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| I drew this in order to give an idea about where some tattoos are done and what they look like. |
These Tattoos are an ancient tradition. The native North African Berber ladies (the original inhabitants of the Canary Islands, Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Lybia, Siwa Oasis in Egypt, North Mali, Chad, Mauritania and the western Sahara) have them done for various motives.
Some of these reasons are:
- To beautify themselves.
- To indicate their pride in belonging to a particular tribe.
- To indicate the marital status of the lady or the number of children she has got.
Some sources online claim that the Berber/Amazigh ladies applied these tattoos on their faces and bodies to make the French colonists not attracted to them. Thus, leave them alone. This isn't right, for the simple reason that these tattoos had existed a long time before the French invasions of North Africa. Our ancestors carried them all along. All my grandmothers, and great grandmothers as well as their sisters had these tattoos and told us about their ancestors.
Moreover,The patterns and symbols tattooed on the ladies represent the life of those old generations, which revolved around artisanal activities and practices. For example, some symbols refer to some animal, insects and food, such as, centipedes, bees, snakes, wheat..etc click image 1 , image 2.
Other patterns symbolise family, unity, tribe, home, solidarity (Thiwizi in Tamazight), occupation..etc
And there are more patterns that symbolise religious beliefs (i.e the cross aad other Jewish symbols.)
In addition, some tattooed designs represent the local jewellery (i.e. the brooches) .Thavzimt (in Tamazight)
A few books are available in Algeria in which more patterns are exampled, Kabylie National Library is a good place to start with.
These tattoos have grown redundant as the new generations dropped many traditions and adopted new ones which are more influenced by the European, Arab and Turkish cultures. It is, also, because the new generation got more exposed to the Islamic teachings through school, mosques and TV and learnt that tattooes aren't allowed in Islam. However, there are still ladies who do them, usually found in the mountains, valleys and villages located in the suburbs. I went up a mountain in the city of Tizi Ouzou (kabyle tribe) I met four girls, two were 16 years old, one was 11 and the little one was 5. The 16 and 11 year old young ladies had the tattoos on their writs, but not the face. they happily chose to have them done. I, also, climbed up a mountain called Sidi Rghis, in the city of Oum el Bouagui (Chaoui tribes) and found young ladies with tattooed writs. There are also many non muslim families who still carry this tradition of tattoos.
PS: Tizi Ouzou is a name of a big city in Algeria (Tizi = a mountain pass/valley. ouzou or Azzou = genet flowers. So it means the valley of genet flowers)
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Here is an Anecdote:
I've recently had an interesting moment with one of my female students. When she saw the patterns I had gotten made on my hands, she started throwing comments to her classmates about them, saying things like: "what are these shapes she's got on her hands?! "these patterns are weird, I feel like I'm in a temple or something". Basically, she compared them to the talismans found in some temples. I found her reaction and interpretation quite interesting. Obviously, she was neither familiar with the North African ladies' tattoos, nor did she have the slightest idea about the Amazighs and who we are. So, it was just natural that she compared them to something she was more familiar with. "temple talismans". that's what made me decide to write about these Amazigh designs.
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These North African patterns had caught my attention and interest since a very
young age. My grandmother had tattooed them on the back of her hands and wrists. Her
sister had them tattooed on the face, forearms and feet. I’ve also met many Ethiopian
and other African ladies who had their wrists, back of hands and necks tattooed with
the same patterns. I thought they were gorgeous. Those tattoos were something for me. Something that would undoubtedly represent my identity as a North African. They
were simply right and beautiful to say the least.
I’ve always considered getting them done. I tend to like long term tattoos. However,
introducing ink into the skin and making permanent tattoos is something not
allowed in Islam. Since I've chosen to follow the teachings and the principles in Gods books: Torah, Bible and Quran and adopt them as my way of life, (thank you God for your guidance) I abstained myself from getting them done. Luckily, henna and temporary Harquus paint were very welcomed as substitutes. They are perfectly fine and permitted. The only
downside? They’re temporary.. but we can’t
bake our cake and eat it, can we?
So, I’ve recently decided to get some Amazigh patterns done
on the back of by hands using Henna instead of ink or black paint. Henna is a mixture of
herbs, water, lemon and other organic ingredients. It contains no chemical elements and is
completely safe to apply directly on clean skin.
The salon I went to had black Henna, but the girls there warned me about it containing chemicals
and the possibility of it causing serious reactions to people with sensitive skin. I didn't know whether
my skin was sensitive to it or not. Hence, I preferred not to take any risks for now.
The ladies who Henna-ed my hands were Indians. They were naturally used to
designing patterns that were Indian or Middle Sastern (see examples on pictures: Indian or Emirati ). They’d never seen or
heard of the North African (tattooed) patterns, and weren't familiar with the
shapes either. So, I drew some examples for them on a piece of paper, and they managed to copy them with great dexterity. They just needed to do a bunch of lozenges, triangles, lines and dots. Not to forget, a few
curves, too. No flowers, No leaves. No hearts.
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| The good thing about Henna is that it fades away after a few weeks. So, you can change the designs and apply new ones. |
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Here are a few links to pictures from the internet, to illustrate other tattooed patterns, that I ,personally, find more meaningful and beautiful than flowers, leaves and spirals.
More examples of typically Amazigh patterns (designed on pots, kitchenware, carpets and walls)
Cheers :) xx
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