red silk coats

Coats using silk materials from Palestine, late 19th, early 20th c. The first caption states the coat is probably Druze, the second caption states the coat is from Galilee.

The red brightness of the coats really contrasts with the black that today blankets the minds of many who imagine the women of Palestine. The image on the cover of Ilan Pappe's book, The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine, which I have a link to in the right margin of my blog, also shows the lightness of colour that was Palestinian women's dress before the traumatic changes brought in by the Balfour Declaration, the Nakba, the creation of the state of Israel, 1967, Black September, multiple sieges, the Apartheid Wall, dispossession, and other ongoing traumas, difficult to keep up with.

As I have been thinking about silk, the Silk Road, women, and the Levant, especially Palestinian and Lebanese women, while I was searching for books on a totally unrelated area, I stumbled upon the page above, from a book depicting silk clothing from Palestine. It's a page from the book Palestinian Costume by Shelagh Weir published by Interlink Books. A short overview of the book below:

"The product of over 20 years of serious research, this lavishly illustrated work discusses Palestinian textiles and men's and women's dress during the 30-year period of British rule prior to 1948. Weir also touches upon 19th-century and modern Palestinian costume while discussing pertinent cultural background and meaning behind changing design and styles. Particular emphasis is given to the wedding ritual and garments of Beit Dajan, a village located about 12 kilometers southeast of Jaffa. The great variety of costumes, illustrated in 200 color and 100 black-and-white photographs, and the excellent interpretive text contribute to a unique and valuable work that should be a part of most research, art, textiles, or Middle East collections."
-- Library Journal (reviewer Paula I. Nielson, Brigham Young Univ. Lib., Provo, Ut)


my note: the 8 point rosette, which follows a red thread through Astarte and Ishtar to Inanna.