Rabat – Historically, Amazigh (Berber) girls tattooed their faces, feet, arms, and other body parts for beauty, health, and protection. However, as Morocco’s cultural dynamics and traditions exchange with time, globalization, and the effect of Islam in society, the ancient subculture is quickly disappearing. Amazigh girls with tattoos nowadays have been born in time while tattoos were entirely advocated, celebrated, and a vital part of their lives. Within their lifetimes, the ladies witnessed a sudden transformation within Morocco and North Africa, wherein their tattoos, which once made them renowned, have become a supply of shame. Tattooing is a historical tradition practiced in cultures around the arena. In North Africa, the way of life of tattooing dates to pre-Islamic instances, and Amazigh populations across Morocco have practiced it constantly considering then. Historically, tattooing aided nomadic Amazigh tribes in distinguishing participants of various corporations. Symbols inside the tattoos served as a unifying pressure, deeply rooted in each group’s records and cause. Beyond beautification, tattoos informed the memories of tribes, tied ladies to their land, and conveyed familial ties.
As a result of a new stigma because of the French career and the upward thrust of Islam in Morocco, this practice is now quickly disappearing. Currently, the tattooed aged Amazigh girls of these days are the closing era to have taken component within the culture.
The motive and placement of tattoos
Traditionally positioned on ladies, Amazigh tattoo designs are highly symbolic and are believed to induce fertility, remedy illnesses, and guard in opposition to spirits or nouns. Much of the time, Amazigh tattoos are placed close to the eyes, mouth, and nostrils. The markings, tattooed on Amazigh women beginning at a young age, acted as a rite of passage. After an Amazigh woman become tattooed, she becomes a girl with the capability of motherhood. Tattoos observed Amazigh girls all through their lives. The first facial tattoo is the “Diyala” and is located on the chin for fertility. At an early age, women also implemented tattoos to protect themselves from loss of life and ailment. Along with critical milestones and the onset of puberty or fertility, women received extra tattoos. Tattoos have also been used to convey one’s social or marital status and portray beauty.
Later in life, if a woman’s social reputation changed, her tattoos could evolve with them. If a female was widowed, she might additionally have a tattoo from one ear to the other, symbolizing the beard of her lifeless husband. However, when asked about the motive in their tattoos in interviews, many tattooed girls and their circle of relatives individuals advised Morocco World News that the cause turned into sole decoration and made them stunning. Fatima, an elderly woman with many facial tattoos, said her tattoos had been “the same as make-up.”
When requested about the meaning of the symbols on her face, some other woman from Khemisset, a metropolis east of Rabat, said they might be “only for ornament.” remain?.
