Tatreez and the Power of Cultural Expression
How embroidery empowers Palestinian women in the face of ongoing colonization and occupation
Despite its ancient origins, tatreez remains relevant in modern Palestinian life, serving as a powerful tool for women to document experiences in exile, protect ethnic heritage and resist occupation.
Tatreez is a 3,000-year-old form of cross-stitch embroidery passed down through generations of Palestinian women. This rich folk art is recognized worldwide for its intricate geometric designs and colorful threads. Women traditionally decorated their thobes, or dresses, with colors and patterns that symbolized social status, regional differences and stages of womanhood.
But following the mass upheaval of Palestinian society in 1948, tatreez was no longer confined to everyday village life and became politically and economically significant to women.
The Nakba, or the Catastrophe, when Zionist militias displaced over 700,000 Palestinians from historic Palestine in 1948, profoundly altered Palestinian society and, with it, the practice of tatreez.
In the devastating aftermath of the Nakba, tatreez was a means of economic empowerment for refugee women. Work opportunities were scarce in refugee camps, so women turned to tatreez to financially support their now-displaced families. They founded businesses to sell their embroidered products, uplifting both themselves and their communities.
With Palestinians from all over Palestine living together in refugee camps, the once distinct differences in tatreez patterns and motifs began to disappear and merge. The Nakba fostered unity amid displacement, shifting tatreez beyond self-expression and toward national expression.
Tatreez also played a central role during the First Intifada, or the nationwide uprising against the Israeli occupation between 1987 and 1993, another pivotal moment in Palestinian history.
Throughout the First Intifada, the Israeli occupation banned the public display of the Palestinian flag. In response to the ban, women utilized tatreez to confront the occupation and reject cultural erasure. They created the “Intifada dress,” a dress woven in traditional colors and embroidered with flags, maps, slogans as well as other national symbols like olive branches. The Intifada dress was not only a symbol of collective defiance but also one of women’s agency.
Today, tatreez is still widely practiced and cherished in Occupied Palestine and the diaspora.
Palestinian women integrate tatreez into their fashion designs and artworks, making it accessible and popular among younger generations. Darzah, Nol Collective and Tatreez Sisters are just a few women-owned brands preserving and modernizing the art form. Their unique embroidered collections include everything from traditional thobes to wardrobe basics to trendy accessories.
There are also various organizations around the world dedicated to the preservation of tatreez. Thobe Project, Tatreez Institute and Idna Ladies Association are among the organizations at the forefront of spreading knowledge about the craft, archiving its vibrant history and empowering exiled Palestinian youth. By reclaiming and reviving the practice of tatreez, organizations like these have proved especially vital in the fight against the systemic cultural appropriation committed by the Israeli occupation.
Tatreez is also a personal art that holds a special significance to every Palestinian woman. For me, a young Palestinian American who has lived in exile my whole life, tatreez provides a connection to my ancestors and homeland. And for my mother, who immigrated to the U.S. decades ago, tatreez brings back bittersweet memories of her grandmother and village.
Throughout her childhood, my mom would watch her grandmother patiently stitch beautiful patterns on dresses. Tatreez, she came to learn, is a labor of love and care. My mom kept these embroidered thobes her grandmother stitched, and now I’ve inherited them. The handmade designs reflect my family’s village, its trees and its mountains, its green countryside and its miles of olive groves, reminding me of where I come from and who I am. When I wear my embroidered thobes, I show solidarity with my people’s struggle and honor all the women who came before me.
An enduring cornerstone of Palestinian culture, tatreez is more than just a way of dress; it is a vivid reflection of history and a proud celebration of heritage. Generations of Palestinian women have kept this art form alive, stitching together their stories as an act of resistance against oppression.
