Berber Clothing : Answears to the questions

 Why do Berber women wear something to cover their faces during weddings? 

Most of the time, during weddings the berber bride cover her face.This a part of their traditions. For the berbers, the man does not have to see the face of his futur wife  until the end of the wedding.

You showed some very nice tattoos on a paper, some designs, but, what do they represent?

Some of the tattoos that I showed you on the paper were facial tatoos. Some of them are used on chins and others on the forehead. Tattoos were marks of tribal identification.

What part of the Berber traditions and clothing were influenced by the Romans and what part was influenced by the Arabs?

Like the Romans, the berbers still wear the haik which a long cloth wrapped around the body in a similar way to the roman toga. When Arabs invaded Morocco, the Berbers were forced to accept the strict dress codes of the Arab Muslims. The berber  women cover their hair with scarves and their faces with veils. The influence of the Arabs of the north is stronger because the women wear plainer clothes in public tha at home. 

If somebody wrote a book about Berber clothing do you actually think people would read it, would you read it? If they do read it what can they do after that to help presevre the Berber clothing?

Well, yes why people won’t read a book about the Berber Clothing ? After they read the book then, they can share what they learned about the berber clothing with other people and if everyone do the samething, the berber clothing and the berber culture in general will be known.

Why do I see more Berber women wear a head scarf but not as many women in Rabat?

In Islam, wearing a head scarf is not obligated. The berber women may or may not cover their hair. Most of the time, the berber women in villages and small cities do cover their hair with a scarf. 

Summary 

Berber Clothing 

The berbers are the first inhabitant of Morocco. They usually live in the mountains so, they adapted their clothes to their environment. The berber clothing is unique and valuable for the berbers because everything is made by hand. First of all, I am going to talk about the berber dress, then berber jewelry and the berber beauty and finally, I am going to talk about what should we keep the berber clothing and how can we keep it ?

The berber clothing was influenced by the Romans and Arabs. The berber women still wear the haik wich is a long piece of clothe wrapped around the body in a similar way to the Roman toga. When the Arabs invaded Morocco, the berbers were forced to accept the dress codes of the Muslim Arabs. For example : the berber women cover their hair with scarves and their faces with veils. Usually, the berber men wear a Djellaba and a Burnous on top of it. The Burnous is a thick hooded wool. During summer, men wear a cotton shirt reaching down to the level of the knee called “Quamis”. Under it, they wear a loose cotton trousers called “Seroual”. Most of the time, men wear on their heads a white long turban called “Rezza”. The men has always his dagger and his small bag crossed over his chest. The women’s dress is usually very colorful. Most of the time they wear a large cloth called “Haik” with the “Ahendir” on top of it. The Ahendir is something very precious for the berbers because it is all made by hand by woman during winter. 

Berber Jewelry is very distinct from other jewelry. It is almost entirely silver. The colors and shapes used have a symbolic meaning. Jewelry is not only used for decoration; it’s a way of saving. The berber women often has a lot of jewelry and she sells it either when she wants to acquire a piece of land, tie her family over a lean period of time or just to buy something else. Men usually don’t wear a lot of jewelry except from rings. The  women’s jewelry has different shapes, different colors and decorated with divers patterns. Her jewelry is composed by : head ornaments like the “Taj”, large and heavy earrings   supported on a chain that runs across the head, necklaces of various kinds, brooches for holding robes in place, rings, and pairs of bracelets. 

Henna is the oldest cosmetic used for hair dye. It has beneficial properties for the skin and hair.The berber women used it a lot either for beautification or medicinal purposes.It is applied to burns, scraps and to bring the fever down. Long time ago, most of the women had tattoos of geometric designs on their faces, forehead, cheecks and neck. These tattoos were applied shortly before marriage. They enhanced beauty. The berber women believe that it protects them from the evil eye, diseases and death. Tattoos were marks of tribal identification. The Khol is known as a cosmetic but, it was first used for medicinal purposes. The Khol can be either black or grey. It's applied using a wooden stick called the Mirwed. The Souak or Siwak is a twif used for oral cleanliness.

In my opinion, we should keep the berber clothing because it is part of who they are so, if we don’t make an effort to keep it, we would be killing part of a great culture that took many years to form. In addition, the berber clothing is very rich so, why would we ignore it, make fun of it until we loose it.  How can we keep the berber clothing ? First of all, if you want to help to keep the berber clothing you don’t have to feel ashamed to talk to people about it. You can also do more reasearch about this topic, writes books about it to share your knowledge with other people about the berber clothing.