Matmata, Tunisia, is a village that preserves the Amazigh heritage
Tunisia - “Al-Quds Al-Arabi”: Matmata is the wondrous Tunisian village that was carved by the Amazighs from ancient times into the rocks of the mountains. It distinguished itself from the rest of the cities and villages of the country with a special character and was an exception in every sense of the word. If the cities of Tunis, Kairouan, Mahdia, and others emphasize the green Arabism through their architecture, the identity of the builders of its most important landmarks, and the origins of its inhabitants, then Matmata constantly reminds Tunisians and non-Tunisians of the Amazigh heritage of this country, which is considered an important component of Tunisian identity that cannot be ignored.
Matmata is located in the southeast of Tunisia, in the middle of the Matmata desert mountain range. It is administratively affiliated with the state of Gabes, which is characterized by its humid, dry and very hot climate in the summer due to its proximity to the desert regions that are part of the African Sahara. Matmata is about 450 kilometers from the city of Tunis, 60 kilometers from the city of Medenine, the center of the neighboring state of Medenine, and 43 kilometers from the Gulf of Gabes, which is the closest point to the Mediterranean Sea for Matmata.
Natural conditioners
Houses dug into the mountains protect residents from the summer heat, as they turn into natural air conditioners during this extremely hot season in these harsh regions. They also protect them from the cold of winter, as they turn into a naturally warm place during this harsh season, without heaters. These houses also represented a suitable place for the Amazigh population in southern Tunisia to preserve their customs and traditions and to isolate themselves from their surroundings, to which the Arabs of the Peninsula flocked, whether during the Islamic conquest in the first century AH, or during the migration of the Beni Hilal and Beni Selim tribes to the region in pursuit of its fertile lands and agricultural resources.
The house in Matmata consists of a large, wide pit, the flat floor of which is the house’s courtyard or courtyard, overlooked by rooms dug into the rock that surround this courtyard from all sides. The house is accessed from the top through a staircase, or a staircase, at the bottom of which the door leading to the courtyard is located in a strange architecture that differs even from the rest of the Amazigh buildings, whether those located in Tamizurt or in Tataouine and other states of the south or in Takrouna in the state of Sousse and other Tunisian Amazigh villages.
The tomato house also consists of two floors, an upper one in which supplies and various food items are stored, and a lower one for living and lodging, which includes a kitchen, bathroom, bedrooms, and a living room with simple yet beautiful furniture. The house is dominated by brown, which is the color of the earth, in addition to white, which is the paint with which residents paint their homes, which include artistic masterpieces and ancient and traditional accessories from the Amazigh heritage that was passed down through generations on that land that refused to dissolve into the other and lose the components of its identity.
Some of these houses in Matmata have been turned into hotels to accommodate visitors to southern Tunisia who wish to learn about Amazigh customs and traditions and learn about the unique peculiarities of the region in its Tunisian and even North African surroundings, given the spread of the Amazigh in the region extending from the Siwa Oasis in Egypt to the Atlantic Ocean on the islands. The Spanish Canaries, as well as in non-Maghreb African countries such as Mali, Niger, Burkina Faso and Chad. Scenes from the American Star Wars series of films were also filmed in those areas and in nearby Tataouine. It seemed to the viewer of those films as if Matmata was located on another planet, far from Earth, and inhabited by other creatures. It did not occur to anyone that those scenes were located in southern Tunisia except the people of Tunisia. The country themselves.
Despite the attempts of the State of Independence to settle the residents of Matmata in modern homes in new villages that it established similar to the new city of Matmata, a significant percentage of the Amazigh population preferred to remain in their homes carved into the rocks of the mountains that they inherited from their fathers and grandfathers. It seemed as if originality prevailed over modernity for these people, and that these simple mountain rooms in their form were in the minds of their owners evidence of belonging and heritage rooted in the depths of history that could not be dispensed with as easily as some imagine.
Amazigh tribe
Some attribute the name Matmata to a Amazigh tribe that settled in that land and carved its homes in those rugged reefs to preserve its traditions and language in the midst of Arab expansion and settlement of the region and neighboring regions. Some also assert that the name Matmata in Amazigh is “Athob” and means the home of happiness, although this hypothesis does not seem convincing to many, and it is most likely that the first hypothesis is correct and that Matmata is actually the name of an Amazigh tribe that has its extensions in other regions of southern Tunisia and in western Libya and even In the rest of the Maghreb countries.
It is said that the inhabitants of those regions, the Berbers and others, did not integrate properly into the Republic of Carthage, which extended, at some point during the seventh century BC, from the coast of the Gulf of Sirte in Libya to Tangier in northern Morocco, in addition to the islands of Crete, Malta, Sicily, Sardinia, Corsica, and the Iberian Peninsula. (Spain and Portugal), southern France and Italy, before its influence began to decline, ending with the fall of the city of Carthage, the capital of the country, near Tunis today. Also, the inhabitants of those regions did not integrate properly with the Romans, who overthrew Carthage with the help of the Amazigh Kingdom of Numidia, which appeared centuries after the Carthaginians’ presence. The rest of the Amazighs, unlike Numidia and the treacherous Masinissa, did not accept the Roman presence in the region and sought to resist it by all possible means, and resistance movements emerged that refused to submit to the process of Romanization of North Africa.
The residents of those struggling lands also preserved their customs and traditions despite the invasion of the region by the conquering Arabs. They took Islam exclusively from the newcomers and preserved their language, in addition to being forced to learn Arabic to understand the Qur’an and its meanings. Despite the remarkable number of Arab and Berber dynasties that ruled Tunisia after the Islamic conquest, such as the Aghlabids, Fatimids, Sanhajis, and Hafsids, and despite the arrival of other nationalities to the country, such as the Andalusians, Turks, and the peoples of the Caucasus and the Balkans, who were brought by the Ottomans in their Janissary army, the people of Matmata preserved their Amazigh language, which they call “Shalha.” » This is despite their mastery of the Tunisian colloquial dialect, which is a mixture of Arabic and Canaanite Carthaginian.
But it seems that this ancient and ancient Amazigh language is beginning to disappear among the new generations of Matmata people, especially those who were born in major cities or who moved there with their parents when they were children. Some of these people memorize a few vocabulary words only from their parents, while others have become complete strangers in the presence of their mother tongue, which their ancestors spoke for centuries, and they do not understand its most important vocabulary and meanings.
For reference, many of the residents of Gabès fled during World War II to Matmata and took refuge in its caves and mountains, given that Gabès was the arena of the decisive battle between the Axis forces led by the German General Rommel and the Allies led by the British General Montgomery. The residents of Matmata also contributed to defeating French colonialism from their land and engaged in the popular resistance to the colonizer, like the Arab tribes in the southern states, such as the Beni Zeid in Gabès, the Maraziq in Kebili, and others.
Precious treasure
The residents of Matmata are active in the agricultural sector, despite the difficult climatic conditions and the scarcity of precipitation in that place, which negatively affects this activity as old as civilizations on Tunisian soil. Its residents are also active in the tourism sector and traditional industries related to the village’s Amazigh heritage, and in the parallel activities created by the tourism sector and the presence of tourist inns that are visited by Tunisian and other visitors.
During school holidays, Tunisian families flock to Matmata looking for a cultural and civilized resource that distinguishes the country away from traditional tourism on the seashore, where swimming, water games and sunbathing are possible. The rooms dug into the earth and the tunnels connecting them attract adventure enthusiasts and those seeking to explore the unknown, especially since the visitor to Matmata can delve into the depths of the desert, where the high sand dunes and oases are located, and he can visit the palaces of Tataouine, which is not far away, and also the island of Djerba, whether via bridge or ferry.
A visitor to Matmata can also enjoy the unique architecture of the majestic Qasr Jumaa Castle, which, along with the aforementioned houses, is considered the most important landmark of the village of Matmata, which has survived throughout the ages, preserving the heritage of the Amazighs and their secrets from invaders coming from far and wide. It is as if this majestic castle is the faithful custodian of this Amazigh heritage, or it is the one who reduces the memory of this main component of this people who refused to melt, melt, and erase the inheritance of the forefathers of each of its components.
It appears to the visitor as if the residents of Matmata found what they were looking for in the topography of their village and the architecture of their homes to hide their cultural and civilizational heritage from invaders and passers-by who wanted to erase and target this heritage. It is as if these invaders passed by and did not notice its presence after its people did a good job of hiding and concealing their precious treasure from these invaders who were known during the various historical eras that the Tunisian country passed through.
Promising possibilities
Walid Al-Azouzi, who is from the vicinity of Matmata, where his parents left to settle in the capital before he was born, and who continued to visit his homeland during school holidays and holidays to meet his parents’ relatives, uncles, uncles, and their children, believes that he feels some sadness and regret that he did not learn the Amazigh language properly, unlike his cousins, who found it difficult to speak. Communicate with them in childhood. He emphasizes that openness to others and integration into the homeland does not necessarily mean abandoning the cultural and civilizational heritage that Matmata and the surrounding Amazigh villages have succeeded in preserving despite the passage of all these years.
Our speaker adds: “Matmata, Tamzart, and other villages are living museums of Amazigh life in Tunisia and throughout North Africa, but there is a failure to introduce them by the state, which has directed all its capabilities to beach tourism. Visitors to Matmata are those who pass from it towards the desert or the island of Djerba, and they are forced to spend a day and a night visiting these wonderful houses, while what is required is to spend longer days by creating new activities, introducing improvements to hotels, and increasing their accommodation capacity.
According to Al-Azouzi, how many cities are far from the sea, and yet tourism flourished and grew remarkably until it became known internationally and the arrival of visitors to it became self-evident and without planning, which contributed to the employment and stability of the labor force without the need to migrate to major cities. Therefore, the statement that the distance from the sea is the reason for the failure of tourism in Matamata to flourish in the desired way is rejected by its authors, according to our speaker, and it is not reliable and cannot in any way be taken as an excuse.
Source: websites