Naseej (Weaving)

Naseej By Shirabe Yamada and Khadra Alsanah

Weaving is one of the most prominent heritages of Bedouins in Palestine. For centuries, the centrality of weaving in Bedouin life symbolized the importance of women’s role and their status in the society as the home builders.

Bedouins in Palestine historically lived according to the cycle of seasonal migration, when their mobile households moved from one location to another in search of food and water for their livestock. While men worked in herding, farming, and bartering, women were responsible for building and maintaining their habitat, beit al–shaar, the house woven from animal hair. Women wove beit al-saifi, the summer tent, using sheep wool, beit al-shetawi, the winter tent, from warmer and water-resistant goat hair, and ruwaq, the partition screens, with camel hair. The entire diwan, the main meeting space consisting of carpets, cushions, and decorative wall hangings, was woven with sheep wool. They also wove the abah, a man’s cloak, from camel and goat hair, as well as various items for their animals such as mizwada, a fodder sack, khurj, a saddle bag, and ornaments such as ghurza and miqwad that decorated camels and horses for festive occasions.

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A Bedouin weaver spins the yarn using a drop-spindle at Sidreh, Lakiya Bedouin Weaving Project. Photo by Steve Sabella, courtesy of Sunbula.