Culture of Jifna

what he saw. His wife refused to believe him unless the rooster she had just killed would come back to life. Instantly, the rooster flew away towards the mountain. The story was recited in some monasteries on Holy Thursday together with other biblical readings.

A legend exists about Jifna's spring—which the village has used for centuries—concerning how it periodically runs low on water. Popular belief is that this is the work of the djinniye (female spirit). According to Palestinian researcher Tawfiq Canaan, "In Jifna the priest has to go on such an occasions to the dry spring to repeat prayers and burn incense, and thus reconcile the djinniye or force her to let the water flow".

Like many Palestinian villages, the women of Jifna have their own traditional dress. Costumes in the village, known as rumi abyad ("Greek White") and rumi aswad ("Greek Black"), were dresses of hand-woven linen embroidered with the Jifna's own motifs. Preparing burbara, a sweet pudding-like dish made from whole grain wheat, on the Feast of Saint Barbara has been a tradition in Jifna for several centuries.

Festivals

In April–May 2005 Jifna hosted the first annual International Artists' Workshop in Palestine. The festival, known as the "Jifna Spring" was the first held in a rural village instead of a major city such as Hebron or Ramallah. During the festival, dozens of artists from all over the world collaborated on several projects, including stone sculptures, metalwork, photography, mural paintings and installation pieces. Many of the works were influenced by the "specificity and qualities" of Jifna, while others dealt with the subject of Palestinian identity.

Jifna, locally famous for its apricot harvest, hosts an annual two-day apricot festival in the first week of May. Hundreds of West Bankers flock to participate in the harvest. The