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Thekeffiyeh (Arabic:كُوفِيَّة,romanized: Kūfīyah),[1] also regionally known as ahattah (حَطَّة,ḥaṭṭa),ghutrah (غترة), orshemagh (شماغ), is a traditionalheaddress worn by men from parts of theMiddle East. It is fashioned from a square scarf, and is usually made ofcotton.[2] The keffiyeh is commonly found inarid regions, as it protects fromsunburn, dust, and sand. A head cord,agal, is often used by Arabs to keep the keffiyeh in place.[3]
The wordkeffiyeh appeared in Arabic after theCrusades,[4] and probably shares a European etymology with English "coif".[1][5][6][7] Some argue that it was imported indirectly throughArabic:الكفة, "cuff".[8]
Murtada al-Zabidi deriveskeffiyeh fromArabic:الكهف, "cave", due to the rounded shape of the headscarf.[9] A folk etymology associates it with the city ofKufa, Iraq.[4][7]
The wordghutrah (Arabic:غُترَة,romanized: ḡutra) comes from the Arabic rootghatr (غتر) which means "to cover". The early pictures of Arabs invariably show them wearingturbans, and it is unclear when the keffiyeh became acceptable for the upper classes. While the written reports of ghutrah date back to the early 18th century, the earliest known picture is from the 19th century (Abdullah bin Saud Al Saud, made before his execution in 1819).[3]
Headscarves evolved amongBedouins as a practical protection from the sun.[10][11]
Middle EasternArabs,Kurds, andYazidis wear this headpiece.[12] According toAnastas al-Karmali,Johannes Cotovicus mentioned a 16th-centuryJewish keffiyeh.[8] Historically, after contact with Arabs, some Kurds abandoned their traditional turban in favor of the keffiyeh andagal.[13]Iraqi Turkmen wear it and call it Jamadani,[14] whileOmanis call it a mussar. No matter its name, it is available in multiple colours and styles with many different methods of tying it, depending on regional origin and the nature of occasion. Omanis do not use the agal, instead tying it over thekuma for formal occasions.
During his sojourn with theMarsh Arabs of Iraq,Gavin Young noted that the localsayyids—"venerated men accepted [...] as descendants of the ProphetMuhammad andAli ibn Abi Talib"—wore dark green keffiyeh in contrast to the black-and-white checkered examples typical of the area's inhabitants.[15]
Another type of keffiyeh is the shemagh, which is a scarf that is red-and-white, checkered and has tassels. The bigger the tassels, the more important the person. This red-and-white keffiyeh is associated with Jordan and is its national symbol.[16] The shemagh is worn mostly in Jordan and by Bedouin communities.[17] It is made from cotton. The Jordanian shemagh and the Palestinian keffiyeh are different in regard to color and geographical meanings.[18]
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Prior to the 1930s, Arab villagers and peasants wore the white keffiyeh andagal (rope) while city residents and the educated elite wore theOttomantarbush (fez).[19] During the1936–1939 Arab revolt in Palestine, Arab rebel commanders ordered all Arabs to don the keffiyeh. In 1938,British MandatoryHigh Commissioner in Palestine,Harold MacMichael, reported to the Foreign Office: "This ‘order’ has been obeyed with surprising docility and it is not an exaggeration to say that in a month eight out of every tentarbushes in the country had been replaced by the [keffiyeh and] ‘agal’."[20] Following the end of the revolt, most residents either reverted to wearing the tarbush or elected to go hatless.[21]
The black and white keffiyeh’s prominence increased during the 1960s with the beginning of the Palestinian resistance movement and its adoption by Palestinian leaderYasser Arafat.[22]
Other regional shemagh variations are the Egyptian Sinai shemagh and the Saudi shemagh (also known as a ghutrah).[17]
Early Jewish migrants toMandatory Palestine adopted the Keffiyeh because they saw it as part of the authentic local lifestyle.[23] Up until the 2000s, Turkey banned the keffiyeh because it was considered a symbol of solidarity with thePKK.[24]
BritishColonelT. E. Lawrence (better known asLawrence of Arabia) was probably the best-known Western wearer of the keffiyeh and agal during his involvement in theArab Revolt inWorld War I. This image of Lawrence was later popularized by the film epic about him,Lawrence of Arabia, in which he was portrayed byPeter O'Toole.
Many of the JewishZionist immigrants to Ottoman Palestine and BritishMandatory Palestine wore the keffiyeh in emulation of the Arab population out of the desire for "closeness and a sense of belonging to the place".[25] These included youth group members, political notables, and militiamen, includingHashomer. Other Jewish residents of Palestine wore the keffiyeh for studio photograph sessions as Orientalist dress.[25] After the1929 Palestine riots and the1936–1939 Arab revolt in Palestine, "the popularity of the keffiyeh began to decline and Jewish attempts to emulate the Arabs became less common, but throughout the 1940s and 1950s, the keffiyeh could still be spotted in Israel," including on politicians and soldiers. As the keffiyeh became a key component of Yasser Arafat's signature look, it definitively lost popularity among Israelis and was associated exclusively with the Palestinian nationalist movement.[25]
The 1920s' silent-film era ofAmerican cinema saw studios take toOrientalist themes of the exotic Middle East, possibly due to the view of Arabs as part of theAllies of World War I, and keffiyehs became a standard part of the theatrical wardrobe. These films and their male leads typically had Western actors in the role of an Arab, often wearing the keffiyeh with the agal (as withThe Sheik andThe Son of the Sheik, starring actorRudolph Valentino).
During the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, members of the United States Armed Forces began wearing keffiyeh for practical reasons. While the scarves were never issued by the American armed forces directly, many private tactical equipment retailers marketed and sold them to service personnel in the Marines and Army. The scarves were usually dyed into color schemes that closely matched the service uniforms, and bore symbols that appealed to Western consumers (e.g., skull and cross bones,Gadsden snakes, and Spartan helmets). Black and coyote-brown keffiyeh are still commonly worn by military veterans without any implied support for Arab nationalism or similar causes, and at times can carry the opposite message.[citation needed]
As with other articles of clothing worn in wartime, such as theT-shirt, fatigues andkhaki pants, the keffiyeh has been seen as chic among non-Arabs in the West. Keffiyehs became popular in the UK in the 1970s and then in the United States in the late 1980s at the start of theFirst Intifada, whenbohemian girls andpunks wore keffiyehs asscarves around their necks.[26][27] In the early 2000s, keffiyehs were very popular among youths in Tokyo, who often wore them withcamouflage clothing.[26] The trend recurred in the mid-2000s in the United States,[26][27] Europe,[27] Canada and Australia,[28][29] when the keffiyeh became popular as afashion accessory, usually worn as a scarf around the neck inhipster circles.[26][27] Stores such asUrban Outfitters andTopShop stocked the item. However, after some controversy over the retailer's decision to label the items "anti-war scarves", Urban Outfitters pulled it.[27] In spring 2008, keffiyehs in colors such as purple and mauve were given away in issues of fashion magazines in Spain and France. In the UAE, males are inclining towards more Western headgear while women are developing preferences fordupatta—the traditional head cover of South Asia.[30] The appropriation of the keffiyeh as a fashion statement by non-Arab wearers separate from its political and historical meaning has been the subject of controversy in recent years.[31] While it is often worn as a symbol of solidarity with the Palestinian struggle, the fashion industry has disregarded its significance by using its pattern and style in day-to-day clothing design. For example, in 2016, Topshop released a romper suit with the Keffiyeh print, calling it a "scarf playsuit". This led to accusations ofcultural appropriation and Topshop eventually pulled the item from their website.[32]
traditional Jewish head-dress was either something like the Arab'sKeffiyeh (a cotton square folded and wound around a head) or like a turban or stocking cap
They also wear a scarf which is known among the public as Jamadani
There was a difference here for nearly all of them wore dark greenkefiyahs (orcheffiyeh) (headcloths) instead of the customary black and white check ones. By that sign we could tell that they weresayyids, like the sallow-faced man at Falih's.
