Berber Tattooing: in Morocco's Middle Atlas

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Their colorful traditional clothes and jewels easily stand out against the desert scenery of Maghreb. He already saw the inevitability of this in the 1990s, as popularity is bound to grow in almost any field. He led me on an amazing journey which included our four beautiful kids, Filip, Ama, Aia and Ajja, and I never regretted joining my life to his. The symbols' arrangement, meaning, and names differed from those of neighboring tribes, just as the decorations of the carpets or woven fabrics varied. In the Berber custom, the tattoo was also a way to relieve the evils, to cure a misfortune, as a form of therapy.

Many tribes in Africa view the body as a canvas for decoration and would prefer to wear little to no clothing. 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. Some Bedouin tribes also believe that markings will cure them of ailments, and symbols such as dots on the side of the head or above their eyes are said to heal a person's aches and pains. Berber tattoos were used to determine tribal affiliation and identity, indicate the marital status of women as well as if they were ready for marriage. Felix’s early flash was shaped both by his client’s requests and a melting pot of his own artistic influences.That is why we have intensively curated a collection of premium small-group trips as an invitation to meet and connect with new, like-minded people for once-in-a-lifetime experiences in three categories: Culture Trips, Rail Trips and Private Trips. Berber tattoos were perceived to protect its wearers from bad spirits or Jhoun, which may try to possess the woman. Portugal A wonderful train journey around Portugal, from the romantic city of Porto to the Douro Valley, to the beautiful Aveiro all the way to Lisbon and Sintra. Accompanied by guides and interpreters along their way, the Leus traveled over many weeks through Morocco and were welcomed as family by their shared passion for the art of tattoos (“losham”), gaining unprecedented insight into a people’s life who have rarely even been heard of.

The daughter of Felix and Loretta Leu she was born in 1971, she studied figure sketching in Vevey, Switzerland as a teenager. Amazigh use many symbols, in various types of carpets, ornaments for women, as well as in tattoos,'' says Es-Semmar. From the photographic series ‘C’est Haram’, documenting the dying tradition of facial tattooing of Berber women, Morocco, 2020. Protective virtues: From a physical point of view, the tattoo would represent a protection against the physical and psychological evils that can strike the man. Arts and culture are huge in the Berber communities, and as you travel through Morocco you will begin to recognise the arts of the various tribal areas.

The mirror tattoo helps ward off the evil eye and sends back the negative energy to the person responsible for it. Since you are here, we would like to share our vision for the future of travel - and the direction Culture Trip is moving in. Tattoos have largely disappeared among the Berber tribes due to the fact that the Berber tribes have disappeared. Each tribe has a leader who chooses their partners (sometimes the leader is a woman) and there is a strong sense of unity and community. Often people draw symbols on their bodies or tattoo them to confirm their affiliations to a particular tribe or community, and here the tattoo comes across as a form of self-distinguishing proof.

One hundred thirty-two pages were full of stories and photos of tattooed people they met on their journey through Morocco. At that moment, despite her refusal I decided to do it, I went to a woman tattooer, I did it so that I would be beautiful, but unfortunately my mother and my grandmother did not accept this gesture. They are associated with a magical function as they protect children from the evil eye, protect the community from potential enemies and protect them from evil spirits, such as tattooing as a symbiotic association between body and spirits. There is no exact date, but what is known is that the Berber tribes, since the ancient drawings that were found in the caves, and based on some books and sources that talked about tattoos in the Berber tribes, it dates back to thousands of years," says Mohamed Es-Semmar, a historian. In her book, Feminine Beauty and Identity: Female Berber Tattoos of the Regions of Biskra and Touggourt she seeks to answer the question of why tattoos in the first place, so that the new generation of Berbers would not shun the elderly due to their current beliefs stemmed in Islam.As it is with so many things in life, multiple meanings are attached to tattoos; they can represent a mark of unity or one of division. Despite widely respected religious taboos against tattoos among Muslims, the practice is millennia old and still in vogue in some communities. You will hike a volcano, visit mayan temples and witness a ceremony and take in beautiful colonial Antigua.