Meroe and Phoenece have been beavering away for weeks with their trusted sewing machines – or not so trusted in Meroe’s case as both sewing machine and overlocker have bitten the dust, but her mum has come to the rescue and has handed over a spare machine on long-term loan! But a lot of the detailing on the costumes, and all the decorative panels have been applied by hand, so lots, and lots, and lots of handstitching.
The basic Bedouin costume is a dress or thawb; this is a loosely fitting robe with sleeves and would have varied from region to region. Often this would have bands of decoration and decorated seams in colours that indicated that the wearer was either married, in which case red was used, or unmarried in which case the panels would be blue.
The embroidered ‘bibs’ or qabbeh on our costume are a mixture of shapes; some are square, which is more like the Palestinian style, others come to a point, which would have been more common in Syria.
On our heads we have a typical red and black veil or shambar, which would have been more common in southern Palestine. We’ve added a band around the veil for practical reasons, to help keep it in place while dancing, but in old photographs of Bedouin many of the women have head bands. Often these headbands are in addition to a saffe or smadeh; a band of coins over the forehead; an indication of personal or family wealth. Often these gold or silver coins would be their bridewealth money. The more coins, the greater the wealth and prestige of the owner. One observer noted that occasionally you can see a gap in a row of coins which have been the result of a doctor’s bill!
We decided that although it would be a great excuse to get even more jewellery, this might detract from the delicate embroidery and beadwork that Meroe and Phoenece have done, so this is going to be a fairly bling-free costume for us. But I hope you will agree that they will look amazing when they are all finished.
We’ve already got two routines up our sleeves that we can dance in these splendid costumes – one of which is new for 2013, but Meroe has even rather rashly promised a third. So watch this space!
