under the remains of six horses – a wooden chamber, in which a distinguished “ice queen” was buried. She was wearing a blouse made from silk of saturnid butterflies, as shown in dna-analyses. In India and other Southeast Asian countries tribal people have taken care of saturnids several hundreds of years. This takes place in forest areas, where the larvae feed on leaves especially of oak. The adult butterflies are placed in baskets, where they lay eggs. After hatching from the eggs, the larvae are put on trees in the forest. In the beginning the larvae are kept under constant surveillance and covered with a net to prevent predators and parasitic wasps eating eggs and larvae. The larvae spin their cocoons in the tree canopies, from where they are collected. In India, silk from these cocoons have different names such as tasar, tussah, eri, fagara and muga silk In China, most of the wild silk derives from the Shantung province and is therefore called shantung silk. It is spun by the Chinese oak silk moth. 3 Even in Africa, people use the silk of wild silk butterflies, for instance in Acacia-forests of Botswana. The quality of the this shashe-silk is so good that French tailors have shown their interest. Presently, a project in East-Africa is ongoing, supporting the cultivation of both mulberry silk moth and saturnids, and creating better marketing conditions for the silk. Insects as domestic animals The mulberry silk moth and the honey bee are the only domestic animals among the insects. However, many other insects are useful for human beings. This is the case with numerous insects, which, together with the bees, take care of the pollination of many cultivated plants. Other examples are the Asiatic scale insects, which are cultivated for the manufacture of shellac, and parasitic wasps, to be released in glass houses for the control of insect pests on tomato and cucumber. Sericulture – a Chinese secret Page 8 In China, the skill to cultivate silk has probably been known before the mulberry silk moth was used as a domestic animal. People have collected cocoons in the nature, as is presently done with wild silk butterflies in parts of Asia and Africa. Following an old Chinese legend empress Li Ling-Shi sat under a mulberry tree about 4.500 years ago, when a cocoon dropped into her cup med hot tea. When she fished up the cocoon, a thin thread was un-winded around her finger. That became the start of women keeping silk larva as domestic animals. Since then, the empress has been called “Lady of the silk larva”. The silk fabric was highly valued because of its beauty. It was not only used for making fine clothes and banners, but also as “blotting pad” for documents. More than 200 different characters in the Chinese alphabet have connection to sericulture, mulberry or silk. Most of the silk was produced in the imperial silk factories. The manufacture, taking place outside the emperor’s direct control, was taxed to be paid in silk fabrics. Heavy taxes could also be put on looms. This happened in the old silk city Suzhou, which made thousands of silk weavers strike. It is said that five learned men, who took the side of the striking weavers, were decapitated. One may assume that even many of the strikers suffered the same fate. The Chinese emperor monopolised all trade with silk fabrics and eggs, larvae and pupae of the silk moth. Breach of this monopoly was punished with death. The emperor’s officials gave criminals a silk string, in which they could hang themselves. The ban was enforced so strict that sericulture remained a secret for the surrounding world for more the 3.000 years. Only in the 200s A.D. the Koreans and 100 years later the Japanese and Indians learned to cultivate silk larvae and cocoons. In the 400s the skill reached the city Khotan, which then was situated on the silk road west of the Chinese Empire. It is told that a Chinese princess 4 was to marry the ruler of Khotan. In order to be able to continue wearing silk dresses, the princess smuggled silk moth eggs and seeds of the mulberry tree into Khotan in her great hair. The Mulberry Tree Pages 9-11 _____________________________________________ Black mulberry is indigenous to western Asia, while white mulberry grows naturally only in China. Both species have been planted in many countries and were introduced into Europe more than 1.500 years ago. There may be 68 different species of mulberry on the Earth. Two species have been specifically important for sericulture: White mulberry (Morus alba) and black mulberry (Morus nigra). Both species can be used as feed for silk larvae, but white mulberry gives the finest silk.