shemma

English

Noun

shemma (plural shemmas)

1. A traditional Ethiopian or Eritrean handwoven cotton cloth that holds cultural, social, and religious significance.
   • 1995, Reidulf Knut Molvaer, Socialization and Social Control in Ethiopia (Äthiopistische Forschungen; 44), Otto Harrassowitz Verlag, →ISBN, →ISSN, page 77:

     From around the age of ten, they begin to be taught “important” things like holding a hand (of the corner of the cloth they cover their bodies with, then shemma) before the mouth and turn aside from people if they sneeze, …

   • 2000, Ethiopian Costumes, Ethiopian Tourism Commission, page 11:

     The shemma is draped over the head and shoulders in a graceful fashion and sometimes held by the wearer over nose and mouth.

   • 2024 November 25, Wikipedia contributors, “Culture of Ethiopia”, in English Wikipedia‎^[1], Wikimedia Foundation:

     In some central and northern areas, women's traditional clothes are often made from cloth called shemma.