Hama Skirt

The pattern on this skirt reflects rhythm and repetition. Hama is known for its large wooden water wheels, the nawāreij, set along the Orontes River. For centuries, these wheels lifted river water into the city’s gardens, homes, and orchards through a system of aqueducts. The turning of the wheels created a low, continuous sound that people in Hama grew up with - not as an attraction, but as part of daily life. Their presence marked time: seasons of planting, harvesting, and gathering along the riverbanks. During the war, parts of Hama faced protest crackdowns, displacement, and military presence. Yet the city’s memory is still tied to the image of the wheels - the work of keeping water moving, keeping crops alive, keeping life going. The nawāreij stand as reminders of shared labor and the infrastructure communities built long before modern pipelines or machinery. This skirt carries that sense of ongoing motion. The brocade has a repeating pattern that recalls the circular turning of t