Amazigh issu

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Amazigh

Fading culture

My roots lay in the northern of morocco, I am an Amazigh. Until today I didn’t know much about my heritage. Thanks to my curiosity for things I decided that it was very important for me to do some research about my own culture. Call it a biographical work, a research based result or whatever. The ultimate reason why i started doing this project is merely because I believe that culture is a crucial element for society that is starting to become irrelevant to most of humanity.

The Amazigh was in fact the original population of Morocco. This tribe lived for more than 4000 years before the arabs came upon them. The almoravids and almohads were also Amazigh people and they ruled spain, france and parts of italy for years and years. A lot of it’s history has been vanished from moroccan history books and even the rest of the world has little knowledge about this culture. You could compare it to what happened to the Indians in America, but i do not like to compare them personally.

The Amazigh society is still a very good example of the result of the concequences of colonialism.

Because of that, our inhumain society succeeded 4

The Green March (Morocco, 1975) - Š Bruno Barbey

again into oppressing yet another culture, making it impossible for them to evolve in their traditions and even questioning certain things that could have been bad. They will never be able to epxlore their own cultural history because they have been derpived of that.

Doing my research I was devastated at how little I could find about The Amazigh people, but somehow I still managed to put all the little pieces together to come up with an interesting concept for my bachelor assignment.

It is important to know that most of the culture has been preserved in a very unique way, far from what the eastern world has been able to witness. I was amazed by the ability that the Amazigh women had. They were the ones who weaved and decorated the houses with very simple, geometrical symbolism that represented the Amazigh people’s identity.

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Women’s power

Thanks to the women The Amazigh managed to preserve a lot of the symbols and even the language, which is very similar to the symbols used. In my research I was mostly interested about those symbols in the beautiful rugs. Nevertheless it is important to know that the Amazigh symbolism is present in many objects and forms, such as in jewelery and tattoo’s for example.I am sure that every amazigh person has seen their mothers and grandmothers with these astonishing greenish tattoos on their faces and hands.

With the arrival of the islam, They had to adapt some of their traditions and the habbit of placing tattoos became a sin so they had to look for another way to decorate their bodies, hence why henna became a very handy substance to temporarly adorn their hands and feet.

Amazigh culture is , often times, about identity and pride. these clever, brave women started creating this language of symbols to tell a story through weaving, decorating their houses and marking their belongings nd territories. Identity is a very important aspect of the Amazigh culture, so that is the rason why the practice of symbolism to represent their traditions and identity became very relevant.

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Woman with tattoo’s on her face.

Today this symbols are still very much alive, but the newer generation is not really aware of them.

You can still see them on weavings and even henna designs. Lots of women still use the symbols in their weaving for example, but they are not aware of the meaning and the history they contain.

Besides that, lots of aspects of the Amazigh culture are literarly fading because people just don’t care anymore. Luckly there are still a few militant groups in Morocoo and other African lands that are still trying to fight so they can preserve some of this beautiful culture.

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The Amazigh flag

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The flag is composed of blue, green, and yellow horizontal bands of the same height, and a Tifinagh letter ‘yaz’ or ‘aza’. The flag is a very good example to show how many symbolic thought goes into everything they do to represent themselves.

Each color corresponds to an aspect of Tamazgha, the territory inhabited by Berbers in North Africa: blue represents the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean; green represents nature and the green mountains; yellow represents the sands of the Sahara Desert.

The yaz symbolizes the “free man”, which is the meaning of the Berber word ‘amazigh’, the Berbers’ own name for themselves. It is in red, the color of life, and also the color of resistance.

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Symbols

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Fig. 1: Bee; Symbol that represents labour. It also expresses the abondance and good luck in the family.

Fig. 14: Grains; Symbol thatrepresents the masculine fertility fluid. This symbol represents life and fertility.

Fig. 2: Anchor; Symbol of solidity , permanence and fidelity . it also expresses the interior balance and lucidity (as opposed to moving waters and disorders).

Fig. 15: Salamander; Animal associated with the water in which it lives; It circulates through the symbols of these elements: profoundity , regeneration, transformation , growth, etc.

Fig. 3: Ram; Symbol that represents life in its outporing generosity.

Fig. 16: Bull; Symbol that representsthe blind and irresistible force. It is a male principle whose seed fertilized the world. But also a cosmic element which concentrates the creative and spiritual forces.

Fig. 4: Oliver; Symbol of strength, the name comes from the term “azemmur” and “tamzart”, which mean strenghttheir name, azemmur to tamzart ‘force’,but a tanquile strength and beneficent for the people. Oil represents the vital substance.

Fig. 5: Wheat; A pradoxal symbol meaning life and death. Life when the grain grows into a plant and death when the grain gets buried into the soil.

Fig. 6: Card; The meaning of this symbol has not been found during the research made, so it is open to interpretation.

Fig. 7: The lion’s paw; A symbol of strength.

The claws are also a symbol of protection.

Fig. 8: Snail; Positive symbol associated with the rain and the moon. It represents fertility , the cycle of crops and permanence.

Fig. 9: Seeds; Symbol related to fertility.

Fig. 10: Amulet; Meaning is open to interpretation.

Fig. 11: Bird; Positive motive which carries baraka (blessings from god).

Fig. 12: Flower; Symbol representing Ouarida, a kind of flower. The dimond shape is a symbol of protection against the evil eye.

Fig. 13: Eye; Symbol for protection against the evil eye. The cross in the middle deflects evil in four directions.

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Fig.17: Fly; Amnivalent symbol for evil and death, as well as courage and endurance.

Its image or its body, enclosed in an amulet protects against evil eye.

Fig. 18: Axe; Sharp instrument that symbolizes anger and destruction but because it also attacks the forces of evil, it plays a positive role. Associated to lightning and rain, it also symbolizes fertility.

Fig. 19: Chessboard; Symbolassociated with dizzy spells and celestial experiences, perhaps symbolic of religious trances.

Fig. 20: Barely; Fertility symbol.

Fig. 21: Yaz; Symbol also found in the Amazigh alphabet representing the letter Z. It is also found in the Amazigh flag and it means “the free people”.

Fig. 22: Hammer; Instrument of brutal and primitive force , it is in the hand of the blacksmith a way to reduce iron and give it forme.It symbolizes the domination of power , natural forces and the creative power .

Fig. 23: Copulatio; Symbol of mating.

Fig. 24: Sine nomine; The symbol embodies the unborn child in a mother’s womb. the symbol inside the lozenge appears separately in some of the tapistry as well to symbolize a new born child.

Fig. 25: Partridge eyes; A symbol for beauty and women in general.

Fig. 26: Star; Meaning is open to interpretation.

Fig. 27: Finger; A protective symbol.

Fig. 28: Bird; Symbol of the sky-earth relationship. It represents the lightness . keen intelligence , even the breath of the soul that descends into the matter and life.

Fig. 29: Spider; Feminin symbol that represents the laborious life, patience and harmony.

Fig. 30: Spider; Symbol associated with fertility and magical rites.

Fig. 31: Frog; Symbol associated with fertility and magical rites.

Fig. 32: Tree; Associated with the easy life, happiness and fertility . It appears as the world axis , around which the people, things and minds gravitate. it also symbolizes life( roots ) and knowledge( the leaves ).

Fig. 33: Fly; Amnivalent symbol for evil and death, as well as courage and endurance.

Its image or its body, enclosed in an amulet protects against evil eye.

Fig. 38: Nose; Represents the Crow’s beak which is worn strung around a child’s neck for protection.

Fig. 39: Snake; The snake represents a holy person and also has many magical and medicinal properties.

Fig. 40: Scorpion; A paradoxal symbol meaning bad and death, but also courage and endurance.

Fig. 41: Ship; Associated with water and means strength, wisdom and blessing.

Fig. 42: Moon; Associated with feminity and represents change, fertility and the perpetual cycle.

Fig. 43: Sun; Life and power. It is a source of life, heat and light but could also be an evil force because it does drain the waters and can destroy the corps.

Fig. 44: Crescent; Change and revival, openness, birth, death and resurection of the full moon.

Fig. 45: Lozenge; One of the main symbols representing womanhood and feminin fertility.

Fig. 34: Scissors; A symbol of metalworkers, whose occupation is treated with fearful respect as metal keeps away jnoun( ghosts ).

Fig. 46: Lizard; His name ‘tazermemuyt’ is a diminutive of the snake ‘azrem’, which represents a tamed form, peaceful and beneficial.

This animal Protects the enviroment from bad influences.

Fig. 35: Sickle; A symbol of metalworkers, whose occupation is treated with fearful respect as metal keeps away jnoun( ghosts ).

Fig. 47: Lunar snake; Symbol for the union of male and female, earth and the skies, the shadow and the shiny.

Fig. 36: Saw; A symbol of metalworkers, whose occupation is treated with fearful respect as metal keeps away jnoun( ghosts ).

Fig. 48: Sun; Life and power. It is a source of life, heat and light but could also be an evil force because it does drain the waters and can destroy the corps.

Fig. 37: Hirondelle; Harbinger of spring. symbolizes the cyclical return to femininity and fertility.

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Make your own

To make the project interactive I made a website to give an overview of the research altogether with the symbols and their meaning. This way the history of the symbols becomes accessible to anyone. There is also a rugmaker where you can design your own rug.

I designed the website so you can scroll through everything infinitely. you can also click on the titles to go to certain parts of the website. A webiste is a very handy tool to create a sort of platform where people can interact with the content and make it more interesting.

The purpose of this website is to educate people about the Amazigh and to get to know the meaning of the symbols that are slowly fading away. Besides educating, you can also create your own designs based on the symbols that kind of make up a part of your identity. everyone can feel related to the symbols and the culture even though they have never heard of it.

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bennami.com/Amazigh 19

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Fig. 11: Bird; Positive motive which carries baraka ( blessings from god ).

Fig. 12: Flower; Symbol representing Ouarida, a kind of flower. The dimond shape is a symbol of protection against the evil eye.

Fig.25: Partridge eyes; A symbol for beauty and women in general.

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Fig. 11: Bird; Positive motive which carries baraka ( blessings from god ).

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Fig. 2: Anchor; Symbol of solidity, permanence and fidelity.

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Fig. 5: Wheat; A pradoxal symbol meaning life and death. Life when the grain grows into a plant and death when the grain gets buried into the soil.

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