For thousands of years, two-third of the population in Fars, composed of different tribes, have lived in this vast land and all the year round move constantly to find a mild climate and green pastures to feed their sheep and cattle.

The Ghashghaei tribesmen, who had immigrated to this territory many centuries ago, are the biggest tribe in Fars and even in Persia.

According to historical testimonies, different groups of this tribe moved to this land from the western and eastern regions of the Caspian Sea and the northern of Khorasan.

The main occupation of the Ghashghaei tribesmen is animal husbandry, and the art of rug weaving is customary only among women and young girls.

The rugs woven by them are called Turki-Shirazi and are rarely offered for sale. They prefer to weave these rugs for their use or give them as dowry to their daughters when they get married.

Like other tribesmen. Ghashghaei, too, weaves their rugs without copying from any pattern on horizontal (flat) looms secured to the ground. Normally, they get their inspiration by referring to another rug.

The wife of a French orientalist, a certain Madame Diolafoi, who together with her husband had lived for some time among the tribesmen of Fars (1884), has written in her diary regarding the rug-weaving of these people:

The tents of the tribesmen in Fars protect them from the sun but not from the cold. The weaving loom is spread on the ground at the end of the tent.

Whenever this tribe gets ready to move, they roll up the loom and load it on a mule or donkey. When they reach their destination they once again spread the loom on the ground and start weaving.

This constant moving sometimes causes color change and distortion of the rug. These women receive their training for color blending and weaving from the family, especially from their mother.

No patterns are used to weave these rugs which are solid and fast as the dyes applied are extracted from vegetables; neither sun nor rain changes their colors and these last for generations.

The flat-woven rugs of Ghashghaei are usually small. The wool used in Fars is of the best quality.

The rugs are woven in double-weft, with Senneh knots and long pile, the prevailing colors being red, blue, and golden yellow, the dye which extracted from the Dyer's-weed (Esparak) plant.

Synthetic dyes have been adopted since the Second World War. Geometrical and stylized designs are woven into the old rugs partially being influenced by Caucasian designs, those of the Shirvan area, in particular, are preferred.

To distinguish the old textured rugs of the Ghashghaei rugs is dark brown and almost black, whereas those of the Caucasian rugs are lighter in colors.

In Fars, one can find a variety of repeat patterns as well as medallion compositions.

Geometrical animal and bird drawings are also a common feature and are used both as a part of repeat patterns or as filler ornaments.

Another specific rug that is attributed to this tribe is the "Lion rug" (Gabbeh-Shiri). A small rug is coarsely woven with a multi-weft structure decorated with a lion figure.

A big lion or a few small lions are woven in parallel rows in the center of these rugs. Referring to historical records, the religious and traditional beliefs and importance given to a lion by the people of this region, it seems that the design and texture of the "Lion rug" is the initiative of the tribes in Fars, among them in Ghashghaies.