Rokeya Begum

Saleha Akter Urmi; [Facilitator]

Traditional dress (embroidery)

Fultola (embroidery)

Embroidery (EMB)

Decorative

This is the design of Rokeya's wedding dress. When she came from Myanmar, she could not bring anything with her. This memory of this dress is precious to her and wishes that she could have kept it with her forever. She is sad that she had to leave it behind.

Traditional dresses vary according to age, gender and marital status for Rohingya women. Unmarried girls wear zagara (long dress), kezze bazu (skirt), tepbin kezze (short sari) and seira thai (petticoat). On the day of the wedding, brides wear lamani hor (wedding gowns) that are bought for 1 lakh kyat. Married women wear emeshtee (same printed blouse and skirt), titi (one piece with different designs in the middle and on the side), panda one saat (clothes in batik print), kezze one saat (t-shirt and skirt). Sometimes the designs and prints of these dresses are inspired by actors. Rohingya women find Bangladeshi attire strange, and tailored their own clothes out of saris given to them when they first arrived. They find their traditional dresses to be unique and worthy of memorialization.