Bayt Dajan

Infobox Former Arab villages in Palestine
name=Bayt Dajan


imgsize=
caption=
arname=بيت دجن
meaning="home of Dajan"
altSp=Beit Dajan
district=hf
population=3,840
popyear=1945
area=17,327
areakm=17.3
date=25 April 1948
cause=F
curlocl=Beit Dagan

Bayt Dajan ( _ar. بيت دجن, ArTranslit|Bayt Dajan, also known as Bait Dajan or Beit Dajan) was a Palestinian village situated approximately six kilometers southeast of Jaffa. It was depopulated after an assault by the Alexandroni Brigade during Operation Chametz on 25 April 1948 in the lead up to the 1948 Arab-Israeli war.cite web|title=Welcome to Bayt Dajan|publisher=Palestine Remembered|accessdate=2007-12-04|url=http://www.palestineremembered.com/Jaffa/Bayt-Dajan/index.html]

History

The village might have been the Biblical Philistine town of Beth Dagon (mentioned in Joshua 15:41.)

The village is extremely old. In English Bibles, the name of the village (Joshua 15:41) is conventionally rendered Beth Dagon. It appears in a list of "the uttermost cities of the tribe of the children of Judah toward the coast of Edom southward."

In 1895 Philip Baldensperger noted about Bayt Dajan:

The inhabitants are very industrious, occupied chiefly in making mats and baskets for carrying earth and stones. They own camels for carrying loads from Jaffa to Jerusalem, cultivate the lands, and work at building etc., in Jaffa or on the railway works. The women flock every day to Jaffa and on Wednesday to Ramleh -to the marked held there, with chickens, eggs and milk [Weir, p.207, citing Philip Baldensperger (1895): "Beth-Dejan", in "Palestine Exploration Fund Quartely"]

Culture

Bayt Dajan was known to be among the wealthiest communities in the Jaffa area, and their embroideresses were reported to be among the most artistic.cite web|title=Woven Legacy, Woven Language|author=Jane Waldron Grutz|publisher=Saudi Aramco World|date-January/February 1991|accessdate=2008-01-17|url=http://www.saudiaramcoworld.com/issue/199101/woven.legacy.woven.language.htm] It was a center for weaving and embroidery, and its influence was exerted on many other surrounding villages and towns. Costumes from Beit Dajan were noted for their varied techniques, many of which were adopted and elaborated from other local styles.

White linen garments inspired by Ramallah styles were also popular, using patchwork and appliqued sequins in addition to embroidery.cite web|title=Palestine costume before 1948: by region|publisher=Palestine Costume Archive|accessdate=2008-08-01|url=http://web.archive.org/web/20061024053919/http://www.palestinecostumearchive.org/regional.htm] A popular motif was the "nafnuf" design: a floral pattern thought to be inspired by the locally grown orange trees. The "nafnuf" design changed after World War I becoming embroidery running in long panels known as "branches" ("erq"). It is the forerunner of the "6 branch" style dresses worn by Palestinian women in different regions today.

In the 1920s, a Bethlehem lady named Maneh Hazbun came to live in Bayt Dajan when her brother bought some orange-groves there. She introduced the "rashek" (couching with silk) style of embroidery, a local imitation of the Bethlehem style.Weir, 1989, p. 225, 227.]

The "Jillayeh" (the embroidered outer garment for wedding costume) used in Bayt Dajan was quite similar to those of Ramallah. The difference was in decoration and embroidery. Typical for Bayt Dajan would be motif consisting of two triangles, mirror-faced, with or without an embroidered stripe between them, and with inverted cypresses at the edges. There are several items from Bayt Dajan and the Bayt Dajan area is in the Museum of International Folk Art (MOIFA) collection at Santa Fe, USA. [Stillman, 1979, p. 66, 67.]

ee also

*Beit Dagan
*List of villages depopulated during the 1948 Arab-Israeli war
*Palestinian costumes
*Sakher Habash

External links

* [http://www.palestineremembered.com/Jaffa/Bayt-Dajan/index.html Palestine Remembered - Bayt Dajan]
* [http://www.ntcsites.com/palestine/clothes/view_alone.nhtml?profile=clothes&UID=10002 Black Beit Dajan dress, with a rare embroidered scarf]
* [http://www.ntcsites.com/palestine/clothes/view.nhtml?profile=clothes&UID=10007 Detail of a sleeve from a Beit Dajan thob al abayed, 1920's - 30's (Tareq Rajab Museum, Kuwait)]
* [http://www.palestinianheritagecenter.com/Photo_Gallery/Posters%20and%20Postcards%20the%20Center%20Produces/slides/Jaffa.html Beit-Dajan dress, together with costumes from Safryieh and Asdoud]
* [http://www.inash.org/products/embroidered/embroidered5.html Thob of Beit Dajan (Jaffa District)] . This "thob" is rich in embroidery, main colour is red touched with lilac and green. It has "manajel" on the sides, and is worn with a belt.

References

Bibliography

*Stillman, Yedida Kalfol (1979). "Palestinian Costume and Jewelry," ISBN 0-8263-0490-7
*Weir, Shelagh (1989). "Palestinian Costume", London: British Museum Publications Ltd. ISBN 0-7141-2517-2. (exhibition catalog; see also chapters five and six (p. 203-270) on "Changing Fashions in Beit Dajan" and "Wedding Rituals in Beit Dajan".

Additional reading

*Widad Kawar/Shelagh Weir: [http://www.arabheritage.org/bibliography.html "Costumes and Wedding Customs in Bayt Dajan"]
*Sharon, Moshe (1997): " [http://books.google.com/books?id=EPFDU8POrXIC Corpus Inscriptionum Arabicarum Palaestinae] " (Bayt Dajan [http://books.google.com/books?id=EPFDU8POrXIC&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_summary_r&cad=0#PPA89,M1 p 89-93] ) ISBN 9004110836,