shemma

plural shemmas

1. A traditional Ethiopian or Eritrean handwoven cotton cloth that holds cultural, social, and religious significance.

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

   2024 November 25, Wikipedia contributors, “Culture of Ethiopia”, in English Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation

   2 more examples

   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, …

   1995, Reidulf Knut Molvaer, Socialization and Social Control in Ethiopia (Äthiopistische Forschungen; 44), Otto Harrassowitz Verlag, →ISBN, →ISSN, page 77

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

   2000, Ethiopian Costumes, Ethiopian Tourism Commission, page 11