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Special Report
Stitches in Time: The
Munayyer Palestinian Collection
By Ian Williams
Washington Report on Middle East Affairs,
March 1995
At one time Palestinian embroidery figured on the uniforms of El Al air
hostesses. Farah and Hanan Munayyer were not impressed. Now, in the Israel
Museum, "they sell bags and cards with the designs on but they call
it all 'Bethlehem embroidery,' no matter where it comes from. Of course
there's no mention of Palestine," Hanan told the Washington
Report.
The two left Israel in 1970, taking with them the memory of the
climactic events of 1948. "I saw the destruction of all the villages
around Jaffa and Lydda," Farah remembers. "The Israeli soldiers came and
told us we should 'go and join Abdullah.'" Instead, his parents sought
sanctuary in a church and, after a year, were allowed to return to their
gutted house. "I saw people lying dead in the streets,"
he recalls. "My father told me they were
sleeping,."
Palestinian wedding in Montreal
Now this married couple try to preserve one of the more vibrant aspects
of those nearly vanished Palestinian rural communities with their collection of Palestinian regional dresses and embroidery. The collection
has been exhibited in museums, libraries and even synagogues across the
United States.
On the fa ce of it, it is an odd mission for two highly educated
scientists working in pharmaceuticals, but maybe the convoluted molecules
of microbiology prepared them to appreciate the intricate designs of
traditional Palestinian needlework. The collection began in 1987 when
Hanan asked Farah to bring a book on traditional embroidery back from a
visit to Jerusalem. He returned with
10 traditional dresses—all from the
same area.
Ramallah, Bethlehem and Jerusalem costumes
at Hermitage Museum, NJ.
She decided to diversify, and so they called the antiques dealer for
more and found that he wanted to sell his extensive collection. Rather
than see it dispersed, they took a home equity loan to buy the lot.
Concluding that it wasn't geographically complete, they have been
searching ever since to fill the gaps and to cover the map of Palestine
with embroidery. A significant leap forward was the acquisition of a
collection assembled by the late Dr. Rolla Foley, a Quaker who had taught
at the Friends School in Ramallah for a decade after 1938, and who had
exhaustively researched which patterns belonged to which towns and
villages. In his home were costumes dating back to 1860.
The designs are so conservative, Hanan points out, that such patterns
as the cypress tree, the leech, the tree of life, the bird of paradise,
and so on date back to pre-biblical times. Even the overall design of the
costumes and their methods of manufacture show an amazing continuity over
the millennia. Ironically, these relics
 of women's labor demonstrate the
continuity of the Palestinians and their ancestors on the land
in a way
that even traditional stone structures do not. Most of the dresses were
part of the trousseaus of brides and were therefore carefully preserved.
Even when the basic fabrics of the dress fell apart, the colorful
embroidered panels, some representing months or years of intensive work,
would be salvaged and reused.
Lecture and display at West Point Military
Academy, NY
The patterns often had a ritual significance, such as the S-shaped
leech for good health, which is why the most elaborately worked pieces
were for such auspicious occasions as weddings. The older items are
especially significant. In the 1920s, under the British Mandate, villages
were exposed to the outside world. The patterns and fabrics of other
localities and even other countries were incorporated into the hitherto
slowly changing traditions. In a way, Hanan points out, the manner in
which outside clothing was adapted in Palestine is not surprising. There
is evidence that the designs of Palestine returned with the Crusaders to
make a big impression on the fashions of medieval Europe.
The Munayyers' efforts to keep their collection on display and to
distribute a video they have prepared from the collection serve a dual
purpose. They have found that the sheer beauty of the collections awakens
the interest of younger Palestinian Americans in their heritage. "You
know, in many of their homes there are lots of books on the politics and
history of Palestine, but very little on the culture," Hanan points
out.
A Positive Image of Palestinian Life
The collection also has been very useful in presenting a positive image
of Palestinian life to the American public. "Most of them don't know
anything about the story of Palestine—their knowledge jumps from the
Bible to modern times, skipping the Palestinian presence," Hanan
explains. "But most Americans don't go to museums, which is why we
often have public libraries for displays."
Oddly enough, the only problems they have had were at the United
Nations, where their display was the centerpiece of Palestine Day
commemorations last year. An Israeli official scrutinized the captions and
insisted that dresses from Palestinian towns inside Israel's Green Line
border be identified as coming from Israel.
Randa and Maha Munayyer with West Point
cadets.
Last year exhibitions of the collection straddled the continent, from
San Diego, CA in March, to New York's Brooklyn Museum in September. From
March 5 to July 2 of this year, the collection will be on display at the
Fuller Museum of Art, 455 Oak St., Brockton, MA 02401, (508) 588-6000.
North of the border, a Canadian hopes to host the collection in
1996.
Ian Williams is a British free-lance journalist based at the
United Nations. |
