Tattooing FUNCTIONS / SYMBOLS: An old tradition in north africa
The function of tattooing is historically manifold among Amazighs: it can be protective and ornamental, but also identity or medical: in the Sahel, intervening midway between the outside and inside of the body, it was lent to him. healing virtues: headache, arthritis ...
Every detail, every motif has its own symbolic in the Berber tattoo
- The point symbolizes the home, which is in the center center of the house
- The crescent moon the matter that is born, grows up and dies.
- The spiral symbolizes eternal harmony
- The circle represents the absolute.
- Palm trees tattooed on the front of Berber women invoke the mother goddess
- The first vertical line symbolizes god and life, as well as the first tool planted in earth by man
- The two features symbolize the duality between the good and the bad that sleep in each
- The square is the representation of the house
- Two superimposed squares symbolize God's fight against curse and darkness
- The rosette, composed of triangles: the one with the tip upwards symbolizes fire and virility, while the triangle with the tip down represents water and femininity
- The plus (+ sign) symbolizes the eye of God, the star whose light guides the man in the night
- The cross symbolizes the two legs or the two arms of the man.
- Other symbols: palm palm, chevrons, fir pectins, life lines