After the Maliha series...the story of Palestinian embroidery from clothing for resistance

Throughout its episodes shown during the Ramadan race, the Maliha series appeared in some of the heroes wearing clothes made of Palestinian embroidery, which is a prominent symbol of the Palestinian national identity. It is also a means of expressing the people, their history, and their authenticity, and the Maliha series used it correctly.

Below, Specialie reviews the history of Palestinian embroidery, inspired by the Maliha series:

History of Palestinian embroidery Palestinian women, especially rural women, are highly skilled in embroidery, and have used it in many areas of life. She decorated her home, clothes, and personal items with it. Her designs, decorations and colors are inspired by the nature of her country and its local environment.

For this reason, the color combinations and patterns in Palestinian embroidery differ from one region to another. Each geographical region has its own elements, components, and decorative formations that originate from it and are compatible with it, but it is difficult to find Palestinian embroidery before the 19th century because the fabric wears out with time.

The women of Haifa were painted orange, and the women of Galilee in northern Palestine appeared in dresses embroidered with flowers and leaves with red and blue threads.

In the villages of Nablus and Turkham, you can see embroidery cutting and decorating dresses. In Bethlehem, gold and silver threads are used to embroider floral motifs and patterns. Jewelry: In Hebron, women wove small figurines from grapes and olives, and in Beersheba, where there were few trees, women were inspired by the sky to create patterns for their clothes and decorate them with stars.

Shopping days and festivals were ideal opportunities for women to exchange designs and learn about different embroidery styles, and marriages between men and girls from different villages were also an opportunity to transfer designs between different villages. Later, trains and buses appeared, making transportation more convenient. Moving between villages, visiting family, exchanging embroidery designs, etc. Simple changes over the generations gave clothes a new elegance and satisfied women's desire to create their own aesthetic world.

It seems that what is known as the “New Dress” is what united Palestine and played an important role in the first intifada. Map of Palestine and the initials of the Palestine Liberation Organization. In the four colors of the Palestinian flag (red, green, white, and black), the Intifada’s clothing features new patterns, most notably the olive branch and the dove of peace.

In 2021, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) added “the art of Palestinian embroidery” to its list of intangible cultural heritage, marking another victory for cultural resistance in defense of one of the most important elements of Israel’s identity. Attempted theft.

Arrangement of embroidery on clothes 1- The dome: It is the part closest to the face. The origin of the language is the cap, which is a patch placed in the pocket of a shirt. But in the Palestinian dialect it means (the collar of the robe).

2- The tail: the lower back of the garment. The root of the word is (tail), and the plural is tail, meaning the thing that comes off from the garment when it falls.

3. Al-Banika: It is an aspect of clothing and its linguistic origin is (Al-Banika).

4. Sleeve: It is the entrance of the arm of the garment.

Type of fabric: Traditional hand embroidery was done on locally woven linen called “lomi” or “monastic” or a linen and cotton blend fabric sometimes called “rural”. Or it can be used on cotton fabrics woven with special knitting patterns to facilitate thread counting and clearly show stitches.

4 main types of threads used in embroidery 1- Silk thread: The most expensive and heaviest thread. The embroidered dress weighs 8 kilograms, and is only worn on ceremonial occasions.

2- Cotton thread: It is embroidered on all types of clothes and is cheap, but some cotton threads fade and some colors affect the colors of other threads and fade.

3- Reed thread: It is used in northern Palestine for embroidering jackets and waistcoats, on Dajani’s white dress, for embroidering the upper chest, and for wrapping velvet fabric.

4- Machine thread: It is embroidered by machine only on satin fabrics. This thread is also used to connect parts of the product, and the connections are embroidered with silk thread.