There are a myriad of ways to fashion culture and preserve tradition. Embroidery is the unwritten language, transferring stories from woman to woman in silence. Needle and thread are the tools for documenting the history of their lives. For thousands of years, Palestinian women have stitched their observations, beliefs and traditions into patterns. The stories behind the patterns, the colors of the thread, and the fashion of the traditional Palestinian dress are just as important as learning the cross-stitch and is something that can only be preserved through teaching and mentoring the younger generations.
Palestinian embroidery has a long history dating back to thousands of years, when women documented their lives through this art. Telling stories of their lives, events they survived, significant historical events and personages, geography, flora and fauna in each stitch. They taught the younger generations about having awareness of your surroundings — for the beautiful and the hazardous. In times of illiteracy, or when mail was unavailable, women would send messages to each other through their embroidery designs.
I learned this secret language among women when I was seven years old from my mother, grandmother and other women around me. They taught me the stories behind each design. In exile, it is very hard for young women to teach their daughters the art of embroidery. Palestinian embroidery is considered an endangered art that, in only three generations , has become nearly extinct. It is now all done through pre-programmed designs and patterns by sewing machine. It no longer has a place in our social traditions. I began by teaching my daughters how to embroider, and they’ve become very skilled at it themselves. Now, my mission is to help the other young Palestinians learn this sacred, traditional, handmade craft.
Feryal Abbasi-Ghnaim 