surfacing

For a handful of cultures across the globe, the Arab world among them, these distinct blankets deliver not only an impossibly warm, soft hug but a great sense of belonging.

destructive and deadly winter storm that recently left millions without heat in Texas, where he lives. “That thing is this blanket,” Taha said on TikTok, pointing behind him to an ornate hunter green and rose pink bedspread printed with large flowers.

These blankets are “literal lifesavers,” said Taha, who calls himself “just an average Muslim-American” on his YouTube channel, where he has about 250,000 followers. “Even when our heater was down and it was literally blowing cold air,” he said, “this blanket was so effectively insulating, I got hot under it. I woke up hot!”

If you’ve ever wrapped yourself in these absurdly soft, addictively warm, highly embellished blankets, you’ll never unknow the feeling. They may not have a widely agreed-upon name (some call them “flower blankets,” “mink blankets,” “ethnic blankets” or, as Taha put it, “immigrant blankets”), but they’re not just any blankets.