By Isla Quinn
Wide stripes. Heavy, soft, a little coarse underfoot. A jarapa looks like a rug and works like a blanket, and its story starts with whatever was left over.
What it is
Spanish Wikipedia calls a jarapa a thick textile used for rugs, blankets, bedspreads or curtains, common around the Mediterranean and especially in Andalusia and Murcia. The Andalusian tourism board’s blog, dated December 2022, calls them thick, colourful fabrics woven by hand on looms and used as blankets, rugs and bedspreads. Spain.info, the national tourism site, lists the uses as wall hangings, carpets, curtains and cushion covers.
Rags first
Here the sources split. The Andalusian board says jarapas were originally made by recycling used clothing and rags, and that today they use fibres such as wool and cotton. Spanish Wikipedia agrees on the origin, with brightly coloured rugs woven on family looms from leftover wool or old rags, called harapos. It adds that production later became mechanised and synthetic fibres came in. Today, it says, the materials include cotton, polyester and other fibres, among them waste from textile industries in Catalonia and Alcoy.
Spain.info says something quieter. It says only that the craft uses natural fibres of animal or vegetable origin, and it never mentions rags. That difference matters to a buyer more than any date does. Three sources, three descriptions of what is in the weft.
How it is woven
The longest technical description is on Spanish Wikipedia. Strips of cloth are wound into balls, then into rolls it calls “churros”, and these go into the loom’s shuttle to be woven between the threads. The warp, the fixed threads, is traditionally cotton. The weft, the crossing threads, is made of coloured strips cut from scraps. Finished pieces are cut off the loom and the edges are sewn or finished with knots.
The Andalusian board describes none of this, and Spain.info adds only that learners work on a loom and design the colours. For the loom itself, Wikipedia says the Alpujarra, across Almer铆a and Granada, draws on the tradition of wooden looms with a low heddle, called bajo lizo, from the Morisco period.
Old looms, named towns
Spain.info says a workshop in Bubi贸n works looms that have been in operation for more than 200 years. It places Bubi贸n at 1,290 metres in the Poqueira river gorge, in the Alpujarra of Granada. The Andalusian board says several looms centuries old remain in Ug铆jar, Sorvil谩n, Pampaneira, V谩lor and Mecina Bombar贸n. It says a workshop in Bubi贸n uses looms more than 200 years old and was declared a Place of Tourist Interest by the regional government. We leave the workshop and its weaver unnamed, as they are a business and a living person.
The Andalusian board also ties the craft to the Alpujarras’ Moorish past, which it says lasted long after the Castilian conquest, and says the Bubi贸n looms were handed down from Moorish times. It does not say jarapas began with the Moors. Spanish Wikipedia says a Murcian village uses the same methods used since the Arab occupation of the region. We pass on all three and settle none.
Why winter
The Andalusian board says production was traditionally squeezed in among daily chores and was most active in winter, when field work was lighter. That is the one seasonal fact in our sources. It fits the date on the calendar, but it describes when jarapas were woven, not when they are best bought.
Spanish Wikipedia gives an older use: protecting mattresses from the springs of old bed frames. It says jarapas are now mainly ornamental and have ethnological value.
Dates in order
- Morisco period: the low-heddle wooden loom tradition of the Alpujarra, according to Spanish Wikipedia.
- About 1960: the craft nearly disappeared, according to Spanish Wikipedia.
- 1963: the Ministry of Labour runs training courses that produce new artisans, according to Spanish Wikipedia.
- December 2022: the date of the Andalusian board’s blog post.
Side by side
On fibre: rags and old clothes at the start (Andalusian board, Spanish Wikipedia), natural fibres of animal or vegetable origin (Spain.info), wool and cotton now (Andalusian board), cotton, polyester and industrial waste now (Spanish Wikipedia). On craft survival: the Andalusian board says the craft has been passed down and kept its vigour despite industrial goods, while Spanish Wikipedia says it nearly disappeared by 1960 and that a single weaver still works in the traditional way in the Alpujarra. Those two readings do not sit easily together, and the Wikipedia page gives no date for its latest claim.
What to look for
Spanish Wikipedia says wide-stripe designs remain among the most requested by tourists, and that buyers still look for traditional ones with a cotton warp and a strip-based weft. It also says newer jarapas are lighter and warmer. Our reading is that a seller should be able to say what the warp is, what the weft is, and where it was woven. Edge finish is worth asking about too, since the article says finished pieces are sewn or knotted.
What kind of sources these are
Two tourism sources: one regional board’s blog, one national site, both promotional. One open encyclopaedia, in Spanish. None gives a maker’s account, and none gives a test of how a jarapa wears.
Questions a buyer would ask
What fibre is the warp? What is the weft: strips from old cloth, wool, or something else? Was it woven on a hand loom, and where? How are the edges finished? Is the piece the size of a rug or of a hanging?
What we left out
Prices, workshop names and the name of the weaver, who is a living person. Course details and durations. The N铆jar and Coy comparisons beyond one line.
Quick answers
What is a jarapa? According to Spanish Wikipedia, a thick woven textile used for rugs, blankets, bedspreads or curtains, common in Andalusia and Murcia.
What are jarapas made from? Originally rags and used clothing, say the Andalusian tourism board and Spanish Wikipedia. Today wool and cotton, or cotton, polyester and other fibres, depending on the source.
Where are the old looms? The Andalusian board names Ug铆jar, Sorvil谩n, Pampaneira, V谩lor and Mecina Bombar贸n, and a workshop in Bubi贸n with looms over 200 years old.
Roam first. Shop later.
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