umkahlil

Palm Sunday is quite a festive occasion for Palestine's Christians. These photos are from Ramallah's Palm Sunday celebrations in the fifties and sixties. Naseeb Shaheen writes that until the 1930's Ramallah ladies held a "day-long dance. Girls and young ladies between 15-25 years of age would put on their best native attire and jewelry (often borrowed from their mothers, older sisters, and aunts), and go to the town's threshing floor or one of several squares in Ramallah. There they formed two rows with 15-20 girls in each row, about 20 metres (22 yards) apart. One row of girls would sing and advance half-way towards the other row, and then retreat to their original position. The other row of girls would then go through the same procedure, singing all kinds of native songs. The dancing lasted most of the day with many townspeople watching that beautiful sight. The Palm Sunday dance was one of the loveliest and most colorful events in Ramallah, as the young girls with bright, lovely faces, lightly danced in their colourful native dresses. Some of the fondest memories of Ramallah held by Ramallah women living in the United States are the memories of the Palm Sunday dances." Shaheen, Naseeb. A Pictorial History of Ramallah. Beirut: Arab Institute for Research and Publishing, 1992.