The Jaffa Region 

Most famous from this region was the Beit Dajan village dress. As in Ramallah, Beit Dajan women wore heavily embroidered dresses, cross-stitched with multi color silk thread on white or black hand woven fabric. Dresses from Beit Dajan and the neighboring villages in the Jaffa and Lydda regions were also embroidered with the famous Bethlehem couching stitch known as Rasheq. This couching style embroidery was brought to Beit Dajan by visiting Bethlehem women and later was adopted by villages like Safriyyeh, Deir Tarif, Beit Nabala and others.

 Patterns decorating the Beit Dajan dress included the famous cypress tree, necklace, lamp, citrus flower, feathers, almond branch (Irq al-loz), Irq al-nafnuf and moon, all embroidered in either cross stitch with silk thread or Rasheq with metallic silver thread. 


Beit Dajan black dress

The Beit Dajan Jallayeh, made of black linen fabric, is opened in the front and embellished with lavish patchwork made from taffeta fabric. The jillayeh was an essential part of the bride's trousseaus. Motifs embroidered on the jallahey were similar to those embroiered on the white dress and cross-stitched in silk thread. Being items from the mid nineteenth century, and before the advent of the Bethlehem couching stitch to the area, most jallayehs known have no Bethlehem couching stitch embroidery.In the early part of the twentieth century, jillayehs went out of fashion but remained worn by older women who already owned them.   
                                                                                                                                                                                                                               Beit Dajan Jallayeh  

Jillayehs were often ornamented with aplique' patches, inserts and trimmings in taffeta (heremzi), satin    and velvet. Red, green and orange taffeta panels were inserted on the sleeves, skirt sides, hems, cuffs and skirt front.  

Beit Dajan white dress                                                                                                                                                                                                                         

Replacing the outgoing jillayeh was the Na'ani dress named after the Al Na'ani village south of Beit Dajan. It included more  intricate and fine embroidery with new motifs embroidered on the dress such as the nafnuf branch found embroidered on the dress and the chestpiece.

Na'ani dress                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                Back panel of Beit Dajan dress

Headpiece (Saffeh)

  The headdress used in the Beit Dajan area was the saffeh, also popular in other villages in the Jaffa region. It was embroidered with cross-stitch and embellished with a row of coins called saffeh. The saffeh

 Beit Dajan saffeh                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                Bead net cap                                                                                                                                                                                                                          

Veil  

The late nineteenth early twentieth century veils in this area were made of three panels of hand woven fabric joined length-way and embroidered in cross-stitch with colorful silk thread that complemented the colors of the dress using typical motifs from the area. A multi-colored tasseled silk fringe is attached at the lower end of the veil. 

Another type of veil used in this area was the red veil (shanbar ahmar) or black veil (shanbar aswad) made of black silk crepe with a panel of silk embroidery, and band with fringe and tassels. Muslin scarf (mandil) printed with flowers later replaced this shanbar. Eventually, a Rayon veil that became popular in the Ramallah and Jerusalem regions replaced the mandil.

Black shambar                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         Mandil

Girdles used in this area were zunnar maqruneh, and zunnar kashmiri (Ishdad) made of yellow striped red atlas fabric.

Shintyan