Daggers and Yemeni men

The jambia, a type of dagger with a short curved blade that is worn on the belt, is a Yemeni man’s calling card and can say a lot about its owner.Its shape and unique ornamentation provide clues about the owner’s clan and his place of residence in a local town, district or province.
A jambia must match its owner’s social status, background and occupation. Even those Yemeni men who wear European suits always don traditional costumes with jambias on weekends and holidays.
They say the country’s President Ali Abdullah Saleh frequently wears the national costume with a jambia dagger on the belt.