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supporting these factories, and help them go back to work at
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Overview of Palestinian Embroidery |
Only one kind of stitch is used in making Palestinian embroidered
dresses, but the patterns and colors used for these dresses vary.
The color combinations of the embroidery, the design and the color
of the cloth on which the embroidery is made have specific
connotations as to the specific region in Palestine, where the
article was made or the status of the person owning or wearing the
article. (In the case of women’s dresses, called Thobes, the
status may be a new bride, an older mother, a pregnant wife, etc.)
Also, one can determine where a Palestinian woman comes from through
the patterns of the embroidery on her dress; almost each Palestinian
town has its own unique pattern. Palestinian embroidery is therefore
more than just an art or a craft; it is an integral part of the
Palestinian geographical and cultural landscape.
While many of the patterns used in Palestinian embroidery are
designs of geometric shapes, they also include designs, which were
most familiar to Palestinian women as impressions of their daily
surroundings. Depending on the region in Palestine, the patterns
included representations of cypress tree, bunches of grapes, apple
tree, cauliflower, cock, pigeon, rainbow, roses, birds, flower pot
and extensive other such representations. Geometric designs were
given such names as 'foreign moon', 'cow's eye', 'mill wheel',
‘crab’, 'moon with feathers', 'old man's teeth', 'bachelor's
cushion', the baker's wife', 'old man upside down' and other such
creative and often humorous names.
Palestinian embroidery did not, with rare exceptions, include
patterns with any religious symbols. While the majority of
Palestinians are Moslems, there hasn’t been any obvious Islamic
representations in embroidery as there has been in other forms of
art such as calligraphy. Because Christian minorities in Palestine
have enjoyed essentially full societal partnership with the Moslem
majority, Christian minorities did not find it necessary nor
desirable to separate themselves from their Moslem brothers as did
Christians in some other Arab countries, nor deliberately made
themselves stand out as non-Moslems. In Palestinian society,
religion was a private matter between 'man and his God'. A phrase
which was very popular in Palestinian society during all of the
twentieth century was "Religion is for God, but the country is for
everyone" (Aldeenu Lillah Walwatan Liljamee') which meant that no
one wanted the differences in religious beliefs to impact societal
relations among Palestinians. Therefore, Palestinian Christians and
Moslems did not use embroidery as a form of public display to
separate them from each other. Nonetheless, Christian minorities
have made embroidered articles with Christian representations for
use exclusively in their homes or for the exclusive use in their
churches for religious rituals and ceremonial purposes.
Arabs, both Christians and Moslems, and Jews lived in harmony in
Palestine until the Zionist movement came into being and started to
threaten the livelihood, hopes and existence of the Arab population.
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