Haik
A large, unstitched white or cream length of cloth wrapped around the body and often the head, historically worn by Amazigh and wider Maghrebi women as an outer garment for modesty and travel.
Does your family know it this way?
The names it answers to
- HaikMaghrebi Arabic / Tamazight
MEANING
Unstitched and simply wrapped, the haik could be draped in different ways depending on activity, weather, or how much of the face and body a woman chose to cover.
Its everyday use has declined in most cities, though it remains present in some rural areas and in heritage and bridal dress.
Meanings are plural by design: your family may hold another. Dispute or add below; disagreement is recorded, never erased.
Colour, pattern & material
When it is worn
Who wears it, and may I?
Amazigh and broader Maghrebi women, historically as everyday outerwear; today seen more in heritage contexts and some rural communities.
How it is worn
- 1
The wrap
A single large rectangle of cloth is wrapped and draped around the body, secured without cutting or sewing, style varying by region and preference.
Who wears this
Provenance
- generated: 2026-07-10
- source: Model-knowledge aggregation pass (2026-07-10); unverified, awaiting community affirmation.
This entry is a hypothesis awaiting its people. If your family holds or wears this differently, that difference is exactly what we want recorded.
Nearby in the library
Umbhaco
The traditional Xhosa dress: a wrapped, often striped or checked garment worn with layered accessories, historically ochre-toned, now made in bold contemporary prints for ceremony.
🇿🇦Xhosa
Isidwaba
A pleated skirt made from tanned cowhide, traditionally the garment a Zulu woman receives and begins wearing at marriage, worked soft and supple by hand.
🇿🇦Zulu
Karosse
A cloak sewn from stitched animal skins, worn for warmth and status by Sotho, Tswana, and earlier Khoekhoe communities, historically signalling a household’s cattle or game wealth.
🇱🇸 🇿🇦 🇧🇼Basotho · Batswana