Iraqi Women’s Headwear

Last time, I introduced you to Iraqi men’s headwear called kafiyyeh. This time, I would like to talk about the Muslim women’s headwear.

You might easily imagine what they look like, but people may imagine them differently. One might imagine it to be a piece of black cloth that covers from head to toe except for the eyes, while another may imagine it to be a piece of white cloth that covers from head to back.

Here in Jordan, where we have the JEN office, we see women in different head wears, but the most popular style is the one that covers from head to neck. There are many different color variations among these cloths, and some of them are embroidered. There are many ways to wear it, too, but today I will introduce you the simplest way.

1)Bind your hair up with a wide hair band. Please be careful not to show your ears and hair.

2)Wear the cloth from your head and leave one end longer than the other. Roll up the short end to your throat to hide your neck.

3)Pull up the longer end (right side of the picture) over your neck, around your head, to your right ear. Fix the cloth around the ear (marked with an arrow on the picture) with a pin, and you now have the Iraqi headwear!