Summary
A set of clothes or wardrobe purchased and made for religious holidays — id al-fitr and especially id al-adha — and for life events such as birth, a first school day, graduation, safe return from pilgrimage and, most importantly, weddings; in Jabal Nablus the purchase of wedding kiswas was the backbone of the textile merchants’ hinterland business (Rediscovering Palestine: Merchants and Peasants in Jabal Nablus, 1700-1900, lines 1173-1230, lines 1366-1491).
Details
- Although popularly associated with the clothes bought for a bride before her wedding, kiswa was also used generally for a set of clothes or wardrobe that might include nontextile items such as shoes or jewelry (Rediscovering Palestine: Merchants and Peasants in Jabal Nablus, 1700-1900, lines 1366-1491).
- Not only bride and groom received wedding clothes: parents, paternal and maternal uncles, other relatives, neighbors and even leaders of other clans in the village could expect gifts of clothes, reinforcing clan solidarity and securing the village collective’s blessings (Rediscovering Palestine: Merchants and Peasants in Jabal Nablus, 1700-1900, lines 1366-1491).
- Around the turn of the twentieth century many large textile merchants prepared basic daily-wear kiswas in advance as ready packages — qanabiz, waistcoats, shirts and trousers — cut by the merchants and sewn by their own and neighbors’ women at home; wedding kiswas always included a silk saya and cloaks, the most expensive of camel hair (Rediscovering Palestine: Merchants and Peasants in Jabal Nablus, 1700-1900, lines 1366-1491).
- Peasants travelled to Nablus in processions (mawkib al-kassaya) to buy the kiswa, stayed one to three nights in the merchant’s house, and usually paid after the grain or olive harvest (Rediscovering Palestine: Merchants and Peasants in Jabal Nablus, 1700-1900, lines 1366-1491).
Related pages
Rediscovering Palestine: Merchants and Peasants in Jabal Nablus, 1700-1900, Arafat family, Khan al-Tujjar, Jabal Nablus