The safseri (), sometimes also spelled sefseri, safsari or sefsari, is a traditional
Tunisia
Tunisia, officially the Republic of Tunisia, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It is bordered by Algeria to the west and southwest, Libya to the southeast, and the Mediterranean Sea to the north and east. Tunisia also shares m ...
n
veil
A veil is an article of clothing or hanging cloth that is intended to cover some part of the human head, head or face, or an object of some significance. Veiling has a long history in European, Asian, and African societies. The practice has be ...
worn by women. Not to be confused with
Chador
A chādor ( Persian, ), also variously spelled in English as chadah, chad(d)ar, chader, chud(d)ah, chadur, and naturalized as , is an outer garment or open cloak worn by many women in the Persian-influenced countries of Iran, Afghanistan, Azerba ...
or
Dupatta
The dupattā, also called chunni, chunari, chundari, lugda, rao/rawo, gandhi, pothi, orna, and odhni is a long shawl-like scarf traditionally worn by women in the Indian subcontinent. Traditionally, in India, the dupatta is part of the women's le ...
, it is a unique cloth to Tunisia.
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
Cotton (), first recorded in ancient India, is a soft, fluffy staple fiber that grows in a boll, or protective case, around the seeds of the cotton plants of the genus '' Gossypium'' in the mallow family Malvaceae. The fiber is almost pure ...
,
satin
A satin weave is a type of Textile, fabric weave that produces a characteristically glossy, smooth or lustrous material, typically with a glossy top surface and a dull back; it is not durable, as it tends to snag. It is one of three fundamen ...
or
silk
Silk is a natural fiber, natural protein fiber, some forms of which can be weaving, woven into textiles. The protein fiber of silk is composed mainly of fibroin and is most commonly produced by certain insect larvae to form cocoon (silk), c ...
.
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, Filiu was a care ...
et Jean-Noël Jeanneney
Jean-Noël Jeanneney (born 2 April 1942, in Grenoble) is a French historian and politician. He is the son of Jean-Marcel Jeanneney and the grandson of Jules Jeanneney, both important figures in French politics.
Education
After his secondary sch ...
,
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 with ...
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 hijab was banned in Tunisia, some women began to wear the safseri. As a result, the president
Habib Bourguiba
Habib Bourguiba (3 August 19036 April 2000) was a Tunisian politician and statesman who served as the Head of Government of Tunisia, prime minister of the Kingdom of Tunisia from 1956 to 1957, and then as the first president of Tunisia from 1 ...
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