The facial tattoos of old Algerian ladies - Decryption - Top Destinations in Algeria
You have surely already wondered what the tattoos that most of our
? grandmothers wore represented and especially why were they
The latter, who were tattooed from a young age, often do not know what to answer. What we do know is that the vast majority of women were from rural areas.
An Algerian-Iranian anthropologist, Yasmin Bendaas undertook a serious research work by questioning the old women of Auress (her father comes from Aurès). She shared her work on the chaouiatattoos site, entitled The Story of Algeria’s traditional tattoos.
The young Algerian-Iranian anthropologist, Yasmin Bendaas
The tattoos of these women are "primitive" and materialize in the form of lines or dots on different parts of the face and body.
The anthropologist tells us that these women were “marked” by a tattoo artist, called “adasiya”. The adasiya were gypsies, coming from the Sahara, Sidi Aysa or Oran, who saw on the back of a donkey. They drew the faces of the little girls as they pleased.
tattoos
The facial tattoos of old Algerian ladies – Decryption
Still according to Yasmin Bendaas, this practice was abandoned with the disappearance of the adasiyas and after the independence of Algeria. And for good reason, these tattoos were intended to make these women less attractive to French soldiers during the colonial period. The scope was therefore political.
But that wasn't the only reason. Yasmin explains that these tattoos emphasized the femininity of these future women while protecting them from diseases.
Source: websites