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"Jordan Jubilee"
Petra GENERAL INFORMATION
Weather in Jordan
GENERAL INFORMATION
Trekking in Jordan Two Bedouin friends and their camels
HISTORY OF JORDAN MEETING THE PEOPLE
THE MIDDLE EAST AROUND
THE WEBSITE FUN
STUFF The Gates of Damascus More Jordan links
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THE PEOPLE
OF JORDAN I am always being asked about a photo of myself. I look awful in photos and am not anxious to spread them around, but here is one taken some ten years ago, when I contemplated (briefly!) a new job : And here is a photo of my house in Wadi Mousa! That's enough about me, here are people you might have met elsewhere on the website :
IThe Sheikh Khalil of Wadi Mousa. I was very distressed at his death a few years ago. Unlike most sheikhs who seem to obtain well paid jobs, "Abu Mehdi" remained a simple man who worked with his goats until the end of his life. He was very highly respected throughout south Jordan, and I remember how, in the middle of negotiations to ward off a threatened tribal war in Wadi Mousa, he still took the time and cared enough to arbitrate a dispute between a young man and his mother in law. Nothing that distressed "his people" was too unimportant for him. Note the style in which he wears his kefiya and the embroidered robe of a sheikh. Note also that unlike the last photo on this page, he is wearing a white kefiya; he is a "villager" and not a Bedouin. Here are some other photos of Jordanians : Gold bracelets at a wedding! Do you remember that I spoke of brides "dripping with gold". This was the bridegroom's sister at an engagement party. He was from another village marrying into a prosperous family in Wadi Mousa and she probably thought that she should make a display. Most of the women considered so many bracelets to be in bad taste, but they all took several looks at these photos. You can see in the right hand photo that she has another gold chain on her dress: she is certainly wearing several necklaces and earrings as well.
Some street scenes IA
lot of people seem interested in this subject,
Talal, on the right, is wearing his kefiya in the most usual bedouin style.
It
is also worn like this when riding a camel to protect the
face from the dust; you can see this on the photo page on
horses and camels in Wadi Rum. Perhaps Attayak just
hadn't adjusted it since he got off the camel?I
A camel driver in Wadi Rum has a style all of his own!
This photo was taken in the street in Wadi Mousa when I saw my friend Haroun with his kefiya at what seemed a particularly stylish angle, but in fact I suspect it had slipped! You can see a couple of other more common arrangements worn by his companions.
A variation used also by older men in general. It protects very well from the sun, but this man is a villager, and not a Bedouin. Few Bedouin would wear a white kefiya.
Here you can also see the brown robe normally worn by a sheikh. It is usually embroidered in gold or in silver - here you see a more elaborate embroidery. Higher up you see Sheikh Khalil in a white version of this robe. Incidentally this style is not reserved exclusively for a sheikh, anybody can wear it with perfect propriety.
Ruth Caswell 2002
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