Description

Bethlehem region dress inserts all couch embroidered (tahreeri) on silk taffeta (hermzi) with foil and silk thread.  In the purple and orange silk sleeve inserts, very subtle and discreet square crosses could be discerned in the centre of the middle clock (sa’a) motif and a long cross in the top part of each. It is also the case with the red and green side panels (banayeq), where in each of the sa’a motifs the cross references could be seen. Additionally, two smaller orange and deep Bordeaux cross crosslets can be seen as part of the general embroidery pattern on the central green band in each panel.
The crosses could have been consciously placed as spiritual references to the wearer or maker’s faith, or just made in the style and technique of the embroidery. In Bethlehem where Palestinian Christians and Muslims wore identical costumes, it could be deduced that the crosses were possibly created as a statement of one’s religion. 
The cockerel (deek) or bird (teer) motifs found on top of the sa’a motifs on the sleeves and side panels, as well as on the velvet inserts above the chest panel are believed to have been once an allegory to Christianity. As a way to avoid Ottoman harassment, Palestinian Christians supposedly embroidered a deek motif on one side above the chest panels as a means of secretly communicating their faith. Eventually the deek motif developed into a style and cockerels started appearing on both sides of the chest on velvet inserts placed over the panel and elsewhere. As the style of couched chest panels spread throughout Palestine, dresses with the teer or deek motifs became known as bird dresses (thob abu teer). 

Description

Covering the crown of the head and keeping one’s hair under control was a practice common amongst all Palestinians regardless of gender, religion or class.  A common saying in Arabic which goes ‘she’s going around with her hair undone’ was commonly used to refer to women with questionable comings and goings or noticeable and unquestioned freedom, in the worst cases it referred to moral and perhaps sexual promiscuity. 
The control a woman had over her hair, in terms of keeping it neat and bound and kempt reflected her ability to control her morality and sexuality. It should be noted that hair could show from under the headdress or the veil as long as it is braided, knotted or bound, and never loose or unkempt. The headdress (araqieh) on display was used to bind hair, cover the head, display wealth and metaphorically address fertility and sexuality through the shells and the tassels. 

Description

Covering the crown of the head and keeping one’s hair under control was a practice common amongst all Palestinians regardless of gender, religion or class. A common saying in Arabic which goes ‘she’s going around with her hair undone’ was commonly used to refer to women with questionable comings and goings or noticeable and unquestioned freedom, in the worst cases it referred to moral and perhaps sexual promiscuity. 
The control a woman had over her hair, in terms of keeping it neat and bound and kempt reflected her ability to control her morality and sexuality. It should be noted that hair could show from under the headdress or the veil as long as it is braided, knotted or bound, and never loose or unkempt.  The headdress (araqieh) on display was used to bind hair, cover the head, display wealth and metaphorically address fertility and sexuality through the shells and the tassels. 

Description

Covering the crown of the head and keeping one’s hair under control was a practice common amongst all Palestinians regardless of gender, religion or class. A common saying in Arabic which goes ‘she’s going around with her hair undone’ was commonly used to refer to women with questionable comings and goings or noticeable and unquestioned freedom, in the worst cases it referred to moral and perhaps sexual promiscuity. 
The control a woman had over her hair, in terms of keeping it neat and bound and kempt reflected her ability to control her morality and sexuality. It should be noted that hair could show from under the headdress or the veil as long as it is braided, knotted or bound, and never loose or unkempt. The headdress (araqieh) on display was used to bind hair, cover the head, display wealth and metaphorically address fertility and sexuality through the shells and the tassels. 

Description

By conspicuously removing, concealing or destroying the most visible symbols of wealth in their attire, women demonstrated their genuine and unquestionable grief. Snubbing wealth in times of loss was a clear statement that life was invaluable.
Seen as the most direct and blatant reference to wealth, coins on the headdress were either taken-off or concealed depending on the style of the headdress. Weir (Palestinian Costume, 1989) talks about how in the Ramallah area it was also common to remove or hide the coins when a very close relative was away travelling.  The headdress (araqieh) from the Hebron area has been covered with a dark silk organza to demonstrate the practice of partially concealing the coins. 
The rending of the chest panel (qabbe) on dresses and wearing the destroyed dress for the duration of the mourning period was another manner in which grief was expressed. As one of the principle features of the dress, the qabbe was one of the more visible and expensive parts of the dress. Weir discusses both practices concerning the coins and collars, and further explains that sometimes the dress had to be new and given as a gift. 
The displayed qabbe was found in the market in the Old City in Al Quds (Jerusalem). According to the colours and style of embroidery, it is likely that the qabbe belonged to a Bedouin dress. Whether the rip was made as a manifestation of grief or otherwise is not clear.  

Description

Usually associated with unmarried and sexually immature women, blue seemed to refer to a state of sexual inactivity. A colour found in dresses worn by widowed women, young girls and older post-menstrual women, blue was seen and treated as an opposite to red. In the case of widows in mourning, it was believed that when a red motif appeared in the dress it was signalling the end of the mourning period and that the wearer was no longer abstinent and willing to remarry. Such was the case with unmarried girls, whom expressed their maturity and readiness to marry by embroidering a few red motifs into their dresses. The red motifs sprinkled on the blue or plain dress could be taken as a metaphor for drops of blood.

It  is not clear why blue as a colour was particularly chosen to reference death, mourning and sexuality. According to Weir (Palestinian Costume, 1989), the tradition possibly came from Egypt, which up to the mid twentieth century had open borders with Palestine allowing more freedom of movement and interaction. Balfour-Paul, in her book Indigo 1998, does in fact state that in Egypt, funeral and mourning rites included the dying of all fabric articles in the bereaved household with indigo. The use of indigo, could further explain how black as the colour of mourning came to be, since deep indigo fabrics were usually taken for black.

Description

Usually associated with unmarried and sexually immature women, blue seemed to refer to a state of sexual inactivity. A colour found in dresses worn by widowed women, young girls and older post-menstrual women, blue was seen and treated as an opposite to red. In the case of widows in mourning, it was believed that when a red motif appeared in the dress it was signalling the end of the mourning period and that the wearer was no longer abstinent and willing to remarry. Such was the case with unmarried girls, whom expressed their maturity and readiness to marry by embroidering a few red motifs into their dresses. The red motifs sprinkled on the blue or plain dress could be taken as a metaphor for drops of blood.

It  is not clear why blue as a colour was particularly chosen to reference death, mourning and sexuality. According to Weir (Palestinian Costume, 1989), the tradition possibly came from Egypt, which up to the mid twentieth century had open borders with Palestine allowing more freedom of movement and interaction. Balfour-Paul, in her book Indigo 1998, does in fact state that in Egypt, funeral and mourning rites included the dying of all fabric articles in the bereaved household with indigo. The use of indigo, could further explain how black as the colour of mourning came to be, since deep indigo fabrics were usually taken for black.

Description

Usually associated with unmarried and sexually immature women, blue seemed to refer to a state of sexual inactivity. A colour found in dresses worn by widowed women, young girls and older post-menstrual women, blue was seen and treated as an opposite to red. In the case of widows in mourning, it was believed that when a red motif appeared in the dress it was signalling the end of the mourning period and that the wearer was no longer abstinent and willing to remarry. Such was the case with unmarried girls, whom expressed their maturity and readiness to marry by embroidering a few red motifs into their dresses. The red motifs sprinkled on the blue or plain dress could be taken as a metaphor for drops of blood.

It  is not clear why blue as a colour was particularly chosen to reference death, mourning and sexuality. According to Weir (Palestinian Costume, 1989), the tradition possibly came from Egypt, which up to the mid twentieth century had open borders with Palestine allowing more freedom of movement and interaction. Balfour-Paul, in her book Indigo 1998, does in fact state that in Egypt, funeral and mourning rites included the dying of all fabric articles in the bereaved household with indigo. The use of indigo, could further explain how black as the colour of mourning came to be, since deep indigo fabrics were usually taken for black.

Description

Dresses made with fabrics woven with the inclusion of green and red or pink silk bands along the edge close to the selvedge, or entirely comprised of strips of alternating green and red silk were generally referred to as heaven and hell dresses (thob janneh-u-nar).  Green referred to heaven (janneh) and red or pink to hell (nar), literally meaning fire. Green being the principal colour of Islam and that of the silk worn by the inhabitants of Heaven as stated in the Holy Qur’an (in Surat Al Insan verse 21) explains the association of the colour to Heaven. Red on the other hand, being the colour of fire and blood, metaphorically associated with passion, sex and the flesh and therefore an insinuation to mistakes and sin could have been seen as the ideal counterpart to green. Pink as a colour sometimes replacing red, could have been a variation on red in terms of style and silk thread dyes. 
The idea of having both the red and green in a dress as references to heaven and hell could also be considered a statement of piety by the wearer or maker. The presence of both colours in equal and balanced quantities could be taken as a metaphor to the equal possibilities of salvation and damnation, whereby the wearer expresses their submission to the Devine by never assuming their fate and constantly reminding themselves of the fact. 
All four dresses exhibited in this section could be identified as a janneh-u-nar dress despite their varying origins and styles.

Description

Dresses made with fabrics woven with the inclusion of green and red or pink silk bands along the edge close to the selvedge, or entirely comprised of strips of alternating green and red silk were generally referred to as heaven and hell dresses (thob janneh-u-nar).  Green referred to heaven (janneh) and red or pink to hell (nar), literally meaning fire. Green being the principal colour of Islam and that of the silk worn by the inhabitants of Heaven as stated in the Holy Qur’an (in Surat Al Insan verse 21) explains the association of the colour to Heaven. Red on the other hand, being the colour of fire and blood, metaphorically associated with passion, sex and the flesh and therefore an insinuation to mistakes and sin could have been seen as the ideal counterpart to green. Pink as a colour sometimes replacing red, could have been a variation on red in terms of style and silk thread dyes. 
The idea of having both the red and green in a dress as references to heaven and hell could also be considered a statement of piety by the wearer or maker. The presence of both colours in equal and balanced quantities could be taken as a metaphor to the equal possibilities of salvation and damnation, whereby the wearer expresses their submission to the Devine by never assuming their fate and constantly reminding themselves of the fact. 
All four dresses exhibited in this section could be identified as a janneh-u-nar dress despite their varying origins and styles.

Description

This cabinet shows the transition of the amulet tubes known as cucumbers (khiarat) along with the triangles from the purely functional to the purely aesthetic. Originally used to house and contain talismanic scripts and paper amulets to be worn on the body, they became items created simply for their aesthetic value, to be worn as jewellery. In many cases the khiarat and triangles were nevertheless created as fully functioning containers, except they were worn empty. In other cases the three dimensional shape was maintained, except the triangles and khiarat were sealed shut so they could not be employed in any spiritual capacity.
It is worth mentioning that the use of the amulet containers was common for people in the region regardless of faith or origin. The exhibited khiara with Hebrew text is a pre 1948 example, collected by Kanaan for the sake of comparison, to show the difference and similarities between the faiths and their use of objects in that context. It is also worth mentioning at this point that a considerable amount of the silver jewellery, in particular filigree work, worn by women in Palestine and known as Palestinian was made by Jewish silversmiths from Yemen. According to Weir, Yemeni Jews came to Palestine long before the Zionist mass migration of European Jews to Palestine. This could be an explanation of how this particular khiara came to be found in Palestine.
As opposed to the khiarat which seem to have developed from purely functional items, the triangles seem to have been used for the spiritual significances of their shapes and perhaps numerological importance. Triangular beads, filed alum stones, silver triangles could be spotted worn and in use in various mediums for varying reasons. Therefore, unlike an empty khiara a flat triangle or an empty triangle could have further spiritual significance than simply being a vessel.