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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
🇸🇦 Mecca, Saudi ArabiaIhramإِحْرَام A sacred state and simple dress that Muslims enter for Hajj and UmrahSpiritual 🇮🇱 IsraelTallitטלית A four-cornered Jewish prayer shawl with ritual fringes worn during worshipSpiritual 🇹🇷 Turkey and 5 moreNazarnazar boncuğu A blue glass eye amulet worn and displayed to deflect the evil eye.Folklore 🇮🇱 Israel and 1 moreTzitzitצִיצִית Knotted ritual fringes worn on a four-cornered garment, a reminder of the commandmentsDress 🇸🇦 Saudi Arabia and 2 moreNiqabنِقاب A face veil worn by some Muslim women, hiding all but the eyesDress 🇮🇷 Iran and 4 moreZardoziزردوزی (zarduzi) Heavy gold and silver embroidery on silk or velvet, worked in Iran, India and beyondCraft 🇵🇸 Palestine and 5 moreKeffiyehكُوفِيَّة (kūfīyah) A square cotton headscarf worn by men in arid parts of the Middle East and North AfricaDress 🇵🇸 Bethlehem, PalestineTatreezتَطْرِيز Palestinian cross-stitch embroidery, stitched onto dresses and read for its regionCraft 🇹🇷 Turkey and 3 moreKalpak A tall cap of Turkic peoples, thick for winter and wide and light for summerDress 🇾🇪 Hadhramaut, Yemen and 1 moreJambiyaجنبية A short curved dagger worn at the waist by Yemeni men, its handle a sign of statusDress 🇸🇦 Saudi Arabia and 2 moreHijabحجاب A Muslim practice of modesty and dress, worn by women as a headscarf or more coveringDress 🇮🇱 Israel and 1 morePurim costume The Jewish custom of wearing masks and disguises during the festival of PurimDress 🇮🇷 Iran and 1 moreArkhalig A traditional fitted jacket worn by men and women in the Caucasus and IranDress 🇴🇲 OmanKumaكمة A round white Omani cap for men, embroidered and pierced to keep the head coolDress 🇹🇷 Turkey and 3 moreYashmakyaşmak A traditional face and head veil worn in Turkey, Egypt and TurkmenistanDress 🇮🇷 Tehran, Iran and 5 moreChadorchādar A full-length open cloak that is pulled over the head and held shut by handDress

Photo credits on this page

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

The weekly EveryParampara

Every week: one tradition from somewhere new, what is being celebrated around the world this week, and one idea explained.