THE ART OF THE BERBER CARPET

The Art of The Berber Carpet

     The carpet has always been an essential element of human life. If the oldest traces go back only to 2500 years, in the regions of China and Iran, it seems that its appearance everywhere on the planet coincides with the manufacture of the first clothes. This sheep wool floor covering would gradually go down in history to become a common, everyday object, but a carrier, refined and proud, of the cultural singularities of its creators. Thus in Morocco, in the imperial cities as in the Berber regions, the carpet became an art craft which finds place alongside the great traditions of the weavers of Europe, Persia, Asia and d 'East.

In Morocco, this carpet craft has developed along two lines. If the carpets made in cities, such as in Rabat, Fez or Médiouna, unequivocally affirm their oriental inspirations which appeared at the end of the sumptuous Andalusian period, when the Muslim craftsmen then present in Spain had to join Morocco, the carpet of Berber tradition seems to register its roots in older times. There are indeed correspondences between certain traditional motifs and the rock drawings that dot the region.

The Berber carpet, also called Azetta, is the carpet of the Berber tribes. From one of the three great Berber groups (Masmouda, Zénètes and Sanhadja) or of Bedouin Arab origin, each tribe has developed during its history and its peregrinations a particular aesthetic and technical style in the weaving of its carpets. More than a utilitarian craft, weaving has thus become the standard of the name of each of these tribes, in the expression of their respective qualities, their simplicity, their rusticity and their sobriety, but also their liveliness made of good humor and almost naive melancholy.

The Berber carpet is also that of Berber women, those of the countryside and the Atlas mountains, who from mothers to daughters pass on techniques like patterns in a sibylline language where abstract and enigmatic geometry mingle. symbols of the Tifinaghe script in expression of the Amazigh identity, or even the universal imagery of scenes from everyday life (animal figure, drawing of birds, camels…). Carpet weaving is a vital activity for these Berber families of pastoral tradition who find one of their main sources of income.

Finally the Berber carpet is the echo of the territories that have welcomed these tribes to the point of becoming over the years and especially from their sedentarization the showcase of their identity. The following breakdown can be observed:

• Carpets from the Middle Eastern Atlas.
• The carpets of the central and eastern Atlas.
• High Atlas rugs.
• The carpets of Djebel Siroua.
• The carpets of the anti-Atlas.
• The Haouz carpets in Marrakech.

Carpets from Djebel Siroua:

In the Taznakhte region, 85 km from Ouarzazate, is one of the main production sites for Berber carpets, that of the confederation of Aït Ouaouzguite. This ancient tribe brings together Amazigh populations who inhabit the High Atlas and Jebel Siroua regions south of Ouarzazate and between Tazenakhte and Taliouine. Long settled, these tribes are made up of a mixture of populations from two of the great root Berber groups, the Masmouda and the Sanhadja.

Berber women used to dye wool themselves using vegetable and mineral products. Tradition has it that the weaver who performs the dyeing operation purifies herself beforehand by taking a ritual bath.

The yellow is obtained from a kind of broom called Achfoud which grows wild throughout the Siroua massif. The yellow flowers of this shrub are picked and dried in the sun to then serve as a dye. A mordant is used to fix the color to the woolly fiber. It is alum, locally called Azarif, an ore also found in Siroua.

Red is obtained from madder, called Taroubia, which grows wild in the region. The roots of this plant are removed and dried in the sun to serve as a dye. Alum is still used as a bite.

Blue is obtained from the indigo tree, called nila, and whose stem reaches 80 cm in height.

The use of other complementary products made it possible to better prepare the tincture recipes. This is how henna, cultivated in the Drâa valley, was very often used, just like the crushed apple bark, dried date pulp, turnip, dried fig but also forge slag, black smoke or slaked lime.

Info:

Carpet in Arabic says "zarbia", and in Berber "tazerbyt", which means "flowerbed" or "what is stretched on the ground and on which one leans". In Morocco, we also use the word qtifa, of the same origin, which designates high wool carpets, generally woven in high altitude regions.