Amazigh tattoos... a legacy about to disappear
The Amazigh tattoo (an ancient Polynesian name originating from Tatou or Tatahau, which is also Al-Ayasha and means one who gives life, or Al-Takaz in the modern Amazigh language), is characterized by its semiotic and iconographic dimension, as it is a heritage that represents the connected and shared memory of one of the oldest peoples of the North African region in general. Including Algeria, where the Amazighs are distributed today to more than ten African countries from the Maghreb in the north, to the south of the Sahara desert through Egypt and Niger.
The use of their tattoos dates back to the Neolithic period, and is associated with the ancient beliefs and supernatural elements of the Amazighs (free men), with later Roman and Christian influences. Throughout the 1400 years of the introduction of Islam, this practice was not abolished until the second half of the last century, specifically in the year 1970, as estimated by specialists in sociology and anthropologists.
The use of tattoos among the Amazighs dates back to the Neolithic period, and is associated with ancient beliefs and the supernatural elements of the Amazighs.
"symbol-image"
This seems evident to the Moroccan historian and anthropologist Abd al-Kabir al-Khatibi, in his famous book "The Arab Name of the wounded", translated by Muhammad Bennis. For him, tattooing is a "transition from nature to culture" and a "symbolic-fictitious sign", given that the body is a space that carries in the tattooed symbols, writings and decorative drawings that have their own religious, cultural and even magical specificity, the relationship of the Amazigh individual to his group, whether it is a family, clan or tribe. They, that is, tattoos, serve as a "silent aesthetic expression" and a "free language" that goes beyond the earthly to the heavenly.
This is also evident in another book by Frenchwoman Lucienne Brosse, who spent a large part of her life in Algeria working as a nurse in the Kabyle regions, entitled "Female Beauty and Identity: Female Amazigh Tattoos in the Biskra and Tigrat Regions", in which she collected hundreds of drawings with the help of her friend Elian Okri, She puts forward what she calls "a modest study that is neither comprehensive nor historical nor comparative," as she says in an interview with "Huffpost" during a report on her book that was published on the twelfth of November 2015.
In an attempt to search for the meanings of those tattoos and their symbols on the bodies of elderly women, as symbols of social status and family affiliation, and as a source of sedition and temptation as a "complete female", and the extent to which they relate to the belief and imaginative nature of the worlds of female deities, it turns out that the Amazighs tattooed their foreheads, chins, cheeks, and backs Their hands and temples, by using dyes from materials of plant origin, or from charcoal mixed with water and blood, and most of these drawings had a social-cultural dimension rather than a cosmetic-decorative one, indicating the specificity of their race from the Arabs in particular.
The tattoo, which denotes a rich ethnic culture, is a form of rebellion among the Amazighs against the invading Arab conquerors. In the Kabyle tradition, the cross tattooed on the foot or arm of the Amazigh man is generally associated with freedom, and symbolizes the will of the people to liberate themselves. In women, the same tattoo appears on the hands. In the seventh century, during the Amazigh wars, women tattooed their hands and ankles, to represent the families of their husbands and their restriction by Muslims.
Looking at the tattoo as a temptation, it is also an adornment designed to highlight the charms of a woman and the aesthetics of her body. Here, reference must be made to the sexual significance of tattoos, specifically the tattoos drawn in sensitive areas, whether on the thighs, between the breasts, or upper buttocks, which make women more erotic and more desirable on the marital bed. In addition to all this, the tattoo carries a therapeutic benefit for the Amazighs, whether against headaches or arthritis, and it is a way to ward off evil spirits, whether from the newborn child or from its expectant mother.
forbidden tattoos
However, this ancient practice, which preceded the presence of the Amazighs in the region, which is still on the bodies of the grandmothers and grandfathers, whose departure from our lives will be completely absent. Today, it has been known to decline and disappear since the middle of the last century, due to Islamic influences based on the principle of absolute prohibition, as it is a “desecration of the body.” Which "God created in the best formation", and a human attempt to "modify the workmanship of the Creator."
The Islamic prohibition seems clear through what Muslim refers to in his Sahih, on the authority of Alqamah, on the authority of Abdullah bin Masoud, on the authority of the Prophet Muhammad, who said: “God cursed women who tattoo women and women who tattoo women, women who have tattoos, women who have women who have menstruated, women who have menstruated, women who have menstruated for beauty, who change God’s creation.” Through the prohibition associated with cursing in its "explicit form", tattoos were associated with fraud, imitation of immoral and ignorant people, harming the body using needles and the pain they cause, in addition to the fact that tattoos are "unclean" due to the mixing of blood with dye.
Apart from the forbidden religious reasons for this phenomenon, there are more real reasons that come on top of them is the “Westernization of society”, the influence of the Amazigh countryside on the outputs of modern civilization, and the standing of tattoos as an obstacle to integration into public life in cities, and in official institutions and universities and entering jobs, and the laws that prevent it.
Between "Al-Ayasha" and "Lentis"
We mentioned that tattooing is popularly called “al-Ayasha” among tribes, and it is a specific practice within the countryside using soot (charcoal soot), and in various colors such as blue and green. The process takes place through acupuncture, within minute details that require expertise for the tattooist, who narrates the legendary Amazigh narratives about her possession of special magical abilities, such as treatment of diseases, protection of the tattooed person from the envious and evil eye, and the removal of magic.
The tattooist (who usually chooses the shape of the tattoo) sits on the ground and in front of her is the girl or the woman who wants to tattoo her, and around them are the women of the village. Then she outlines the shape to be drawn on the girl’s body, using black coal and then works to prick the place with needles until the blood comes out. After that, the area is rubbed with burnt soot, which is left for some time, to be sprinkled with salted water and special herbs. After a week of meticulous surgery, the healed wound turns into a beautiful decoration that has its own meanings, which the tattooed girl boasts of, and invites happiness and blessings to everyone who wears the tattoo.
The tattoo carries a therapeutic benefit for the Amazighs, whether against headaches or arthritis, and is a way to ward off evil spirits from a newborn child or a pregnant woman.
There is another conception of the spread of tattoos among the Berber tribes, according to which it was spread among them at the hands of the Bedouin tattooists "Al-Adasiyyat", who are women belonging to Bedouin groups from the Algerian desert, Oran or Tunisia. Algerian anthropologist Yasmine Bendas told The Casbah Post, in a published report entitled "Traditional Tattoos in Algeria: Myths and Truth," that on February 19, 2017, "lentils" replaced tattoo services with various foodstuffs or products. One of them would knock on the door, often accepting flour, eggs and shoes in exchange for money for her services.
The practice of traditional tattooing had all but disappeared with the end of this form of trade, along with the eradication of illiteracy and the spread of religious practices prohibiting body modification. In describing the Bedouin, the interviewees noted that the Adasiyya spoke Arabic, which explains why the names of the tattoos are written in Arabic and not in Chaoui. Therefore, the Algerian authorities' expulsion and persecution of the Roma contributed to limiting the activity of the "lentils" with the passage of time
From "God's Eye" to the point
Many of the symbols and motifs painted on the bodies of the Amazighs bear connotations and constitute signs that have a deep and ancient connection with them ideologically and culturally, and their own philosophy of life, the most prominent of which is the sign (+) which means the eye of God, and it has a more poetic meaning, as it is like the star that guides man to God's light, and the constant search for justice.
And there is the "Rose Star", which is made up of two triangles opposite in direction, the upper one indicates fire and masculinity, and the other towards the bottom indicates water and femininity, indicating the natural balance and the union of man and woman. And the "square" symbol refers to the house, belonging to the family, and harmony within the same house. And there are "the two squares on top of each other" and refers to God's eternal struggle against the forces of evil and darkness. The "circle" represents the absolute. The "vertical line" denotes God and life in general. As for the "two parallel lines", they represent the struggle between good and evil within every human soul.
The "crescent" denotes the cycle, i.e. the cycle of reproduction and development from life to death, and there is a special Islamic indication of the presence of the crescent with a star inside it, as it indicates the religious commitment of the owner of the tattoo. And for the "vortex point" it is a tattoo that denotes harmony, inner calm and peace. The most important natural symbols are the "palm trees" on the forehead of Amazigh women, symbolizing the feminine mother goddess. The continuous tattoo between the ears on the woman's face is an indication of her deceased husband's beard.
Here, it is possible to talk about tattoos as a weapon used by Amazigh women to alienate the occupation soldiers and make themselves ugly, but the anthropologist Yasmine Mendas usually denies that the issue is unfounded, because some women during the colonial period actually adopted tattoos for political purposes, and it could have been imbued with local symbols of resistance and protection, such as the stirrups used by cavalry.
Source : websites