Siwah is a small oasis in the Western Desert of Egypt, close to the Libyan border. Some photos of Siwa
It has only recently been open to tourism. When I lived in Egypt in the 1980s, it had only recently been opened up to outsiders because of the delicate security situation between Egypt and Libya. To get there in those days, you had to go on a wonderful scavenge of various Egyptian bureaucracies to get the appropriate permits.
As a backwater in the desert, Siwah has maintained some of its older traditions, even though much was changed during the pan-Arab fervour of the Nasser days.
The embroidery of Siwah is one of the traditions that could still be found. The garments which are embroidered are primarily women's clothing, including shawls, trousers and wedding dresses. I was able to collect a few of these items, and I am very interested in the embroidery patterns they contain.
There are a range of embroidery elements - some of which I have illustrated on this page. I classify these as:
Last time I was in Egypt, I re-visited the Coptic Museum in Cairo. On the ground floor, there was a large (15th Century?) wooden trunk. It was inlaid in mother of pearl. Most interesting was the sun/star pattern on one side of the box: it "reproduced" a Siwan sun/star pattern exactly, with each element of inlay corresponding to a stitch in the embroidery.
If you have any information about Siwan Embroidery, please let me know. Send me a message at: lewis@iaehv.nl