pb_lc_bwo_c19400000-0024aa.tiff (17.32 MB)
Bethlehem, Church of Nativity with "Leorie", c.1940-1946
figure
posted on 2019-05-31, 07:56 authored by Freja Howat-Maxted, Leila Sansour, Jacob NorrisJacob NorrisThis is a digital reproduction of an image held within the Library of Congress.
The image depicts a woman stood in front of the Church of the Nativity. The woman pictured is wearing a cone-shaped headdress otherwise known as the 'shatweh'. A shatweh was worn by married women of Bethlehem to signify family wealth; the veil conceals rows of coral, coins and beads. She is also wearing traditional Palestinian dress local to the Bethlehem region, which is distinctive by its heavily embroidered chest panel. See "relation" field for similar photograph.
This image is part of the Bethlehem Women collection within the Library of Congress project of the Planet Bethlehem Archive.