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EveryParampara

Dress and adornment

Clothes, jewellery, henna, tattoo and hair.

Dress and adornment traditions cover the clothes, jewellery, hairstyles, tattoos and henna that people wear to mark who they are and what the day is. A sari, a kilt, a kente cloth, a hanbok or a poncho is a statement of belonging, and the way it is worn tells of age, marriage, rank or region. Some garments are worn every day, others only on festivals, and many are made by hand by craftspeople whose skills are handed down. EveryParampara describes them with respect and notes how they are changing.

Cloth and meaning

Colour, pattern and fibre carry meaning: red for luck in China and India, white for mourning in some places and for brides in others, kente patterns that name proverbs, tartans that name clans. The making of cloth, whether by weaving, dyeing, printing or embroidery, is itself a tradition, and master weavers are honoured. A garment given at a wedding or handed down in a family holds the memory of the people who wore it.

Skin, hair and ornament

Body decoration is as old as cloth. Henna on the hands of a bride, a bindi on the forehead, the tattoos of Samoa and the Maori, the plaited hair of West Africa, the lip plates and neck rings of some peoples, each is a language. Many are rites of passage, done at a coming of age or a wedding. They are best described by those who wear them, and EveryParampara aims to give their meaning, not to treat them as curiosities.

About this page

Written by the EveryParampara desk with AI assistance. Background on Dress and adornment (kind of tradition). Customs differ from place to place and family to family. If this is your tradition and we have it wrong, tell us.

RegionSouth AsiaSoutheast AsiaEast AsiaCentral Asia and the CaucasusMiddle EastNorth AfricaSub-Saharan AfricaEuropeNorth AmericaLatin America and the CaribbeanOceania
MealBreakfastLunchDinnerSupperTea-time and snacking customsTea, coffee and drinking ceremoniesSweets given and sharedFeasts and festival mealsFasting and breaking the fast
🇹🇴 Tonga and 1 moreTaʻovala A waist mat worn in Tonga for weddings, funerals and formal daysDress 🇬🇧 United Kingdom and 1 moreKiltfèileadh A pleated knee-length skirt in tartan wool, worn as Scottish Highland dressDress 🇲🇲 Myanmar and 1 moreLongyiလုံချည် A tube of cloth worn from waist to feet in Myanmar, folded shut with no knotDress 🇨🇳 Beijing, ChinaHanfu漢服 The dress of the Han Chinese, named for the Han dynasty and worn again todayDress 🇧🇸 Bahamas and 3 moreJunkanoo A Caribbean masquerade festival of masked dancing, goatskin drumming, and cowbellsFestival 🇦🇫 Kabul, Afghanistan and 1 moreBurqa A garment covering the body and face, worn by some Muslim womenDress 🇯🇵 Kyoto, JapanKimono着物 Japan's national dress: a wrapped robe with square sleeves, tied with a wide sashDress 🇮🇩 Indonesia and 5 moreBatikꦧꦛꦶꦏ꧀ (bathik) A Javanese wax-resist way of patterning cloth, and the textiles made that wayCraft 🇮🇳 Lucknow, India and 3 moreSherwani A long buttoned coat for men, worn at weddings and state occasions in South AsiaDress 🇲🇽 Guadalajara, MexicoMexican hat danceJarabe tapatío Mexico's national courtship dance, in which a dancer's steps circle the brim of a hatPerformance 🇺🇬 UgandaGomesi A floor-length, brightly coloured dress tied with a sash, worn by women in UgandaDress 🇳🇬 Kano, NigeriaKofar Mata Dye Pits Hand-dyed indigo cloth from centuries-old earthen pits in the heart of KanoCraft 🇨🇳 Shanghai, ChinaTangzhuang唐裝 (traditional), 唐装 (simplified) A Chinese jacket with a Mandarin collar, worn for formal occasions and holidaysDress 🇧🇩 Dhaka, Bangladesh and 1 moreJamdaniজামদানি A fine handwoven cotton cloth of Bengal, patterned with motifs worked in by handCraft 🇮🇳 India and 4 moreSariसाड़ी An unstitched length of cloth that women drape around the body, worn across South AsiaDress 🇷🇺 RussiaSarafanсарафа́н A long, flared Russian dress, the everyday wear of peasant women for centuriesDress 🇵🇸 Palestine and 5 moreKeffiyehكُوفِيَّة (kūfīyah) A square cotton headscarf worn by men in arid parts of the Middle East and North AfricaDress 🇮🇳 India and 2 moreMangalasutraमङ्गलसूत्रम् (maṅgalasūtram) A necklace tied by the groom at a wedding, worn through married lifeDress 🇷🇺 Pavlovsky Posad, RussiaPavlovo Posad shawlПавловопосадский платок A woolen Russian shawl printed with flowers, made in the town of Pavlovsky PosadDress 🇩🇪 Munich, Germany and 3 moreSchuhplattler An Alpine folk dance of stomps, claps and flat-hand slaps on shoes, knees and thighsPerformance 🇲🇳 Ölgii, MongoliaGolden Eagle FestivalБүргэдийн баяр An annual gathering in western Mongolia celebrating Kazakh eagle hunting and horsemanshipFestival 🇬🇭 Bonwire, Ghana and 1 moreKente clothNwentoma Hand-woven Ghanaian cloth of silk and cotton strips, worn for ceremonies and graduationsDress 🇩🇪 Germany and 1 moreTracht Traditional dress of the German-speaking regions, from lederhosen to the dirndlDress 🇮🇳 Lucknow, India and 5 moreKurtaکرته (Persian), कुरता (Hindi) A loose collarless tunic from South Asia, worn plain or embroidered over pyjamas or jeansDress 🇮🇩 Yogyakarta, Indonesia and 4 moreKebayaꦏꦼꦧꦪ A front-opening blouse and wrapped cloth, worn by women across Southeast AsiaDress 🇰🇭 Cambodia and 2 moreSampotសំពត់ A length of cloth wrapped at the waist, the everyday and ceremonial dress of CambodiaDress 🇬🇪 Georgia and 5 moreChokha A high-collared wool coat of the Caucasus, worn by men for battle and ceremonyDress 🇵🇪 Peru and 1 moreChulloch'ullu An earflapped Andean hat in alpaca or llama wool, worn against the coldDress 🇮🇷 Iran and 4 moreZardoziزردوزی (zarduzi) Heavy gold and silver embroidery on silk or velvet, worked in Iran, India and beyondCraft 🇧🇪 Binche, BelgiumCarnival of BincheCarnaval de Binche A Belgian pre-Lenten festival known for masked dancers and orange tossingFestival 🇾🇪 Hadhramaut, Yemen and 1 moreJambiyaجنبية A short curved dagger worn at the waist by Yemeni men, its handle a sign of statusDress 🇳🇴 NorwayBunad Norway's festive dress, tied to a home district and worn from weddings to 17 MayDress 🇺🇦 Chernivtsi, Ukraine and 1 moreVyshyvankaвишиванка (Ukrainian), вышыванка (Belarusian) An embroidered shirt of Ukraine and Belarus, its patterns marking region and familyDress 🇮🇪 Dublin, IrelandShamrockseamróg A small three-leaved clover, worn in Ireland on St Patrick's Day as a national emblemFolklore 🇹🇷 Turkey and 3 moreKalpak A tall cap of Turkic peoples, thick for winter and wide and light for summerDress 🇵🇦 Las Tablas, Panama and 2 morePollera A handmade skirt and outfit worn in Panama, Bolivia and Peru, and a marker of identityDress 🇧🇪 Binche, BelgiumGillesGille Costumed carnival figures of Binche and surrounding Belgian townsFestival 🇵🇰 Multan, Pakistan and 3 moreShalwar kameez Loose trousers and a long tunic, worn as one outfit across South AsiaDress 🇮🇳 Pune, India and 5 moreTurbanدولبند (dolband) Cloth wound around the head, worn for faith, rank, shade and identityDress 🇮🇳 IndiaGamosaগামুছা A white Assamese cloth with a red border, worn, gifted and laid under sacred textsDress 🇵🇹 Coimbra, PortugalPraxePraxe Académica A set of student initiation rituals and traditions in Portuguese universities.Rite of passage 🇮🇳 Mumbai, India and 1 moreDhoti A long unstitched cloth men wrap like trousers, for worship and formal daysDress 🇸🇦 Saudi Arabia and 2 moreNiqabنِقاب A face veil worn by some Muslim women, hiding all but the eyesDress 🇧🇹 BhutanKiraདཀྱི་ར་ Bhutan's national dress for women, an ankle-length woven cloth wrapped and pinnedDress 🇺🇿 Tashkent, Uzbekistan and 1 moreDoppaدوپپا (Uyghur); doʻppi / дўппи / دوپا (Uzbek) An embroidered cap, square or round, that Uyghurs and Uzbeks wear across Central AsiaDress 🇲🇦 Morocco and 1 moreDjellabaجلابة A long, loose hooded robe worn by men and women across North AfricaDress 🇰🇪 Kenya and 5 moreKitenge A printed cloth tied at the waist or chest, worn as a wrap, head cover or baby slingDress 🇩🇪 Germany and 2 moreLederhosen Leather breeches that began as work wear and now belong to Alpine festivalsDress
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Photo credits on this page

The small pictures above come from Wikimedia Commons under free licences. Some are cropped to fit.

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