The Palestinian cotton was  the main product that was  used to make the Palestinian village costume. Many manual weaving centers and looms  spread all over the country  from the north to the south  to make the needed material  for the women. These weaving centers were owned by  famous families that do that  kind of weaving from generation to generation. According  to Sheila Weir in her book,  The Palestinian Costume, Safad, north of Palestine, had  five hundred looms at one time, Al Majdal, south of Palestine, had two hundred and so on in many of the areas of  Palestine. 

Materials 

The cotton produced to be  used for the costumes was  either left on the same natural  color of the fabric woven or  dyed in the very dark or less  indigo blue. The indigo, a plant  available in the Gour area of the  country (Jordan River valley),  is one of the products mainly  used for dying the cloth mate rial needed for the Palestinian  costume itself. It is amazing to  note that the color of the dye is  an important factor for deciding the price of the material,  the darker deeper the color of  fabric used for the costume,  the more value and price it has  to it. It would take more and  more dye substance to reach  the darkest shades that some  women from specific areas of  Palestine require according to  the norms of her village as well  as their ability to pay.

Beside the cotton, the Palestinian village and Bedouin women used the wool of the camels and sheep to make many different  items they needed for their daily use. These daily garments and items included weaving the  Abayas and jackets for men, their rugs, tents, and baby hammocks used in the daily life of  Bedouin, as well as women’s jackets and other items needed for each area in the country.  In all these objects, we find the abundance of the products of Palestine for the women to do  their costumes with such beauty, love, breathtaking appearance, and deep attention to details  that give that costume the identity of its people. They reflect the abundance and harmony with nature and society, and are totally influenced by the beauty of their surroundings.

Origins of Costumes

Many have wondered about the origin of the Palestinian costumes. There is an important piece of information coming from pictures of old engravings on the walls of the  pyramids in Egypt. Drawings  of figures of visitors to their  country coming from Palestine,  shows their very beautiful traditional costumes as far back  as one thousand years BC. The  beginnings in the different villages really started way back,  as well as the embroidery they  had on those costumes. We  again come across numerous  studies and research papers  and books on the subject,  the most acknowledged of all  are; Widad Kawar's books, the  anthropological study written  by Sheila Weir from the British  Museum of Mankind, as well  as the most recent published  book Identity and Costume authored by Hanan Karaman Al Munayer. Widad speaks of the beauty and the special blend  that the women in Palestine made with the utmost love and feelings of the beauty of their  surroundings and the costumes they are making for themselves. 

The anthropologist Sheila Weir’s research was very thorough. The British Museum of Man kind, were she worked, had acquired, a huge collection of Palestinian costumes that were  over two hundred years old, she speaks of the meaning and function of each according to  occasions, and she arrives at a very important conclusion which states that what we have  available now of the Palestinian costume tells us of a fact that those old and very precious  pieces of the people›s art are so developed, that make us reach the obvious conclusion, that  it is such an old and deep rooted tradition which evolved through centuries of living on those  people›s land to have such a developed art in the Palestinian society.The recent research  study done by Hanan Al Munayer, gives us a better view of the origin of embroidery in the  area, and after a lot of research into the European, Ottoman, American as well as other Archives, finds that embroidery has originated in the area a long time ago, and that Palestinian  embroidery originated and is the byproduct of its environment. 

Diversity in costume 

The Palestinian costume to any ordinary viewer looks similar at first glance. But it is so var ied and diverse from one area of the country to the next and from one village to the other  and even from one occasion to the other. The difference is noticed not just in the shape of  the costume or its sleeves, but also in the material used, as well as the units of embroidery  artistically done on each. The shape of the costume of the north of Palestine is an almost  fitted robe called “Jallayah” which is like a jacket that reaches to just under the knee. It is in  indigo blue with varied shapes of silk patchwork in specific colors sometimes, and at oth ers times in embroidery with geometrical designs, worn with an embroidered trouser. When  you go down to the middle of Palestine you notice the wider cut dresses, in indigo blue or  natural color cotton, with wider sleeves. The south of the country, especially the Bedouin  areas, are well known for their very wide cut of the dress, with wide pointed sleeves that are  called “Mraddan” in indigo blue color cotton.  

One area in Palestine has a special costume, called Al Ubb. It is made of long black cotton  that reaches 250 centimeters in length. Usually a belt is used to adjust the costume in folds  over the waste. This particular dress has meanings and functions specific for that area,  which is the Taamra Bedouin around Beit Lahem. It is noted that girls and old women’s  costumes have much less embroidery than for married women; this reflects the modesty  of the two ages. Even the Beersheba area costume in the south of Palestine is also very  wide and has long pointed sleeves, for practicality while working, as they tie those sleeves behind their backs to keep clean. 

The material used for all those different women’s costumes is first and foremost, the cotton with its two colors, the white and the navy blue as stated previously. An important fact or for that hand woven cotton material is its dye, the deeper color of the indigo it has, the more value it has to it. Other materials used for the different occasions are varied:

• A cloth material imported from Syria called “Gabani”, a silk and cotton off-white cloth that is embroidered with silk gold threads used specifically by the village of Lifta in the Jerusalem area.

• A beautiful silk material  used for some costumes  is the striped silk used by  some other villages in the  Jerusalem area too. This material is becoming a rarity; the stripes are ether  black and yellow or black  and red.

• The Beit Lahem and Gaza  area cloth material, each uses its own famous artistic blend of cotton and  striped silk with a wide  space between the stripes.  In the first it is called “Abu  Warda” and in the second  area it is widely striped  with green and red colors,  called heaven and hell.

• Silk materials brought  from Aleppo, Syria as well  as Tripoli, Lebanon, were  used with specific traditional colors of red, orange  and green, added over the  cotton material to make a  different version of their  costume as chest sleeves  or side panels. 

• White thin cloth material  was used for under shirts for the areas in the north, Galilee and Nablus area,  which they used to tuck in  with the long jacket under  the belt when working the fields.

• The “Carmazoat” cloth  material made with cot ton and silk in a vibrant  purple color in the Jafa  area, brought from Syria  and worn specially by the women of Ludd and Ram la, It is almost impossible to find this material nowadays.

• “Saya” striped material used for long jackets “Jallaya” in the north of Palestine, with different stripes for each area.

• The velvet material which was introduced to the country after World War I, especially in the costumes of Beit Lahem and Jeru salem, as well as some areas in Jenin and Tol karem villages in north of Palestine.

• Even the cloth material used for the belts differ from one area to the other, either “Tarabilsi” silk, or cotton with silk striped in black and red, called “Kamikh” woven in Syria, or striped silk in Beit Dajan and Jafa areas called “shdad”.

Threads of Silk

The threads used for em broidery in the old days were brought from Aleppo, Syria and Lebanon, as those two countries were famous for their silk. It was bought in its raw color, and locally dyed with the specific colors for each area. Other natural dyes for those threads needed for embroidery, are the traditional natural dyes for each village, from plants and insects of the country, like: murex, a sea shell that has a special red color is extracted; the saffron plant to get the yellow orange color; the cochineal, pomegranate skin, and many other flowers that certain shades of colors are extracted from according to the needs of each area. In this sense, all the colors needed for the embroidery of the costume for each village is obtained from those natural dyes found directly within the country. It is amazing  to note that the shade of color of the dye for each embroidered dress tells of the area it  came from. The Palestinian woman kept dying her thread in those natural dyes until the  chemical dyes started to spread in the world. Actually synthetic aniline dyes started in  Germany as early as 1880, but it did not reach Palestinian women until after World War  I, when merchants started bringing it in. When the women started using those already  dyed threads, they found it easier than going through the process of dying their own. In  no time village women started using those imported threads from the 1920 onward. But  the imported threads could not give the richness and vibrant colors and beauty of the natural dyes. 

• Geometrical
• Artifacts
• Beliefs and customs
• Plants
• Animals
• Events

أشكال الثوب، منطقة رام الله، بداية القرن التاسع عشر. المصدر كتاب Palestinian Costume، شيلا وير

Researches in the field found that in the beginning, embroidery was geometrical in designs. Pictures of Palestinian dignitaries visiting the Pharos of Egypt a thousand years BC showed the costumes they were wearing are full of geometrical designs of embroidery around the body of those costumes. Even today, we still have the rectangular and the triangle shapes, which were translated during the embroidery of the dress into moons for the rectangular motifs, and amulets for the triangles, which was part of the belief in protecting oneself from the evil eye. The eight pointed Canaanite star was another shape used in the old designs of embroidery as it was worshiped by the Canaanites, the early inhabit- ants of Palestine many many centuries ago which continues to be used in all the Palestinian costume today, in almost all the areas of the country. Finally, you find symbols of feathers and Cyprus trees which are abundantly found protecting the citrus groves from the elements.

 

صورة لتمثال من أوغاريت، سوريا، 1200 سنة قبل الميلاد. المصدر كتاب Traditional Palestinian Costume، حنان المنيير

Until now, the gradual development and transformation of the embroidery motifs into floral and animal shapes, as well as other contemporary shapes you see today is a big subject to research and talk about. There are many theories regarding the continuous evolving nature of the embroidery of Palestine. The first is the natural development of the peoples’ art through generations of the continued existence of the Palestinians on their land. The second is the harmony and love that the Palestinians have for their country, and the interaction that was gradually and inces- santly building between both. This interaction was built during the planting and harvesting cycle where the generosity and beauty that surrounds village people with the exquisite and diversified flowers and birds surrounding them. Besides the day to day living aspect spreading all parts of the culture while life is going on, events that became part of that culture where also introduced into the embroidery with special symbols reflecting them. All of the above planted in the Palestinian woman a deep-rooted warmth for her country and the way of life she made for herself, which at the end made up her identity. When you look at any costume from any area in Palestine, and see the splendor and high art that these women put into their workmanship, you can›t but express your highest appreciation for the ability of those women, and how through the needle and thread they were able to produce and register events and nature that made up the history of Palestine.

ثوب الإنتفاضة. مركز التراث الفلسطيني

Throughout Palestine’s history, during, before and after the British Mandate and its culmination with the Zionists’ war against the Palestinians and the final outcome of the occupation of the country with the huge numbers of the original inhabitants becoming refugees, even these very sad moments for the Palestinians, produced motifs that expresses the period very clearly. We find new motifs called the “road to Egypt” and “the road to Syria”. Previously, other symbols were embroidered such as the “horse and rider” that expresses the resistance against the British plans to implement the Balfour Declaration which was a promise by the British Empire to give the land of Palestine to the Jews as a homeland for them. Today we still find new versions of Palestinian motifs that do give a picture and register the development of the Palestinians and their issues such as a flower motif that was converted to becoming a flower shape surrounding jail bars.

When I reflect on this rich culture, I cannot but express my deepest appreciation for the Palestinian woman. She was not only part of her history, but an active participant in embroidering her love of her country and history on her costume for the entire world to see.