Tattoos.. symbols adorning the faces of Amazigh women
Amazigh women in the Maghreb are unique in their tattoos, which sometimes show their forehead, neck, and even their feet. It is the first thing that catches your eye when you speak to an elderly woman of Amazigh origin.
?How did this practice, which refuses to disappear, begin
Symbols and semantics
Tattoos have an aesthetic dimension for the Amazighs, but they also carry many connotations, as society lacked communication, especially between women and men, so women resort to rooting what they want to say on their skin.
The plus sign (+), for example, on the cheek means the letter Taa, or the first letters of the word (Tamtout), meaning a beautiful woman in the Amazigh language. As for the symbols that are tattooed on the breasts, they indicate fertility in the offspring.
Tattoos also have other connotations in the beliefs of the Amazighs, for example, some believe that it wards off evil spirits, which explains the blue color, which was believed to have an anti-bad effect.
In this regard, Ahmed Assid, a Moroccan activist interested in Amazigh culture, explains that "tattoos have an aesthetic and sensual significance, as they indicate that a girl has reached a certain age, which is the age of puberty."
Ahmed Assid, in an interview with Aswat Magharebia, believes that the semantic dimension of tattoos is not limited to aesthetics only, but rather is self-affirmation within a specific societal context, and it is a communication in terms of the messages it transmits.
As for Lucienne Bruce, who published a booklet on the meanings of tattoos for women of the Auras and the desert in general, in a small book, she confirms that a big secret was revealed to her while she was collecting the papers of her colleague who drew tattoos throughout her work as a nurse during the French colonial days in Algeria.
Among the most prominent images of tattoos in the Amazigh culture, we find the sun, stars, scorpion, and even the olive branch and the snake, in addition to other symbols and indications related to the history of the tattoo owner and the tribe to which she belongs.
Amazigh women tattoo the + sign on the cheek, which means the letter Ta in the Amazigh language, and it is an abbreviation for the word Tamtout, meaning the beautiful female
Historical roots
The ancient Egyptians used tattoos as a treatment, as they thought it would ward off envy, as it was known to the Chinese, Indians, Sumerians, Assyrians, Babylonians and Persians.
The practice extends, according to historians, to the stage that preceded the entry of Muslims into North Africa, because the girl of Amazigh origin was tattooed since the age of five by Roma immigrants on their way to the region, whom historians call "Ada Sias" women.
In this regard, Mahdi Titafi, who is interested in history and specializes in the study of manuscripts and intangible heritage in the state of Adrar in southern Algeria, says, "The tattoos inherited by Berber women have aesthetic connotations, as it is a process of communicating proof that extends its roots back to before the Berbers converted to Islam."
Al-Mahdi Titafi confirms that he is in the process of researching the secret of the fact that Amazigh women who come from the Qarara region, which includes Adrar and its surroundings, do not adorn themselves with tattoos, just as their counterparts from the Tal or Tuareg regions in the far south.
"I wonder about the secret of not tattooing women in the Qarara region, unlike the promotion, Chaoui or Amazigh women in Morocco, Tunisia and Libya?" The man concludes his speech to "Aswat Maghreb", stressing that women in the Saharan Atlas are still preserving this legacy.
Source : websites internet