What are Palestinian traditional costumes ?
Foreign travelers to Palestine in the 19th and early 20th centuries often commented on the rich variety of the costumes worn, particularly by the fellaheen or village women. Many of the handcrafted garments were richly embroidered and the creation and maintenance of these items played a significant role in the lives of the region's women.
Palestinian women harvesting lemons 🍋
Palestinian women with a traditional dress on National Palestinian Day
Experts in the field trace the origins of Palestinian costumes to ancient times, including Cannanites. Influences from the various empires to have ruled Palestine, such as Ancient Egypt, Ancient Rome, and the Byzantine empire, among others, have been documented by scholars largely based on the depictions in art and descriptions in the literature of costumes produced during these times.
Until the 1940s, traditional Palestinian costumes reflected a woman's economic and marital status and her town or district of origin, with knowledgeable observers discerning this information from the fabric, colors, cut, and embroidery motifs (or lack thereof) used in the apparel. 1
In 2021, The art of embroidery in Palestine, practices, skills, knowledge and rituals was inscribed on the UNESCO Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. 2
Palestinian girl of Bethlehem in costume, Holy Land, between 1890 and 1900.
Old photo for a Palestinian woman, 1890, Palestine.
Origins:
Geoff Emberling, Director of the Oriental Institute Museum, notes that Palestinian clothing from the early 19th century to World War I show "traces of similar styles of clothing represented in art over 3,000 years ago." 3
The traditional Palestinian dress is a rich cultural heritage with engraved geometric units on the dresses. These geometrics were inherited by different generations of mothers as they go on passing to their daughters. Hence they learn the art of embroidery at an early age. After mastering the art of needle and thread, they transfer the identity of their villages on their dresses.
It is a Canaanite icon that protects the Palestinian identity from obliteration, Judaization and loss. The dress takes several months to complete in which the colours overlap to draw a masterpiece which the Palestinian women wear. Palestinian dresses are designed by hand with a lot of decorative drawings using many pieces of wool yarns and colours.
Thobe with a Canaanite colour.
Hanan Munayyer, collector and researcher of Palestinian clothing, sees examples of proto-Palestinian attire in artifacts from the Canaanite period (1500 BCE) and Israelite period such as Egyptian paintings depicting Canaanites and Israelites in A-shaped garments. Munayyer says that from 1200 BC to 1940 AD, all Palestinian dresses were cut from natural fabrics in a similar A-line shape with triangular sleeves. This shape is known to archaeologists as the "Syrian tunic" and appears in artifacts such as an ivory engraving from Megiddo dating to 1200 BC. 4 5
Semitic people from Canaan invading Egypt, tomb wall at Beni Hassan, 1700 B.C as depicted by the Egyptians (Top photo). Today, 4000 years later, the Palestinian traditional dress (Thobe) is still almost identical.(Bottom photo)
The shift from woven to embroidered designs was made possible by the artisanal manufacture of fine needles in Damascus in the 8th century. Embroidered dress sections, like the square chest piece (qabbeh) and decorated back panel (shinyar) prevalent in Palestinian dresses, are also found in costumes from 13th century Andalusia. Each village in Palestine had motifs that served as identifying markers for local women. Common patterns included the eight-pointed star, the moon, birds, palm leaves, stairs, and diamonds or triangles used as amulets to ward off the Evil eye. 3 4
Palestinian woman from Bethlehem/Palestine,1898.
In Palestine: Ancient and Modern (1949) produced by the Royal Ontario Museum of Archaeology, Winifred Needler writes that:
No actual clothing from ancient Palestine has survived and detailed descriptions are lacking in the ancient literature. In their length, fullness, and use of pattern these modern garments bear a general resemblance to the costumes of West Asiatic people seen in ancient Egyptian and Assyrian monuments. The dress of the daughters of Zion mentioned in Isaiah 3:22-24, with 'changeable suits of apparel,' 'mantles,' 'wimples,' 'hoods,' 'vails,' and 'girdles', suggests that feminine city fashions of Isaiah's day may have resembled modern Palestinian country dress. 6
Needler also cites well-preserved costume artifacts from late Roman-Egyptian times consisting of "loose linen garments with patterned woven bands of wool, shoes and sandals and linen caps," as comparable to modern Palestinian costumes. 6
Palestinian women, Jerusalem/Palestine,1910.
Social and gender variations:
Traditionally, Palestinian society has been divided into three groups: villagers, townspeople, and Bedouins. Palestinian costumes reflected differences in the physical and social mobility enjoyed by men and women in these different groups in Palestinian society.
The villagers, referred to in Arabic as fallaheen, lived in relative isolation, so that the older, more traditional costume designs were found most frequently in the dress of village women. The specificity of local village designs was such that,"A Palestinian woman's village could be deduced from the embroidery on her dress." 7
Townspeople, (Arabic: baladin) had increased access to news and an openness to outside influences that were naturally also reflected in the costumes, with town fashions exhibiting a more impermanent nature than those of the village. By the early 20th century, well-to-do women (and men) in the cities had mostly adopted a Western style of dress. Typically, Ghada Karmi recalls in her autobiography how in the 1940s in the wealthy Arab district of Katamon, Jerusalem, only the maids, who were local village women, donned traditional Palestinian dresses.
Due to their nomadic lifestyle, the Bedouin costume reflected tribal affiliations, rather than their affiliations to a localized geographic area.
As in most of the Middle East, clothing for men had a more uniform style than women's clothing.
Weaving and fabrics:
Woolen fabrics for everyday use were produced by weavers in Majdal, Bethlehem, Ramallah, and Jerusalem. The wool could be from sheep, goats, or camels. Weaving among the Bedouins was and is still traditionally carried out by women to create domestic items, such as tents, rugs, and pillow covers. Thread is spun from sheep's wool, colored with natural dyes, and woven into a strong fabric using a ground loom. 8 9 10
Linen woven on hand-looms and cotton were mainstay fabrics for embroidered garments, though cotton was not widely used until the end of the 19th century when it began to be imported from Europe. Fabrics could be left uncolored or dyed in various colors, the most popular being deep blue using indigo, others being black, red, and green. In 1870 there were ten dyeing workshops in the Murestan quarter of Jerusalem, employing around 100 men. 8 11 12 13
According to Shelagh Weir, the colour produced by indigo (nileh) was believed to ward off the evil eye, and frequently used for coats in the Galilee and dresses in southern Palestine.Indigo dyed heavy cotton was also used to make sirwals or shirwals, cotton trousers worn by men and women that were baggy from the waist down but tailored tight around the calves or ankles. The wealthier the region, the darker the blue produced; cloth could be dipped in the vat and left to set as many as nine times. Dresses with the heaviest and most intricate embroidery, often described as 'black', were made of heavy cotton or linen of a very dark blue. Travellers to Palestine in the 19th and 20th centuries represented pastoral scenes of peasant women donned in blue going about their daily tasks, in art and literature. 11 14
Because of the hot climate and for reasons of prestige, dresses were cut voluminously, particularly in the south, often running twice the length of the human body with the excess being wrapped up into a belt. For more festive dresses in southern Palestine, silks where imported from Syria with some from Egypt. For example, a fashion of the Bethlehem area was to interlay stripes of indigo-blue linen with those of silk. 14 15
Fashions in towns followed those in Damascus, Syria. Some producers in Aleppo, Hama, and Damascus produced styles specifically for the Palestinian market. Weavers in Homs produced belts and some shawls exclusively for export to Nablus and Jerusalem.
The production of cloth for traditional Palestinian costumes and export throughout the Arab world was a key industry of the destroyed village of Majdal. Majdalawi fabric was produced by a male weaver on a single treadle loom using black and indigo cotton threads combined with fuchsia and turquoise silk threads. While the village no longer exists today, the craft of Majdalawi weaving continues as part of a cultural preservation project run by the Atfaluna Crafts organization and the Arts and Crafts Village in Gaza City.
Majdali weaving. Gaza 1950's
Palestinian women from the city of Lydda/Palestine,1920.
Diverse motifs were favored in Palestinian embroidery and costume as Palestine's long history and position on the international trade routes exposed it to multiple influences. Before the appearance of synthetically dyed threads, the colors used were determined by the materials available for the production of natural dyes: "reds" from insects and pomegranate, "dark blues" from the indigo plant: "yellow" from saffron flowers, soil and vine leaves, "brown" from oak bark, and "purple" from crushed murex shells.Shahin writes that the use of red, purple, indigo blue, and saffron reflected the ancient color schemes of the Canaanite and Philistine coast, and that Islamic green and Byzantine black were more recent additions to the traditional palette. Shelagh Weir, author of Palestinian costume (1989) and Palestinian embroidery (1970), writes that cross-stitch motifs may have been derived from oriental carpets, and that couching motifs may have origins in the vestments of Christian priests or the gold thread work of Byzantium. Simple and stylized versions of the cypress tree (saru) motif are found throughout Palestine. 18 19 20 21
Longstanding traditions of embroidery were found in the Upper and Lower Galilee, in the Judean Hills and on the coastal plain.Research by Weir on embroidery distribution patterns in Palestine indicates there was little history of embroidery in the area from the coast to the Jordan River that lay to the south of Mount Carmel and the Sea of Galilee and to the north of Jaffa and from Nablus to the north. Decorative elements on women's clothing in this area consisted primarily of braidwork and appliqué. "Embroidery signifies a lack of work," an Arab proverb recorded by Gustaf Dalman in this area in 1937 has been put forward as a possible explanation for this regional variation. 18 21
Village women embroidering in locally-distinctive styles was a tradition that was at its height in Ottoman-ruled Palestine. Women would sew in items to represent their heritage, ancestry, and affiliations. Motifs were derived from basic geometric forms such as squares and rosettes.Triangles, used as amulets, were often incorporated to ward off the "evil eye", a common superstition in the Middle East. Large blocks of intricate embroidery were used on the chest panel to protect the vulnerable chest area from the evil eye, bad luck and illness. To avoid potential jinxes from other women, an imperfection was stitched in each garment to distract the focus of those looking. 3 18 19
Girls would begin producing embroidered garments, a skill generally passed to them by their grandmothers, beginning at the age of seven. Before the 20th century, most young girls were not sent to school, and much of their time outside of household chores was spent creating clothes, often for their marriage trousseau (or jhaz) which included everything they would need in terms of apparel, encompassing everyday and ceremonial dresses, jewelry, veils, headdresses, undergarments, kerchiefs, belts and footwear. 3 22
Girls in Bethlehem costume pre-1918, Bonfils Portrait.
In the late 1930s, new influences introduced by European pattern books and magazines promoted the appearance of curvilinear motifs, like flowers, vines or leaf arrangements, and introduced the paired bird motif which became very popular in central Palestinian regions. John Whitting, who put together parts of the MOIFA collection, has argued that "anything later than 1918 was not indigenous Palestinian design, but had input from foreign pattern books brought in by foreign nuns and Swiss nannies". Others say that the changes did not set in before the late 1930s, up to which time embroidery motifs local to certain villages could still be found. Geometric motifs remained popular in the Galilee and southern regions, like the Sinai Desert. 18 23
Old Palestinian dress embroidered from the Galilee region/Palestine, 1932
Palestinian family from Jaffa/Palestine,1880.
Men's clothing:
The traditional dress of men in Palestine and elsewhere in the Bilad al-Sham is the jalabiya, a loose-fitting cotton garment reaching from the shoulders to the ankles. In the evenings and during the autumn and winter, a woollen mantle, the abaya, is worn on top. The head is covered with a turban, made of a long strip of cotton cloth. The higher the social position, the higher the turban.
Bedouin men traditionally cover their heads with a keffiyeh or kufiya, a square piece of cotton. This was folded diagonally and then coiled around the head to protect the face from the sun and gusting desert sand winds. The keffiyeh is either white, or black and white checkered, and is held in place by a tightly knotted black band, the agal, when it is worn on the head.
In the course of the 20th century, the keffiyeh and the agal became the symbol of Palestinian nationalism, with non-Bedouins also starting to wear them. It was the trademark of the late Yasser Arafat.
During the Ottoman Turkish Empire, the urban elite replaced the turban with the tarbush, a red felt hat in the form of a flower pot, topped by a black tassel. Western dress fashions also started to be adopted, resulting in mixed styles, such as wearing a jacket over the jalabiya (which can still be viewed in rural areas and in the cities).
Some professions, such as the Jaffa boatmen, had their own unique uniforms. The horse or mule drivers (mukaaris), widely used between the towns in an age before proper roads, wore a short embroidered jacket with long sleeves slit open on the inside, red shoes and a small yellow woolen cap with a tight turban. 24
During the British Mandate, western fashion became more influential. Today, men in both the cities and in rural areas predominantly wear western clothes. This especially applies to young men.
Palestinian child from Jerusalem/Palestine,1898.
Palestinian child selling Palestine newspaper in Haifa,1921.
Palestinian man and his son, Jerusalem/Palestine,1930.
The 1948 Palestinian exodus led to a disruption in traditional modes of dress and customs, as many women who had been displaced could no longer afford the time or money to invest in complex embroidered garments. Widad Kawar was among the first to recognize the new styles developing after the Nakba. 25
New styles began to appear in the 1960s. For example, the "six-branched dress" is named after the six wide bands of embroidery running down from the waist. These styles came from the refugee camps, particularly after 1967. Individual village styles were lost and replaced by an identifiable "Palestinian" style. 26 27
The shawal, a style popular in the West Bank and Jordan before the First Intifada, probably evolved from one of the many welfare embroidery projects in the refugee camps. It was a shorter and narrower fashion, with a western cut. 28
Income-generating projects in the refugee camps and the Occupied Territories began to use embroidery motifs on non-clothing items such as accessories, bags, and purses.
Front of dress (qabbeh) sold as cushion cover, Ramallah, 2000.
Geography:
-Jerusalem: The Jerusalem elite followed Damascus fashions which in turn were influenced by those of the Ottoman court in Istanbul. Fabrics were imported from Syria with several specialist shops on the Mamilla Road. Wedding dresses were ordered from Aleppo and Turkey. From the beginning of the 20th century, the upper classes began to wear European styles. 29
-Galilee: Collections reveal that there was a distinct Galilee women's style from at least the middle of the 19th century. The standard form was a coat (Jillayeh), tunic, and trousers. Cross-stitch was not used much, the women preferring patchwork patterns of diamond and rectangular shapes, as well as other embroidery techniques. In the 1860s, H.B. Tristram described costumes in the villages of El Bussah and Isfia as being either "plain, patched or embroidered in the most fantastic and grotesque shapes". Towards the beginning of the 20th century, Turkish/Ottoman fashions began to dominate: such as baggy trousers and cord edging. Materials, particularly silks, were brought from Damascus. Before the arrival of European color-fast dyes, the Galilee was an important area for the growing of indigo and sumac which were used for creating blue and red dyes. 30 31 32 33
-Nablus: Women's dresses from villages in the Nablus area were the least ornate in the whole of Palestine. 34 35
-Bethlehem: Wadad Kawar describes Bethlehem as having been "the Paris of Central Palestine". Both it and neighboring Bayt Jalla were known for their fine Couching Stitchwork. This technique was used extensively in the panels for Malak (queen) wedding dresses. The Malak dress was popular amongst brides from the villages around Jerusalem. So much so that the panels began to be produced commercially in Bethlehem and Bayt Jalla. Amongst the wealthier families, it was the fashion for the groom to pay for the wedding dress so the work often became a display of status. 36 37
Modern couching stitch from Bayt Jalla traditionally used on panels of malak wedding dress..
-Ramallah: great variety of very distinguishable finely executed patterns.
-Lifta (near Jerusalem), and Bayt Dajan (near Jaffa) were known as being among the wealthiest communities in their areas, and their embroideresses among the most artistic.
-Majdal (today a part of Asqalan/Ashkelon) was a center for weaving.
Doll in wedding-dress typical of Ramallah area popular before 1948. Made by YWCA project in Jalazone RC. c. 2000.
Palestinian traditional costumes map.
Garment types:
Basic dress:
-Thob, loose-fitting robe with sleeves, the actual cut of the garment varied by region.
-Qabbeh; the square chest panel of the Thob, is often decorated.
-Diyal; brocaded back hem panel on the Bethlehem dress.
-Shinyar; the lower back panel of the dress, is decorated in some regions.
-Libas; pants.
-Taqsireh ; short embroidered jacket worn by the women of Bethlehem on festive occasions. The gold couching of the jackets often matched the dress. Simpler jackets were used over everyday dresses. The name is derived from the Arabic verb "to shorten", (Stillmann,p.36).
-Jubbeh; jacket, worn by men and women.
-Jillayeh; embroidered jubbeh, often the embroidered outer garment of a wedding costume.
-Shambar; large veil, common to the Hebron area and southern Palestine.
Headdress:
The women in each region had their distinctive headdress. The women embellished their headdresses with gold and silver coins from their bridewealth money. The more coins, the greater the wealth and prestige of the owner (Stillman,p.38).
-Shaáąweh, a distinctive conical hat, "shaped rather like an upturned flower pot", only carried by married women. Used mainly in Bethlehem, also in Lifta and Ain Karm, (in the District of Jerusalem), and Beit Jala and Beit Sahur (both near Bethlehem). (Stillman p.37)
-Smadeh , used in Ramallah, consists of an embroidered cap, with a stiff padded rim. A row of coins, tightly placed against another, is placed around the top of the rim. Additional coins might be sown to the upper part or attached to narrow, embroidered bands. As with the other women's head-dresses, the smadeh represented the wearers bridal wealth, and acted as an important cash reserve. One observer wrote in 1935:
"Sometimes you see a gap in the row of coins and you guess that that a doctor's bill has had to be paid, or the husband in America has failed to send money"(Stillman,p.53.)
-Araqiyyeh, used in Hebron. The words araqiyyeh and taqiyyeh have been used since the Middle Ages in the Arab world to denote small, close-fitting head-caps, usually of cotton, which were used by both sexes. The original purpose was to absorb sweat (Arab: "araq"). In the whole of Palestine the word taqiyyeh continued to be used about the simple scull-cap used nearest to the hair. In the Hebron area, however, the word araqiyyeh came to denote the embroidered cap with a pointed top a married woman would wear over her taqiyyeh. During her engagement period a woman of the Hebron area would sow and embroider her araqiyyeh, and embellish the rim with coins from her bridal money. The first time she would wear her araqiyyeh would be on her wedding day.(Stillman,p.61)
The styles of headwear for men have always been an important indicator of a man's civil and religious status as well as his political affiliation: A turban being worn by a townsman and a kufiya by a countryman. A white turban signifying an Islamic judge qadi. In the 1790s, the Ottoman authorities instructed the Mufti of Jerusalem, Hassan al-Husayni, to put a stop to the fashion of wearing green and white turbans which they regarded as the prerogative of officially appointed judges. In the 19th century, white turbans were also worn by supporters of the Yaman political faction, while the opposing Qais faction wore red. In 1912, the Palestine Exploration Fund reported that Muslim men from Jerusalem usually wore white linen turbans, called shash. In Hebron, it would be of red and yellow silk, in Nablus red and white cotton. Men in Jaffa wore white and gold turbans, similar to the style in Damascus. A green turban indicated a descendant of Muhammed. 38 39 40 41
Palestinian brothers,1898
A Palestinian man from Jerusalem/Palestine,1890
From 1880 the Ottoman style of tarboosh or fez began to replace the turban amongst the effendi class. The tarboosh had been preceded by a rounder version with blue tassel which originated from the Maghreb. The arrival of the more vertical Young Turk version was emancipating for the Christian communities since it was worn by all civil and military officials regardless of religion. The exception being the Armenians who adopted a black style. The European style, Franjy hat (burneiTah), was not adopted. 42 43
Sheikh Ibrahim Ansari from Jerusalem/Palestine,1920
Palestinian family Al-Tamarie, Jaffa/Palestine,1920
Palestinian family Shahwan,Beit Jala/Palestine,1939
Edward said and his sister,Palestine,1940.
The black and white Palestinian kufiya worn by Palestinian men of any rank, became a symbol of Palestinian nationalism during the Arab Revolt of the 1930s and replaced the tarbush. Originally it was worn by the fellaheen in the countryside to protect them from the sun in the summer and to keep them warm in the winter.
Two Palestinian Bedouins on the road linking Jerusalem to Bethlehem IN 1964
A woman wearing fishnet pattern keffiyeh
Significance of the Palestinian Keffiyeh
Footnotes:
- Jane Waldron Grutz (January–February 1991). "Woven Legacy, Woven Language".
- "The art of embroidery in Palestine, practices, skills, knowledge and rituals" . UNESCO Culture Sector. Retrieved 2021-12-15.
- Palestinian women used clothes to make more than a fashion statement". University of Chicago News Office.
- Pat McDonnell Twair (October 2006). "Sovereign Threads". Palestine Heritage Foundation.
- Denise O'Neal (September–October 2005). "Threads of Tradition: An Exhibition of Palestinian Folk Dress at Antiochian Village". Palestine Heritage Association.
- Needler,1949 & p.87.
- Weir,1989,p.68.
- Gillow, John (2010) Textiles of the Islamic World. Thames and Hudson.p.110-112.
- Kawar, Widad Kamel (2011) Threads of Identity.p.41-42,185.
- ”Craft traditions from Palestine". Sunbula.
- Balfour-Paul,1997,p.143-144.
- Baldensperger,1903,p.164.
- Weir, Palestinian Costumes.p.26.
- Balfour-Paul, 1997, p. 144.
- Kawar. p. 41.
- Gillow. p.110
- Kawar, p. 42.
- "Palestinian costume: Background". Palestine Costume Archive.
- "Palestinian Embroidery". USAID)
- Shahin,2005,p.71-73.
- Weir,1970, pp.13-14.
- "Palestinian women used clothes to make more than a fashion statement". University of Chicago.
- Stillman,1979,p.ix
- Baldensperger.1903.p.340.
- Saca, Iman (2006). Embroidering Identities: A Century of Palestinian Clothing.
- Weir, Shelagh (1989) Palestinian Costume.pp.88,113.
- Skinner, Margarita (2007) PALESTINIAN EMBROIDERY MOTIVES. A Treasury of Stitches 1850-1950.p.21.
- Weir, Shelagh (1989) Palestinian Costume. British Museum. pp. 88, 113.
- Kawar, Widad Kamel (2011) Threads of Identity. Melisende. pp. 41,177,179,191.
- Weir, Sheilagh (2006) Embroidery from Palestine.pp. 17,18,24,80.
- Kawar.p.274,284,287.
- Skinner, Margarita (2007) Palestinian Embroidery Motives. A Treasury of Stitches.p.14.
- Weir, Sheilagh (1989) Palestinian Costume.p.145.
- Skinner.pp14
- Graham-Brown, Sarah (1980) Palestinians and their Society. 1880-1946.p.63.
- Kawar.pp.10,207.
- Gillow.p.118.
- Pappe, Illan (2010) The Rise and Fall of a Palestinian Dynasty. The Husaynis 1700-1968. Saqi. p. 43.
- Weir, 1989, p. 66, citing p. 141 of C. T. Wilson (1906) Peasant Life in the Holy Land, London.
- Palestine Exploration Fund. Quarterly Statement for 1912. Page 11.
- Baldensperger, Philip G. (1905) The Immovable East. Palestine Exploration Fund Quarterly Report. p.51.
- Weir Shelagh Palestinian Costume p. 64.
- Baldensperger, 1903, p. 342.
Related links and references:
1- The history of Keffiyeh: A traditional scarf from Palestine.
2- Stop the culture theft: First hummus now embroidery? By Mohammed Arafat.
3- Israeli designer eroticizes the Palestinian keffiyeh by Philip Weiss
4- Stealing Palestine: A study of historical and cultural theft by Roger Sheety.
5- Palestine's arts before 1948 | Al Jazeera English
"We not only lost our cities in 1948, but also our open relationship with the Arab World." Before the Arab-Israeli war, Palestine's thriving cultural arts were renowned.
6- The Palestinian keffiyeh: All you need to know about its origins by Indlieb Farazi Saber.
7- Inside the origins and evolution of traditional Palestinian costume by Ramona wadi.
8- The Traditional Clothing of Palestine by Pamela Dimitriova.
9- Palestinian thobe: A phenomenon of identity and culture by Dina sharif Abu Jarad.
10- The Palestinian heritage Center of Bethlehem.
11- Showcase: The journey of Palestinian embroidery.
12- Palestinian traditional costumes(Cannanites heritage).