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Bedouin Weaving
 Bedouin
women are still very actively involved in weaving. For
thousands of years women have followed the same process of
weaving, and their weaving has resulted in rugs for the floor,
rugs to cover the mattress type pads in the sitting area of
the tent, cushion covers, bags for storing grain and clothes,
saddle bags for camels and donkeys, and cradles to carry their
children on their backs. Bedouin still weave the long narrow
rugs that when sewn together form the outside wall and top of
the tent. A tent is called bait esh-sha’ar, or literally “house
of hair”. [
Photo] In late fall when the harvest is in (because many
Bedouin work as laborers in the wheat and barley harvest), and
before the rainy season, the Bedouin women set up their looms
and start the process of weaving. A long rug one meter wide and
four meters long will take the women more than two months to
complete with several female family members working together.
Weaving is very much a social activity with groups of women
chatting, drinking tea and working on the rug.
 Weaving
is only the final stage in a long process of production. For
both the Bedouin and villagers, shearing of the sheep and
goats takes place in the spring after the animals have been
washed. The villagers sell
most of their sheep wool but some is kept as filling for their
mattresses used for sitting and sleeping. On the other hand,
the Bedouin have a lot of goats and use the coarse hair from
their goats for weaving the thick tent rugs. One can see the
Bedouin women walking around with their meghzal, or spindle
used for spinning the yarn for their rugs. The spindle is
constructed of a wooden staff on top of which is a small
moveable wheel with a hook that holds the spun yarn as it is
wrapped around the shaft. [
Photo1 &
Photo2]
Weaving of the tent cloth is done by the Bedouin women on a
ground loom. The loom is constructed of very simple materials of
sturdy sticks and stones. Two wooden sticks are pinned to the
ground and the woolen yarn stretch between them while another
stick is placed in the middle to separate the long warp threads.
The woman sits cross-legged at the end of the ground loom and
feeds the weft yarn attached to a stick back and forth between
the twisted threads. The weaver gradually moves down the length
of the rug and maintains the tightness of the threads. Dark
colors are preferred. The traditional colors include deep reds,
navy blues, greens, oranges and black. [
Photo1 &
Photo2]
The art of weaving is almost totally extinct among the village
women of the plateau but the skill is still very much a common
activity for the Bedouin women who make items for domestic use.
For the situation of weaving among the villagers of the Karak
Plateau go to:
http://www.vkrp.org/studies/cultural/simakiyya-study/info/weaving-rugs.asp
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