Palestinian Costumes - Garment Types - Headdress

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);

• Shaṭweh, 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" (quoted in 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 women 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 kaffiyeh 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.

From 1880 the Ottoman style of tarboush or fez began to replace the turban amongst the effendi class. The tarboush had been preceded by a rounder version with blue tassel which originated from the Magreb. 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 styles, Franjy hat (burneiTah), were not adopted.

The kaffiyeh replaced the tarbush in the 1930s.