1. Introducing Tahiri embroidery culture

Historically, Tahriri embroidery held significant cultural importance, featured prominently in Bethlehem’s famous 'thoub al-malak (the royal dress)’. Before 1948, affluent residents of Jerusalem would commission artisans based in Bethlehem to adorn their garments with Tahriri as a symbol of status, and the technique eventually spread to the central and southern coastal areas of Palestine. This exquisite technique frequently embellished the front panels of wedding dresses, side panels of skirts, and cuffs of traditional Palestinian dresses. Tahriri's signature lies in its mesmerizing circular motifs, often created using qasab, gold or silver cord from Syria, requiring refined skills and graceful hands.

In the town of Beit Jala, the Women's Child Care Society (WCCS) stands as a beacon of hope, working tirelessly to preserve this unique Palestinian artform. For over seven decades, WCCS has expanded its community services while providing embroidery work for women from surrounding villages. The women take fabric and threads home to work while running their households, bring the finished pieces back for payment, and seamstresses sew them up to finished products. It is here, at WCCS, that Sunbula saw an opportunity and a responsibility to act.

2. Keeping the craft alive

In a vibrant collaboration between Sunbula and the Women Child Care Society (WCCS), a group of talented women recently gathered for an inspiring Tahriri embroidery workshop. This intricate Palestinian embroidery technique was the focus of a dedicated training program aimed at preserving cultural heritage while providing economic opportunities.

This most recent workshop marks the third consecutive training Sunbula has raised funding for WCCS, a significant milestone in what has become a long-term commitment to revitalizing the craft. The need was real: several years ago, the number of skilled Tahriri embroiderers at WCCS had dwindled to only a few, putting the organization's embroidery production and with it, the livelihoods it supports, at risk. Through successive trainings in 2023, 2024, and now this most recent cycle, Sunbula has steadily grown the pool of skilled embroiderers at WCCS and reinvigorated its craft production. Each cohort of women trained represents not just new skills, but new capacity for the organization to sustain and expand the work it offers.

The workshop spanned one month across 8 sessions and brought together 10 women from the Bethlehem and Hebron area villages, held in-person at the Women Child Care Society. To make participation possible, Sunbula covered the cost of the trainer, materials, and transportation for women traveling from surrounding villages. The participants were mothers and homemakers who had signed up to work as embroiderers at WCCS, and who were eager to contribute to their families' income while building a sustainable craft practice.

Under the guidance of Margo Zeidan, one of the master embroiderers from Beit Jala, participants honed their skills in the art of Tahriri. The atmosphere was energetic with enthusiasm as the women learned to execute a variety of motifs, advancing from the basics to the most complex techniques.

 

For the women who participated, the workshop was more than a skills training - it was an entry point into economic life, a space for community, and a living act of cultural preservation. Today, after three successive Sunbula-sponsored trainings, that number is growing, and with it, the chances that this extraordinary craft will survive for another generation.