Tatreez Tea

Wafa Ghnaim brings traditional Palestinian embroidery to life by resuscitating its roots as a powerful, provocative, and profound storytelling tool used by Palestinian women for hundreds of years to document their stories, observations, and experiences.

Embroidering Identities: A Century of Palestinian Clothing is the companion piece to the exhibit held at the Oriental Institute from November 11, 2006 to March 25, 2007. It is an overview of the colourful and distinctive clothing of late nineteenth and early twentieth-century Palestine. The richly illustrated text discusses the construction of traditional dresses, the materials and dyes employed, and clothing and embroidery in the years following 1948. Garments from many regions are illustrated and described. The volume includes a glossary of Arabic terms and a checklist to the exhibit.

This visually stunning study in the ethnography of Palestinian embroidery motifs is a lasting source inspiration.

- Dozens of embroidery patterns preserved in the Palestinian diaspora, including six complete sets of patterns to create a full traditional dress (chest, sleeve and panel);- Family tea, coffee and quince preserves recipes, passed on through generations of Palestinian women from Safad;- Detailed traditional Palestinian embroidery techniques and rare northern Palestinian Arabic embroidery terminology;- Complete guide to the techniques, meanings and origins of each embroidery thread stitch and color;- Guidance and instructions detailed enough for inexperienced embroiderers, and inspiration ideas for those with needlework experience;- Design histories and meanings of traditional and popular Palestinian embroidery designs in the diaspora, including The Missiles, The Birds, The Snakes, The Ducks, The Scorpions, The Story of Cleopatra, The Gardens, The Tree of Life and The Wheat Harvest.Palestinian tatreez embroidery is a centuries-old folk art, traditionally passed from mother to daughter over a cup of tea. In Tatreez & Tea: Embroidery and Storytelling in the Palestinian Diaspora, Wafa Ghnaim brings traditional Palestinian embroidery to life by resuscitating its roots as a powerful, provocative, and profound storytelling tool used by Palestinian women for hundreds of years to document their stories, observations, and experiences - including those from her mother, Feryal Abbasi-Ghnaim. With dozens of design patterns; six complete sets of dress patterns; tea, coffee, and quince recipes; detailed traditional Palestinian embroidery techniques and rare northern Palestinian Arabic tatreez terminology - each design history and meaning is documented and preserved. Wafa guides us through each thread, stitch, and skilled technique used by Palestinian embroiderers, further evolving her voice into a sacred journaling of oral histories passed on by her maternal ancestors. She further unravels the significance of each design by illuminating the experiences of her mother who learned embroidery from her mother and grandmother in mid-century Syria. Tatreez & Tea is far more than a book about traditional Palestinian embroidery - it's a resurrection of tatreez as a source of identity; one that guided Wafa as she created a home in the Palestinian diaspora.Mama, tayta, khaltu, umtuuIn tatreez dresses they never outgrewIt's a legacy I cannot live up toWeaving maroon red and beautiful golden huesHonoring you without the pain of déjà vu.As we pull the waste canvas and tweezeWe earn our right to be adorned in our tatreezStitches as expensive as HermesBut invaluable are our fabric storiesThey will never be lost to the occupation's crisp breeze.- "I am Palestinian," by Wafa Ghnaim

THE TRADITIONAL COSTUMES OF THE Palestinian villagers and Bedouin are of exceptional beauty and diversity, especially the festive costumes of the women with their lavish silk embroidery and patchwork and their dramatic headdresses encrusted with coins. This book surveys male and female fashions from the early nineteenth century to the end of the twentieth, and describes the main regional styles of costume, their materials and ornamentation, against the background of Palestinian life and culture. The emphasis throughout the book is on the social and symbolic significance of costume, and the final chapters analyze in detail the language of costume in the context of the wedding. The book is based on extensive field research the author has conducted at intervals since 1967 among Palestinians in Israel, the Occupied Territories, and Jordan. The illustrations include studio photographs of magnificent garments in the British Museum and other collections, archive photographs from the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, and recent photographs of costumes still made and worn.

Compares styles, textiles, embroidery, and jewelry of townsfolk, villagers, and nomads in different regions. Follows the development of styles from the early 1900's to the present. Many photographs from the time of British control; later photographs are, more courteously, of costumes without people.

Rifqa is Mohammed El-Kurd’s debut collection of poetry, written in the tradition of Ghassan Kanafani’s Palestinian Resistance Literature. The book narrates the author’s own experience of dispossession in Sheikh Jarrah--an infamous neighborhood in Jerusalem, Palestine, whose population of refugees continues to live on the brink of homelessness at the hands of the Israeli government and US-based settler organizations. The book, named after the author’s late grandmother who was forced to flee from Haifa upon the genocidal establishment of Israel, makes the observation that home takeovers and demolitions across historical Palestine are not reminiscent of 1948 Nakba, but are in fact a continuation of it: a legalized, ideologically-driven practice of ethnic cleansing.

The Palestinian folk arts have a rich and fascinating history. Silk thread and embroidery, together with an expanding repertoire of symbols, are known to have made their way from China to the Holy Land along the Silk and Spice Routes before being introduced to Europe by Christian saints, holy men and pilgrims. Mainly using cross-stitch, Palestinians have continued to embroider their traditional motifs, giving them their own appellations and developing their own terminology. As clothing was of prime importance, Palestinian women wanted something personal, distinctive and handmade. By adopting the traditional styles and motifs of her area, a woman expressed her wish to identify and be identified with her cultural roots. Samples of late-nineteenth to early-twentieth century Palestinian costumes are considered to be representative of folk art at its best. Through the vicissitudes of war and occupation, Palestinian folk materials have been dispersed, though samples are to be found in published material, in museums outside Palestine and in small private collections. Leila El Khalidi's work in identifying and recording the history and motifs in Palestinian embroidery will be of interest both to craftspeople and to students of folk traditions and is an important step in preserving the Palestinian heritage. The book is illustrated with a detailed appendix showing the principal motifs and with photographs of traditional costumes

This book looks at the intricate patterns and diverse designs of 19th and early 20th century Palestinian village costumes. Palestinian dresses, jackets, head-veils and head-dresses are made from a variety of beautiful fabrics: handwoven cotton or linen, left natural or dyed indigo-blue; and brightly coloured silks, taffetas, velvet and wool. Embroidery from Palestine describes and illustrates diverse decorative techniques and patterns against the backdrop of traditional Palestinian village life and its ceremonies. The examples are drawn from the British Museum's outstanding collection, one of the best in the world, and include some rare and exceptionally beautiful garments.