#circassian

[folkfashion]

Circassian duo's clothes, Russia, by zhanna__kharaeva

[unsolicited-opinions]

Hello!

I recently saw your post on legal rights in Israel for people of different ethnicities and I wanted to ask (from a place of ignorance):

Do Arab Israelis have the same opportunities and/or obligations as others for military service in Israel? I know that the exemption of (some?) Orthodox citizens from mandatory military service is a live issue in Israeli politics but not much else.

Thank you!

Arab Israeli citizens have identical opportunities to serve in the military, but have dramatically fewer obligations than Jewish Israeli citizens. Let's address each of those separately.

Opportunities:

Arab Israelis have the full right to volunteer for military service if they wish. Those who do serve receive the same training, ranks, and benefits as any other soldier. They can also volunteer for national-civil service (Sherut Leumi).

You might have heard of Arab Israeli Yoseph Haddad. Haddad was born in Haifa, lived in Nazareth, volunteered to serve in the IDF, served in the Golani Brigade (infantry), including as a platoon commander and sergeant...where those he commanded were mostly Jews. He has repeatedly said that he was very well respected in the IDF, and those who served with him have said the same. His military career ended in 2006 with shrapnel injuries. He now spends most of his time advocating for Israel and against Jew hatred.

Obligations:

Jewish Israeli citizens (men and women) are subject to mandatory military service - currently around 32 months for men and 24 months for women. This is a significant obligation that affects education timing, career development, and family planning.

Arab Israelis, by contrast, are exempt from mandatory military service. This exemption was established to avoid forcibly putting Arab citizens in the position of potentially fighting against fellow Arabs in neighboring countries.

However, Druze and Circassian citizens, who are distinct ethnic/religious minorities, do have mandatory service, similar to Jewish Israelis.

It's important to mention that this was not forced upon the Druze or Circassian communities.

In 1956, Druze community leaders formally requested that their community be subject to mandatory conscription, similar to Jewish Israelis. This was seen as a way to demonstrate loyalty and integration into Israeli society, and to gain equal standing as full citizens. The Israeli government agreed, and Druze conscription became mandatory that year. They are very well-represented in the IDF. There are Druze IDF generals and Druze Israelis seem disproportionately well-represented in elite units.

In 1958, Circassian community leaders petitioned to be included in mandatory conscription. Like the Druze, this was seen as affirming their commitment to the state and securing their status as equal citizens.

Arab Israelis have greater freedom of choice (serve or don't serve) compared to Jewish, Druze, and Circassian Israelis who have mandatory conscription. This is the opposite of discrimination, it's a reduced burden.

The Haredim (ultra-orthodox) exemption you mentioned is very contentious, but that's a separate issue involving religious study deferments, not ethnic-based policy. Originally, haredi men who were studying full-time in yeshivas (religious seminaries) got automatic deferments that became de facto exemptions - and this was only a few hundred people. The practice now exempts tens of thousands. The Israeli Supreme Court has ruled these exemptions illegal for violating equality principles and lacking any specific legislation. These exemptions are important to Haredi political parties, and play into coalition politics...and are important to Netanyahu's coalition.

The question of exemptions for Haredim is a domestic Israeli political issue which I try to resist commenting on further, especially when there are Israelis who will (please) offer their opinions in the replies and reblogs (at the same time they let me know if I got anything wrong here).

[songs-of-the-east]

Kabardian Girl Weaving a Traditional Ardzhen (Арджен)

Ardzhen is a traditional woven mat of the Circassian people, made from flexible natural materials, primarily marsh grass. Traditionally, ardzhen mats served both practical and symbolic purposes, used as floor coverings, bedding, or decorative elements, and woven by women to demonstrate skill, patience, and readiness for marriage. In the early 21st century, the craft experienced a revival thanks to the efforts of cultural enthusiasts.

[chrysocomae]

A torchlight procession for the commemoration of the Circassian genocide.

[droopyremembrs]

[klimbims]

Circassian woman | Черкешенка, 1909 г.

[tamatarkha]

caucasian traditional dress x pink

[gureshinlover]

Comparing the New LaDS Dress to Traditional Circassian Clothing

In this post I will show the similarities between the new dress and Circassian/North Caucasian traditional clothing. Now I’m not saying that the dress was inspired by North Caucasian culture, but the similarities makes me soooo happy that I had to show everyone.

First of all, who are the Circassians? The Circassians, also known as the Cherkess or the Adyghe are a Northwest Caucasian ethnic group native to Circassia, a region in the North Caucasus. Circassian traditional womens clothing shares a lot of common points with other North Caucasian people’s clothing, like Ossetians, Abkhazians and etc, so the similarities I will mention here are related to them as well, but since I mainly focus on researching Circassian culture I will just call it that. (I might use some Ossetian pictures btw). I should mention that I am only partially Circassian, don’t live in Caucasia, and don’t speak any Adyghe or Russian so my resources are very limited.

Most Recognizable Features

The silhouette: Circassian dresses (Fasha) typically has long skirt down to the shoes, and they emphasize thin waist with a belt usually made of gold or silver. These dresses can be in various colors like red, blue, black etc but I mainly picked white ones to make it easier to see the similarities. Fasha has a variety of different sleeve types, but as MC’s dress has no sleeves I won’t dwell too much on it.

The chest plate: Bghe’wlh consists of a false shirtfront with (usually up to) 12 silver or gilt pairs of plate-like buckles. The chest plate is worn on top of a chemise. I think this part of the LaDS dress was actually inspired by the buckles usually seen on historical European military clothing (I can’t find the specific time and country for that type of clothing but look up Nutcracker toys ig??) but to me, it’s still the biggest part of the dress that gives us the Circassian illusion…

The neck part: As you can see from the picture below, the neck part of the dress is usually connected to the chest plate, or is worn as a separate piece completely. In MC’s dress, though, that part seems to be connected to the cape instead.

The outer coat: The outer coat is called a Tsey. Instead of an outer coat tho, MC has a cape so I will be comparing them. I’m not sure if the Tsey in the picture below belongs to women’s or men’s clothing, but when I saw it I thought the way there were 2 pieces of fabric hanging down from the back was very similar to MC’s dress so I had to use it. And I think the way the coat’s sleeve cut is similar to the cape’s sleeve cut as well.

Patterns and accessories: In love and deepspace, a lot of outfits have patterns based on the game’s lore, like protocore shapes/crystal shapes, stars and other celestial designs. This outfit is the same, especially since it’s the dress of a cosmic empress. I will make another post about the most important symbols used on the outfits some day. But for now, you can see that a lot is similar patterns exist in the pictures I shared. Looks like the protocore shape is a universal design after all, which is beautiful when you think about it. As for accessories, there are Georgian belts in a similar shape to MC’s belt but I guess it could be considered a common design as well. The head accessory MC has in this outfit has nothing in common with Circassian headdresses so I’m not sharing it.

The end✨✨I don’t know if there’ll actually be anyone reading this post but anyways thanks for reading :) At last I must say, if you wear a wedding veil together with the dress, your mc will look like a Circassian princess, so if anyone wants to share pictures I’d love to see them!