Palestinian traditional costumes

Palestinian traditional clothing are the types of clothing worn by Palestinians. Travelers in the past often noticed the many different costumes, especially those worn by fellaheen or village women. Many of these clothes were handmade with beautiful stitching, and making and caring for them was important for many women.

Experts think Palestinian clothing has very old roots, though we don’t have clothes from those early days to compare. Influences from many empires that ruled the land, like Ancient Egypt, Ancient Rome, and the Byzantine Empire, can be seen in the designs, based on old art and stories.

Until the 1940s, traditional clothes showed a woman’s status and where she was from. People who knew these clothes could guess these details from the fabric, colors, cut, and stitching designs. In 2021, the art of embroidery in Palestine and related traditions were added to the UNESCO Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity, showing how important it is to the culture.

Origins

Geoff Emberling, director of the Institute for the Study of Ancient Cultures, says that Palestinian clothing from the early 1800s up until World War I shows styles that look like clothes from over 3,000 years ago.

Hanan Munayyer, a collector and researcher of Palestinian clothing, points to old pieces of clothing from around 1500 BC. She notes that from 1200 BC to 1940 AD, Palestinian dresses were made from natural fabrics and had a similar shape with triangular sleeves. This style is known to archaeologists as the "Syrian tunic."

In a book called Palestine: Ancient and Modern from 1949, Winifred Needler explains that no real clothing from ancient Palestine has survived, and there aren’t many details in old writings. However, the way these modern clothes look is similar to what people in West Asia wore, as seen in old pictures from ancient Egypt and Assyria.

Needler also talks about well-preserved clothing pieces from Roman-Egyptian times. These include loose linen clothes with patterned wool bands, shoes, sandals, and linen caps, which are similar to modern Palestinian styles.

The change from woven designs to embroidered ones happened in the 8th century because of skilled needle making in Damascus. Embroidered parts of Palestinian dresses, like the square chest piece and decorated back panel, are also seen in clothes from 13th-century Andalusia. Each village in Palestine had special patterns that helped local women identify each other. Common designs included stars, the moon, birds, palm leaves, stairs, and diamonds or triangles.

Social and gender variation

Palestinian society had three groups: villagers, townspeople, and Bedouins. Their clothing showed these differences. Village women, called fellahin, often wore older styles because they lived far away. You could often tell a woman's village by the designs on her dress.

Townspeople (Arabic: baladin) had more contact with outside ideas, so their fashion changed more often. By the early 1900s, wealthy people in cities often wore Western wear. For example, Ghada Karmi wrote about how in the 1940s in Katamon, Jerusalem, only the maids—who were village women—wore traditional Palestinian dresses.

Bedouin clothing showed their tribe instead of a specific place. Like in most of the Middle East, men’s clothes were more similar to each other than women’s.

Weaving and fabrics

Woolen fabrics for everyday use were made by weavers in Majdal, Bethlehem, Ramallah, and Jerusalem. The wool came from sheep, goats, or camels. Women among the Bedouin traditionally wove items like tents, rugs, and pillow covers. They spun thread from sheep's wool, colored it with natural dyes, and wove it into strong fabric using a ground loom.

Linen and cotton were important fabrics for embroidered clothes. Cotton became more common at the end of the 19th century when it was imported from Europe. Fabrics could be left plain or dyed different colors, with deep blue being very popular using Indigo dye. Other colors included black, red, and green.

The village of Majdal no longer exists, but its weaving craft lives on through cultural preservation projects in Gaza City.

Palestinian embroidery

See also: Tatreez

Palestinian embroidery has many different designs because Palestine has a long history and many cultures have visited. In the past, people used natural colors like red from insects, blue from plants, and yellow from flowers. These colors came from the land and plants around them.

Women in villages used embroidery to show where they came from and their family. They started learning to embroider when they were about seven years old, often learning from their grandmothers. Their embroidery included special shapes like squares and triangles. They made beautiful clothes for special occasions and everyday wear.

Later, new ideas from Europe brought in different designs like flowers and birds. But many places still kept their own special geometric patterns.

Men's clothing

Some jobs had special clothes. For example, horse or mule drivers wore a short jacket, red shoes, and a small yellow woolen cap with a tight turban.

History

Pre-1948

A book from 1921 described the clothes Palestinian farmers wore. Men wore a long tunic called a dîmâyeh or ḳumbâz, with a vest and a woolen overcoat. Women wore an embroidered dress called a Khurḳeh, often with a long veil. Their head-dresses had coins and decorations.

Post-1948

After events in 1948, many people could not make or wear these detailed clothes because they had moved and had less money. New styles began in the 1960s, like a dress with six wide bands of embroidery. These new styles came from places where people had to leave their homes. Today, groups in these areas make beautiful embroidery on bags and other items, and sell them around the world.

Geography

• Jerusalem: People in Jerusalem followed styles from Damascus, influenced by the Ottoman court in Istanbul. They used fabrics from Syria, and special shops were on the Mamilla Road. Wedding dresses came from Aleppo and Turkey. By the early 1900s, richer people started wearing styles from Europe.
• Galilee: Women in the Galilee had their own special style from the mid-1800s. They wore a coat, tunic, and trousers. They liked patchwork designs with diamonds and rectangles. By the early 1900s, styles from Turkey and the Ottoman Empire became popular. They used silks from Damascus. Before European dyes, the Galilee grew plants like indago and sumac to make colors.
• Nablus: Dresses from villages around Nablus had simpler designs than elsewhere in Palestine.

• Bethlehem: Bethlehem was known for its beautiful stitching work, like the nearby town of Bayt Jalla. They used this stitching in special wedding dresses called malak, which were popular with brides near Jerusalem.

• Ramallah: People in Ramallah had unique patterns in their clothing.

• Lifta (near Jerusalem), and Bayt Dajan (near Jaffa) were among the richest areas, and their embroiderers were very creative. Majdal (now part of Ashkelon) was a place known for weaving.

Garment types

Basic dress

The Palestinian thobe was a loose robe with sleeves. It had a square chest part called a qabbeh with pretty designs. Women wore side panels called Banayiq. Both men and women wore Libas pants and Jubbeh jackets. Special jackets called Jillayeh were worn at weddings. In some places, women used a large veil called a Shambar.

Headdress

Main article: Palestinian keffiyeh

Women in different areas had special headdresses. They added gold and silver coins to show their wealth. In Bethlehem, married women wore a cone-shaped hat called a Shaṭweh. In Ramallah, women wore a decorated cap called a Smadeh with coins. In Hebron, women wore an embroidered cap called an Araqiyyeh and added coins during their engagement.

Men’s headwear showed their status and group. A turban was worn by town men, while a kaffiyeh was common in the countryside. A white turban showed a judge, and other colors showed different groups. Later, the tarboush or fez became popular, and then the kaffiyeh replaced it.

Shoes

People in towns like Jerusalem and Hebron wore soft white sheepskin shoes with the front turned up. Village men wore stronger shoes for the fields. Bedouin people wore sandals. On special occasions, some wore long red boots with blue tassels and iron heels, made in Damascus.

Collections of Palestinian costumes

Many museums and private collections around the world have examples of traditional Palestinian clothing and related items.

Public collections include the British Museum in London. The Israel Museum in Jerusalem also has many items. The L. A. Mayer Institute for Islamic Art in Jerusalem and the Museum of International Folk Art in Santa Fe have important pieces as well. The Palestine Costume Archive in Canberra, Australia, and the Tareq Rajab Museum in Kuwait also have many items. The Olana State Historic Site in Hudson, New York has one of the oldest collections.

Private collections include the Widad Kawar Arab Heritage collection in Amman, Jordan, and the Abed Al-Samih Abu Omar collection in Jerusalem. The Palestinian Heritage Foundation in Bethlehem and the Palestinian Heritage Center also have notable private collections.