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The Amazigh art of weaving, also called azetta is a rural art traditionally practiced by nomadic or semi-nomadic Berber women. Historically, this art comes from one of the three great Berber groups, namely the Masmouda, the Zenets, and the Sanhadja, each tribe has tried to develop a particular aesthetic style and technique in the weaving of its own carpets. The weaving became 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 vivacity made of good mood and an almost naive melancholy. As mentioned in the previous article, there are several types of carpets that differ according to the different regions of the Berber territory. The weaving of Amazigh carpets must respect a certain number of stages and traditions. In this article, we'll present to you the process of weaving Amazigh carpets. We can mention six stages of the weaving of Amazigh carpets.
The different types of Amazigh carpets
Traditionally, the Amazighs consider wool as a sending from God. They confirm that wool protects against evil forces.
The wool allows you to determine the aesthetic aspect of your carpet, the quality of which differs depending on the region. The dense, very soft and silky wool of Amazigh carpets makes them high quality and expensive.
Il est nécessaire de laver la laine avant le tissage ! Qu’elle se soit la nature de la laine, haut de gamme faite-mains ou une laine nouée en machine, elle est vivante et souvent teintée. Elle peut encore lâcher des résidus parasites (huiles naturelles) lorsque le tapis sera nettoyé.
When the Amazigh women wash the wool in the river, they say:
« Wool like wheat creates abundance« .
After having intensely cleaned the wool, the next step is to cut it according to the size that the Berber woman wishes to give to the carpet. It is necessary to choose between a short or long wool, a flat or soft carpet!
During the preparation of the loom, the Amazigh weavers take care of two important elements: t'di and immerguel. The knotting of the wool threads is done on t'di, these long cotton threads structure the carpet.
The preparation of the loom is the moment of determining the size of the carpet. The immergual is the structure that stretches the carpet during weaving. Basically, it is composed of metal parts and wooden pieces. The immerguel has not changed much over the decades.
The loom remains the ultimate symbol of magical protection. It was considered a living human being and was treated as such. Looms are believed to possess baraka (blessings).
The assembly of the loom requires several people. That's why the weaver woman asks two of her neighbors for help. After driving two pegs into the ground, the weaver says the " Basmala "Then the participating weavers sing the following phrases Then the participating weavers sing the following phrases:
« We want to mount the loom.
Every loom that comes into being
Must be completed,
And Allah will sanctify him
And Allah will sanctify him
The evil eye
And of bad luck
Today and always« .
The weaving process is in the form of a simple but repetitive gesture. Each cut wool thread is tied one by one manually.
The weaving of Berber carpets is considered as a meticulous and long work requiring patience and a great rigor. The weaver gives life to the carpet while being inspired by her personal life and her emotions to weave a carpet with the desired shapes and colors.
When weaving, Amazigh weavers use only a small image of the design as a reference when weaving the carpet. The understanding of where the lines and shapes begin and end is based solely on instinct. This is a knowledge that has been passed on to them by their Berber mothers and grandmothers.
The carpet weaving stage is considered a social gathering of women. It is rarely that a woman weaves a carpet by herself. They are helped by their daughters or young girls who learn the craft as they grow up.
Weaving among the Amazigh people is a living thing - it is an art form rooted in tradition and tribal boundaries, but not limited to the past by adapting to modernity and creating new patterns of expression that are recognized worldwide as part of the Moroccan lexicon of weaving if not the universal lexicon.
Amazigh weaving is a living thing - it is an art form rooted in tradition and tribal boundaries, but not limited to the past, recognized by the world by adapting to modernity and creating new expressions.
Weavers are constantly aware of the spiritual world. Wool is considered to be a good luck charm, but weavers must be careful not to let evil seep between the threads during the weaving process. The handles of the weavers' dies and reed hammers are engraved with designs to ward off evil. The symbols of these tools are also woven into many Moroccan tribal rugs.
Once woven, the carpet must be cleaned again. This is a simple washing, using the same techniques that allow the modification of the final aspect of the carpet. Drying in the sun allows the wool to solidify and gives a certain resistance.
So, to summarize the process of making Amazigh carpets begins with the purchase of wool. After that, the sheep's wool must be cleaned because it contains natural oils. Then the wool is woven using the previously prepared loom. Once the carpet is woven, it must be washed and dried to solidify it.
So in this article, we have tried to present the most important of weaving the Amazigh carpets. For more information about interior design, please visit our blog.
