The Gharaibeh is one of the tribes of the northern parts of Jordan

Jordan

Jordan , officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan , Al-Mamlaka al-Urduniyya al-Hashemiyya) is a kingdom on the East Bank of the River Jordan. The country borders Saudi Arabia to the east and south-east, Iraq to the north-east, Syria to the north and the West Bank and Israel to the west, sharing...

.

Ancestry

The Gharaibeh clan is part of the peasantry of the Mud Plains of Houran. The peasantry, Fallaheen, of Houran are usually referred to as Houranies or Hawarneh. They are of the Jordanian side of Houran which used to be one single entity before the Sykes-Picot lines were drawn. The most likely origins of the peasantry of Houran are a mix of different ethnic groups over the millennia, including Assyrian, Greek, Persian, Hebrew, Roman, Arab, Franks, and Turks but the most is of Bedouin origins.

The ancestry of this tribe is not definitely known. The lack of documentation such as birth records, death certificates, land records, etc. makes this tribe's history subject to debate and different accounts. Myth shrouds what little is known. One myth, for example, has it that this clan descended from the Arabic Bedouin

Bedouin

The Bedouin are a part of a predominantly desert-dwelling Arab ethnic group traditionally divided into tribes or clans, known in Arabic as ..-Etymology:...

 tribe Bani Johma (also spelled Beni Juhma) which is believed to have followed Wadi Sarhan northwest for Northern Arabia. Another myth has it that Gharaibeh's ancestry is mixed peasantry with little or no Bedouin heritage. There have been some unsubstantiated claims that the Gharaibeh were part of the Semitic tribes of the Hebron area and may have migrated during the 400 years Ottoman occupation from 1516-1918.

To confuse matters more, the name Gharaibeh can also be found under different spellings (e.g., Algharaibeh, Gharaybeh, Ghareibeh, and Garaybeh). It is however, written in one form in Arabic with and without the article "Al". The name comes from the word "Ghareeb", which means stranger or foreigner in the Arabic language. Elders in the family believe that the name was given to them after settling in a new village in northern Jordan, the name of which is still debated.

The main location of the Gharaibeh Family in Jordan is in a town called Huwwarah

Huwwarah

Huwwarah , also spelled Huwwara and Huwarrah, is a village in northern Jordan. It is situated in the Governorate of Irbid, and is one of many agricultural villages in the fertile mud plains of Hauran. The mud plains of Hauran bridge the gap between the Golan Heights in the west and the Sham desert...

 located in the Hawran plain in the Biblical "Land of Gilead" near the main northern city of Irbid

Irbid

Irbid , known in ancient times as Arabella or Arbela , is the capital and largest city of the Irbid Governorate. It also has the second largest metropolitan population in Jordan after Amman, with a population of around 660,000, and is located about 70 km north of Amman on the northern ridge of...

 and Ramtha (Ramoth-Gilead

Ramoth-Gilead

Ramoth-Gilead, , is a city of refuge east of the Jordan river; called "Ramoth in Gilead"...

) to the East. A large portion of family members also reside in towns such as Al Mughayir and Al-Hashimiya. Some have settled in all the major Jordanian cities including Irbid

Irbid

Irbid , known in ancient times as Arabella or Arbela , is the capital and largest city of the Irbid Governorate. It also has the second largest metropolitan population in Jordan after Amman, with a population of around 660,000, and is located about 70 km north of Amman on the northern ridge of...

 itself, Zarqa

Zarqa

Az-Zarqāʔ is a city in Jordan located to the northeast of Amman. With a population of more than one million 1000,000. It is the country's second largest city after Amman. Zarqa is the capital of Zarqa Governorate . Its name means "the blue one".- Overview :Zarqa is Jordan's industrial centre, home...

, and the capital Amman

Amman

Amman is the capital of Jordan. It is the country's political, cultural and commercial centre and one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world. The Greater Amman area has a population of 2,842,629 as of 2010. The population of Amman is expected to jump from 2.8 million to almost...

.

The family has also a strong presence in other Middle Eastern countries like in Palestine

Palestine

Palestine is a conventional name, among others, used to describe the geographic region between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River, and various adjoining lands....

 and in The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

Saudi Arabia

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia , commonly known in British English as Saudi Arabia and in Arabic as as-Sa‘ūdiyyah , is the largest state in Western Asia by land area, constituting the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and the second-largest in the Arab World...

 (the original location of the Bani Johma Tribe).

The Gharaibeh family is subdivided into six main branches: Abdallat, Abdeyeh (including Nayeleyeh), Hajjiyyeh, Hamad, Sabbaheen and Shehadat.

Dress

The way men and women dress has changed over the years. Below are two traditional ways women used to dress. The traditional dress is gradually making way to Europeanized/Westernized styles.

Both of the below features dress codes feature the full length black dress (Thoab). The first dress at the top features the black and white Silik. The bottom head dress is famously known as the Bashkeer Aligmani

Bashkeer Aligmani

Bashkeer Alighmani literally means German Towel or more precisely German Hand Towel. It is usually a cotton cloth measuring about 30 cm by 90 cm with black background and very colorful flowery design...

, literally "German Towel".

Geography

Huwwarah

Huwwarah

Huwwarah , also spelled Huwwara and Huwarrah, is a village in northern Jordan. It is situated in the Governorate of Irbid, and is one of many agricultural villages in the fertile mud plains of Hauran. The mud plains of Hauran bridge the gap between the Golan Heights in the west and the Sham desert...

is one of many agricultural villages in the fertile mud plains of Houran (Hauran or Hawran) in northern Jordan

Jordan

Jordan , officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan , Al-Mamlaka al-Urduniyya al-Hashemiyya) is a kingdom on the East Bank of the River Jordan. The country borders Saudi Arabia to the east and south-east, Iraq to the north-east, Syria to the north and the West Bank and Israel to the west, sharing...

. The mud plains of Houran bridge the gap between the Golan Heights in the west and the Sham desert to the east. The southern part of Houran is in North Jordan. Huwwarah if flanked by the ancient sites of Ramoth-Gilead (Ramtha, Jordan) in Gilead

Gilead

In the Bible "Gilead" means hill of testimony or mound of witness, , a mountainous region east of the Jordan River, situated in the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan. It is also referred to by the Aramaic name Yegar-Sahadutha, which carries the same meaning as the Hebrew . From its mountainous character...

to the east and Arabella (Irbid) to the west. North, it is bordered by Sal and Bishra, and south and southeast it is bordered by Sareeh.