Culture of Palestine

The culture of the Palestinian people is influenced by the many diverse cultures and religions which have existed in the historical region of Palestine. Their cultural and linguistic heritage is a blend of both Arabic elements and the foreign cultures that have come to rule the land and its people over the course of thousands of years. Cultural contributions to the fields of art, literature, music, costume and cuisine express the Palestinian identity despite the geographical separation between the Palestinians from the Palestinian territories, Palestinian citizens of Israel and Palestinians in the diaspora. Palestinian culture consists of food, dance, legends, oral history, proverbs, jokes, popular beliefs, customs, and comprising the traditions (including oral traditions) of Palestinian culture. The folklorist revival among Palestinian intellectuals such as Nimr Sirhan, Musa Allush, Salim Mubayyid, and others emphasized pre-Islamic cultural roots. Palestinian costumes Foreign travelers to Palestine in the late 19th and early 20th centuries often commented on the rich variety of traditional clothing among the Palestinian people, and particularly among the fellaheen or village women. Until the 1940s, a woman's economic status, whether married or single, and the town or area they were from could be deciphered by most Palestinian women by the type of cloth, colors, cut, and embroidery motifs, or lack thereof, used for the robe-like dress or "thoub" in Arabic. The 1948 Palestinian exodus led to a disruption in traditional modes of dress and customs, as many women who had been displaced could no longer afford the time or money to invest in complex embroidered garments. New styles began to appear the 1960s. For example, the "six-branched dress" named after the six wide bands of embroidery running down from the waist. These styles came from the refugee camps, particularly after 1967. Individual village styles were lost and replaced by an identifiable "Palestinian" style.