© Brid Beeler. All rights reserved.
One of the lessons western expats learn quickly after arriving in Kingdom is just how bone-chilling cold it can get in the desert during the winter. Arabs, of course, know all about those cold desert nights and have devised a clever garment called a bisht, which is the perfect thing for warding off the plummeting temperatures and wind chill on those frosty nights around the camp fire.
© Brid Beeler. All rights reserved.
Bishts make a great addition to your wardrobe if you spend time outdoors. I have owned one for more than a quarter of a century and I still use it, both in the deserts of Arabia and when sitting outdoors on a cool summer’s evening in the Northern Hemisphere. They take many forms and have several names in the Arab world, including aba, bisht, mishlah and farwa. Historians tell us they have been worn for thousands of years.
Bishts were introduced to a world audience at this year’s World Cup, when Emir Tamim bin Hamad al Thani, the ruler of Qatar, placed a sheer silk bisht trimmed with gold thread over Lionel Messi as he received the trophy. The one presented to Messi was not the full length, traditional bisht, but the cultural significance of the presentation was apparent. Those elegant, sheer bishts, hand-stitched with gold thread, are worn by royalty, politicians, and individuals of importance and are a sign of prestige and honor in the Arab world, but they are not the warm and comfy bishts that are the subject of this article. The bisht referred to here is the long, heavy cloak made of 100% camel hair and sheep’s wool that has been spun together and is a necessary staple of Bedouin and tribal societies from olden times.
© Brid Beeler. All rights reserved.
My first encounter with a Bedouin wearing a traditional bisht was in the northern fringes of Al Jauf in the Kingdom. He was wearing a coarsely woven outer garment with a heavy sheepskin lining, usually referred to as a farwar. It was an early morning when he arrived in our camp, and I remember him looking somewhat disheveled from his night in the desert with a few bits of straw sticking out of his long curly hair. Most likely, he was from the Tayy tribe and had been tending his herd nearby. I am sure both of us were equally surprised by our meeting, but in his farwar, he was no doubt much warmer.
The traditional bisht or farwar tended to have a strong odor from the animal skin lining. Nowadays, to cater to modern sensibilities, the bisht is lined with a white synthetic fabric resembling the sheep’s white curls. This in no way lessens their warmth due to the outer layer being woven of camel or goat hair, which is essentially water-repellant.
In recent years, bishts have been elevated to a new haute couture status, particularly at the Saudi women’s clothing store Abadia, which has been selling extremely stylish high-end farwars that command hundreds if not thousands of dollars. They are elegant with beautiful stitching and most desirable as they are so fashionable and can be worn in any environment worldwide to any elegant function.
But the bisht I wear is functional, rather than being a fashion statement. It is a man’s bisht and there is nothing more comfortable than to be wrapped up in one on a chilly evening. There are no buttons, zippers, or tight-fitting bits to constrict or bind. While mine is tan in color, the other traditional colors are black, grey, brown, and cream. In recent years, blue, grey, and maroon bishts have also found popularity with younger buyers.
© Brid Beeler. All rights reserved.
Traditionally, bishts are embroidered with silk, gold thread and sometimes silver, with the elaborate stitching forming a band around the collar and down the front. There are two tassels hanging from the front which can be tied together to help close the garment if desired. Often men will wear them over the shoulder and with just one hand inserted in one sleeve.
© Brid Beeler. All rights reserved.
While my bisht hails from Burayadah in the heartland of the Najd, Al Hasa in the Eastern Province is home to some of the most well-known bisht tailors, whose trade has been handed down for generations. Families famous for this skill include the Al-Qattan, Al-Kharas, Al-Mahdi and Al-Bagli. Prior to the availability of sewing machines, all bishts were hand-made out of necessity. While most are machine-made today, some very detailed examples continue to be hand-made by artisan tailors. Abdullah Jafar Al-Qattan, a renowned bisht maker, says that it can take several tailors working together up to fifteen days to produce a single hand-stitched garment.
So, if you may want to think about adding a Saudi bisht to your wardrobe, they are perfect for outdoor camping trips and even for sitting outdoors around a fire on a cool evening after a barbecue. Personally, I couldn’t live without mine!
About the Author: Brid Beeler first went to live in Saudi Arabia in 1989 and stayed for a decade. Her career then led her to live and work in Yemen and Oman and work for some of the world’s top travel companies. She currently heads Brid Beeler Travel (www.bridbeelertravel.com) and travels in and out of the Kingdom regularly on tour or collaborating on programs. She has traversed every corner of Arabia and is never happier than delving into the culture and treasures of the peninsula.
Brid began taking American travelers to Saudi Arabia in 1998 and, in addition to operating tours, she has trained guides, worked on award-winning documentaries, and written extensively on the region. In 2015, she was the Tour Director for the Smithsonian tour to Saudi Arabia, Oman and Qatar, which followed their internationally acclaimed Roads of Arabia exhibit.
She has presented papers on eco-tourism in the Middle East region and was one of only a handful of women invited by the National Commission for Wildlife Conservation & Development and the Supreme Commission for Tourism to speak at the first International Conference on Eco-Tourism in Saudi Arabia in 2002. She has written for Foreign Affairs and the Arab British Chamber of Commerce. In addition, she has published travel articles in Middle Eastern newspapers and spoken on Middle Eastern travel at embassy functions in Washington DC. A strong proponent of Middle Eastern art, culture and traditions, she has spoken on the ethnic silver jewelry of the Arabian Peninsula at the Chester Beatty Library in Dublin Castle.
Back home in Ireland, Brid enjoys walks on the beach with her latest saluki, Rishan.