Berber Tattooing: in Morocco's Middle Atlas

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Within Amazigh ( Berber culture) women were historically tattooed facially. In times pre-dating the arrival of Islam in North Africa the practice was widespread. However since the arrival of the Islamic faith, the belief that to alter a creation of Allah is haram ( forbidden) has lead to the almost complete decline of the practice. There is a wide diversity of representations of Amazigh symbols throughout Greater Tamazgha regarding Amazigh tattoos. Maya identifies six symbols with different meanings in most of North Africa. Berber tattoos were undoubtedly initially a distinctive sign, a mark of a tribe. Each clan had its particular designs and decorative composition. All the clan's women were labeled, willingly or forcibly, at the age of puberty. One of the reasons for that is the ability to recognize them in case of kidnappings that followed wars, fights, and raids. Jedwel" is the Berber word for a tattoo and can be translated as "talisman." Girls were traditionally tattooed to mark the phases of their lives.

In some cases, animals were also depicted in tattoos, for instance, the image of a gazelle would demonstrate grace and beauty. Kurdish 'deq' For the women who wear this symbol, it represents the bird itself, a symbol of beauty, agility … and to represent this symbol on oneself, is to attract what it symbolizes.” Felix & Loretta Leu, both born in 1945, were artists, “freaks”, and adventurers. From 1965, when they met in New York City, until 1978, they travelled and lived in America, Europe, North Africa, India and Nepal, and in time were accompanied by four children, who were all born “on the road”. In 1978 they discovered tattooing as an art form, one with which they could support their family anywhere in the world. In 1981 they chose to settle in Switzerland where they created “The Leu Family’s Family Iron Tattoo Studio”. Felix died of cancer in 2002. Loretta, lives in Switzerland, walks in fields and forests with her two dogs, and is writing a history of her life with Felix.Berber tattoos complete this elegant and well-groomed look: these geometric signs in the shape of an arrow, a point, or a triangle, cover their faces, hands and ankles, the only uncovered parts of their bodies.

Known as “ Tricrad “, Amazigh tattoos have various meanings depending on the symbols used by women. We identify at least three primary purposes of Amazigh tattoos.Despite this deep-rooted history, the practice is dying out due to a mixture of increasing religiosity and the spread of western fashions.