Dress and adornmentNorth Africa
Safseri
In its own language: سفساري
A cream cloth wrapped around a woman's whole body, worn by Tunisian women for modesty
A single large cloth that covers the whole body, usually cream and made from cotton, satin or silk, the safseri is a Tunisian woman's veil. Tunisians keep it today mostly among older women, and in the south it is sometimes woven in bright colours.
One wide sheet of cloth that hides the body from head to foot: the safseri is the veil Tunisian women wear for modesty. Cream is its usual colour, though southern versions can be bright, and the fabric is cotton, satin or silk. Older women keep it now. Many younger women have set it aside.
What it is
One long piece of cloth covers everything, and that is the whole idea of the safseri. Tunisian women wear it as a veil, wrapped so that the body from head to foot is hidden. Cream is the usual shade, in cotton, satin or silk. It belongs to Tunisia alone and is not the chador or the dupatta of other traditions. The name comes into English from Tunisian Arabic, where it is written سفساري, and there is no single agreed English spelling.
Cloth and colour
The safseri is one large piece of cloth rather than a cut and sewn garment, so its look comes from how it is wrapped. Most examples are a plain cream, but the regions of Tunisia differ. In the south of the country the same wrap is often made in colours that stand out, while elsewhere the pale version holds. The material shifts too: cotton, satin and silk are all used. Two women in the same cloth can carry it quite differently.
Modesty and meaning
Modesty is the reason the safseri exists. A woman wears it so that she is covered and does not draw men's looks, and that purpose shapes the whole garment rather than any decoration on it. Age matters as much as modesty now. In many families it is the grandmother who keeps the safseri and the daughter who has given it up, so the cloth marks a line between generations. Politics has also brushed against it twice, in opposite directions.
Today and change
State action touched the safseri in two opposite ways. A ban on the hijab sent some women looking for another covering, and they took up the safseri, which they could still wear in public. President Habib Bourguiba wanted the opposite and tried to persuade Tunisians to give it up, without success. In the end, changing habits did what he could not. The safseri is largely abandoned now, kept by elderly women and remembered as part of the country's dress.
How Safseri is kept
The safseri belongs to women. It is put on as a single covering rather than in layers: the wearer takes one large length of cloth, usually cream cotton, satin or silk, and wraps it so that her whole body is hidden from view. In the south the cloth may be brightly coloured instead. Older women wear it most, and in many households the grandmother keeps the habit while her daughter does not. It is worn for modesty, so that a woman does not attract men's attention. In present-day Tunisia the practice has become rare.
When and where
The safseri has no date of its own. It is not tied to a festival or a season, but is everyday dress, worn when a woman goes out and wants to be covered. Its place in the calendar is therefore the ordinary day.
Tunisia is its home, and it is there that the safseri has been worn. The south of the country keeps the most colourful examples, while the plain cream cloth is the usual form elsewhere. Today the wearers are few and mostly elderly, so the custom is strongest in older households rather than in any particular town.
What Safseri means
For the women who wear it, the safseri is first a covering: it answers a wish for modesty and keeps a woman clear of men's looks. It also says something about age, since it is the grandmother's garment more than the granddaughter's. A cloth that outlasted a ban on the hijab, and survived a president's wish to see it gone, carries the memory of those contests too. To see one now is to see an older Tunisia.
Questions people ask about Safseri
What is a safseri?
It is a Tunisian woman's veil: one large piece of cloth that covers the whole body. Cream is the usual colour, and it is made from cotton, satin or silk. The name comes from Tunisian Arabic, where it is written سفساري, and English writers spell it in several ways.
Where is it worn?
In Tunisia, and above all in the south of the country, where the cloth is often colourful instead of cream. It is not tied to one city. Most people who still wear it are elderly women, so it is found in older households rather than on the street.
Who wears it and why?
Women wear it out of modesty, so that they are covered and do not invite men's looks. In recent decades it has mostly been older women, and often a grandmother wears one while her daughter does not. Today the cloth is largely abandoned.
Is it still worn today?
Rarely. The safseri is largely abandoned, and those who keep it are mostly elderly. It had a brief revival while the hijab was outlawed, when some women chose it in place of what had been banned, but that did not last, and the cloth is now remembered more often than worn.
Why are there several spellings?
The name is Arabic, and English writers have rendered it in different ways. Sefseri, safsari and sefsari all appear alongside safseri. None of them is wrong, and they all point to the same Tunisian garment.
See also
MawlidAn annual festival marking the birth of the Prophet Muhammad, marked by poetry, processions and feasts.
Berber carpetHand-woven wool rugs crafted by Amazigh communities across North Africa
Andalusi classical musicA classical suite of vocal and instrumental music shared across North AfricaBerber calendarAn agricultural timekeeping system used by the Amazigh people of North Africa to mark seasons and farming cycles.Good reading and sources
- Safseri on WikipediaEncyclopedia
- More photos on Wikimedia CommonsPhotos and video
- Wikidata recordOpen data
The facts on this page come from the Wikipedia article "Safseri", written by its contributors and used under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence, and from its Wikidata record (CC0). EveryParampara rewrote the text in its own words, with AI assistance, and compares every page with the article to make sure no passage is copied. It may be reused under the same CC BY-SA 4.0 licence with a link back.
It may contain mistakes. Traditions differ from one family, village and community to the next, and the people who keep them know them best. If something is wrong, tell us. Last refreshed 2026-10-05.
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