The safseri ( aeb, سفساري), sometimes also spelled sefseri, safsari or sefsari, is a traditional
Tunisian
veil worn by women.
Composition
The safseri is composed of a large piece of cloth covering the whole body. It usually has a cream colour and is made of
cotton,
satin or
silk.
Depending on the regions of Tunisia, it can also be very colorful, especially in the south of the country.
Jean-Pierre Filiu
Jean-Pierre Filiu (born in Paris, 1961) is a French professor of Middle East studies at Sciences Po, Paris School of International Affairs, an orientalist and an arabist.
Life and career
Before joining Sciences Po in 2006, Jean-Pierre Filiu ...
et Jean-Noël Jeanneney, �
La Tunisie de Bourguiba
», ''Concordance des temps'', France Culture, 15 février 2014, 42e minute.
Wear
It is worn by women out of
modesty
Modesty, sometimes known as demureness, is a mode of dress and deportment which intends to avoid the encouraging of sexual attraction in others. The word "modesty" comes from the Latin word ''wikt:modestus, modestus'' which means "keeping within ...
to avoid male looks. In contemporary Tunisia, this cloth is mostly worn by senior women. Often a grandmother wears it while her daughter will not wear it. After the independence of Tunisia, the president
Habib Bourguiba
Habib Bourguiba (; ar, الحبيب بورقيبة, al-Ḥabīb Būrqībah; 3 August 19036 April 2000) was a Tunisian lawyer, nationalist leader and statesman who led the country from 1956 to 1957 as the prime minister of the Kingdom of T ...
had tried, in vain, to have people abandon its use.
« Bahia ou... ces femmes de Tunisie »
''Les femmes aussi'', ORTF, 8 janvier 1968.
The cloth is today largely abandoned.
References
{{Reflist
Tunisian clothing
Islamic female clothing