The Tuaregs are the only people in the world where men, even in the home circle, are required to cover their faces with a bandage.
The Tuaregs are that part of the original Berber population of North Africa that did not want to live under the rule of the Arab conquerors and went south to the Sahara. In the Middle Ages they led a nomadic lifestyle, but today the vast majority of Tuaregs live in villages and towns. Only a few roam the Sahara, mainly in its Algerian part. They also enter the desert regions of Mali, because nomads do not know what borders are. In this country, they easily find a common language with the local population, a significant part of which are their settled fellow tribesmen. To see how the Tuaregs live, those who still continue to wander, you have to go to the desert.
They live in Mali, Niger, Burkina Faso, Morocco, Algeria and Libya. The Tuaregs owe their cultural identity to the special position of women. Their kinship is calculated on the maternal side, although property inheritance is on the paternal side. This tradition also includes the custom of young spouses to settle near the relatives of the wife’s mother. In the primitive world, people believed that the spirits of a stranger and his relatives could harm them. The power of spirits is concentrated in a person’s head and can come out through the mouth, nose or ears. That’s why the Tuaregs still force their husband, a stranger from a different family, to cover his face with a veil. Tuaregs constantly wear indigo-dyed clothing, and the dye gives their skin a bluish tint. That is why in Africa they are called “blue people”.
According to their own legend, the original settlement of the Tuaregs was an island in the Atlantic Ocean, and after its disappearance only the traders who were at that moment in the port cities of North Africa survived. According to research, the Tuaregs are considered to be descendants of the Zenaga Berbers (Caucasian race), mixed with the African and Arab populations of North Africa. The Zenaga Berbers were engaged in agriculture in the southern part of the Arabian Peninsula, but in the 8th century. were driven out by Arab conquerors to North Africa, where they adopted a nomadic lifestyle, while preserving the Berber language and culture.
The Tuareg language "Tamasheq" is a Berber language, although outwardly the Tuareg are very different from the Berbers of the Atlas Mountains. At the same time, the Tuaregs have a special “female” letter “Tifinagh” (in the Tamashek language), which comes from the ancient Libyan letter. Men use the Arabic alphabet.
In a sexual sense, Tuareg women are the freest women in the world. Sometimes it comes down to finding out the identity of the father of a born child. Usually it turns out like this: the whole village gathers for a council and tries to find similar features of the child and the alleged fathers. When evidence is found, the child is recorded without the father's consent.
In Tuareg culture, premarital experience is considered an advantage for both men and women. The respect and freedom given to the Tuareg woman is misinterpreted by other tribes, in which women have much less freedom. Tuareg society itself strongly condemns prostitution.
Before marriage, Tuareg women enjoy amazing freedom. They don't work, and instead of working they dance, sing and write poems. In Tuareg society there is a noble class and a slave class. Some tribal entities serve others through inherited status. Noble women who own slaves work very little. They make cheese and butter, herd goats, and count the days. It is believed that they know how to process leather, and men know how to sew and embroider.
Unlike their neighbors, Tuareg women have the right to choose a mate; Men can have more than one wife, but usually have only one. Sometimes the Tuaregs hold special events - “tendi” and “ahal”, where the newlyweds meet and dance courtship dances. Tendi is usually held in the afternoon, ahal in the evening. The ahal can be played by musicians. The Tuareg even have an equivalent to the medieval "court of love" with a "sultan" and "sultana" chosen to preside over the two events. Often after ahal, the girl sits on a camel and rides all night to meet the man, and then they return to her together. And sometimes the admirer makes truly inhuman journeys just to see his lady.
The Tuareg bride controls all personal property, including livestock; the husband pays for the family expenses. After marriage, both are expected to behave decently, but the woman can have boyfriends and girlfriends (in the Western sense of the word “friend”). A Tuareg proverb says: “A man and a woman are close to each other with their eyes and hearts, and not just in bed.”
The Tuareg culture has a strong matriarchal structure. Men occupy the places of chiefs and councilors, but the position of tribal chief is hereditary through the female line. Inheritance occurs on the maternal side, and a man who marries a woman from another tribe passes into his wife's tribe. A man can move up the tribal social ladder by marrying a woman of higher status, but women themselves rarely marry men below them. Women take part in strength competitions. Tuareg men are considered to be some of the fiercest warriors of the desert and some of the best desert traders. The position of women in the Tuareg tribe is unique.
The Tuaregs retain tribal divisions and significant elements of the patriarchal system: the people are divided into “drum” groups, each headed by a leader, whose power is symbolized by the drum. And above all groups there is a leader.
The largest tribal groups are Yllemiden, Iforas, Kel Ahaggar and Kel Adjer (southern Algeria), Kel Adrar (northern Mali), Kel Air (northern Niger), Kel Geres (Gres) (plain areas), Allemmeden Kel Dennek in the east, Allemmeden Kel Atatam in the west.
The head is the leader. The power of the leader is not unlimited; most decisions are made by a meeting of the leaders of the “drum” groups, and the mother of the amenokal can impose a ban on the implementation of any decision.
By religion, the Tuaregs are Sunni Muslims. However, they retained many pre-Islamic traditions, such as matrilineal clan organization, matrilocal marriage settlement and matrilateral ortho-cousin marriage. Despite the fact that the Tuaregs practice Islam, where polygamy is allowed, a true Tuareg only marries once in his life.
Women are respected in Tuareg society. Girls with early age learn to read and write, but a man is allowed to be illiterate. The main occupation is hoe farming (cereals, legumes, vegetables), combined with breeding small cattle. Some of the Tuaregs who inhabit the Algerian Sahara and the Tenere Desert roam with herds of camels and goats.
Aristocrats are white-skinned, tall and slender. Nobles usually wear a sleeveless shirt and wide pants. A blue cape is worn over it. Two wide ribbons intersect on the chest, woven from multi-colored silk laces, at the ends of which there are tassels. Men cover their heads with a white or blue scarf, which covers their face, leaving only their eyes open. Hair is braided. On the feet are leather sandals. The noble wears a stone bracelet, sometimes a simple silver ring on his finger as jewelry.
A Tuareg aristocratic woman wears her hair in braids. She is dressed in a long white shirt and a blue scarf. The woman has silver jewelry on her neck and rings on her hands. On holidays, women and men paint their eyebrows and eyelids with antimony.
When a young man turns 18, his family organizes a holiday at which the Tuareg is given a blue or white scarf - “tagelmust” (Shash Arabic) or foxes, the length of which can reach up to 40 meters. From this moment on, he is considered an adult; it is no longer proper for him to appear in public without a fox, and only when eating is it permissible to lower the foxes up to his chin. In the old days, whoever saw the face of a Tuareg faced the unenviable fate of being killed by him. If this could not be done, the Tuareg was obliged to commit suicide. Therefore, meeting a Tuareg, for example, in the Tunisian Sahara is still considered a bad omen. But Tuareg women do not cover their faces.
We continue to publish interesting questions and answers to them. This question concerns the desert where the Tuaregs live. The correct answer is traditionally highlighted in blue and bold.
What desert do the Tuaregs live in?
Tuaregs (self-name - imoshag, imoshag) are a people of the Berber group in Mali, Niger, Burkina Faso, Algeria and Libya. The first scientific study of the Tuaregs was carried out by Henri Duveyrier.
A mysterious people, the Tuareg, lives in the Sahara Desert and in the neighboring countries. And although this word often appears on the pages of foreign chronicles, in fact not much is known about this people, their history and culture.
By religion, the Tuaregs are Sunni Muslims. However, they retained many pre-Islamic traditions, such as matrilineal clan organization, matrilocal marriage settlement and matrilateral ortho-cousin marriage. Despite the fact that the Tuaregs practice Islam, where polygamy is allowed, a true Tuareg only marries once in his life.
- Atacama
- Sahara
- Karakum
As we already know, the correct answer to the question is: Sugar.
I don't want you to see my tears,
so that I know how I languish and burn with love.
I'm sad and trembling in the noisy ahal
and amzad falls out of his hands.
Like a hunter in ambush, I sit quietly,
I'm waiting for you to show up, friend.
You will still get caught, even though you are cunning,
You will reach out with your heart to my quiet tent,
Do you want to drink? I am a spring in the waterless desert.
Are you cold? I'll warm you up, you're cold.
The heart of a girl, the heart of a lover—
like hot sand at noon.
Blue People - They are called "blue people" because of the color (indigo) of their "shesh" headdresses.
A mysterious people, the Tuareg, lives in the Sahara Desert and in the neighboring countries. And although this word often appears on the pages of foreign chronicles, in fact not much is known about this people, their history and culture. And at the same time, the Tuaregs are strikingly different from all other peoples of Africa.
Many Tuaregs are fair-skinned, tall, blue-eyed, with slightly wavy hair, that is, they have the typical appearance of the inhabitants of the Mediterranean.
Current distribution area and numbers
The main habitat of the Tuaregs
Total: 5.2 million people: Niger - 1.72 million people, Mali - 1.44 million people,
Algeria - 1.025 million people, Burkina Faso - 600 thousand people, Libya - 557 thousand people
Language: Arabic, French, Tamashek
Religion: Islam
The Tuareg are considered descendants of the Zenaga Berbers (Caucasian race), who mixed with the African and Arab populations of North Africa.
All Tuaregs are dark-skinned, unlike the peoples around them in Tunisia and Libya. The Zenaga Berbers were engaged in agriculture in the southern part of the Arabian Peninsula, but in the 8th century. were driven out by Arab conquerors to North Africa, where they adopted a nomadic lifestyle, while preserving the Berber language and culture.
In the 11th century Arab conquerors invaded the Tuareg settlement area in North Africa, again shifting the Tuareg settlement area to the west. During this period, the Tuaregs underwent Islamization and Arabization.
During the colonial era, the Tuareg were incorporated into French West Africa. Unlike many other peoples, the Tuaregs resisted the new government for a long time. The French colonial government controlled the Tuaregs through clan leaders, trying to exploit inter-clan contradictions.
As a result of French colonial rule, the Tuaregs lost the ability to dominate sedentary farmers. This reason, as well as the exclusion from politics of other ethnic groups, the deterioration of the economic situation as a result of the droughts of the 1970-1980s. led to open armed resistance in Niger, Algeria and Mali. The Tuaregs advocated the creation of the state of Azawad.
The Tauregs have different legends about their origin:
The homeland of the Tuaregs was an island in the Atlantic Ocean, after the disappearance of which as a result of a natural disaster, along with the people who inhabited it, only merchants, traders and the people accompanying them remained, who then settled throughout Africa;
The founder of all Tuareg tribes was the great queen Tin Hinan, who arrived from the territory now occupied by Morocco, along with her maidservant. From Tin Khinan, according to legend, came the main group of Tuaregs, and from her maidservant came the subordinate tribes. (Judging by the relationship between the higher Tuareg tribes and the tribes subordinate to them, the latter turned out to be more fertile). The fame of Tin Hinan was so great that the Tuaregs still call her “our mother.”
And what’s most interesting is that during archaeological excavations the unlooted tomb of Tin Hinan was found, as evidenced by the inscriptions found there. Now everything that was found in the tomb has been placed in museums, and the tomb itself has been restored and has become a place of worship;
Another legendary Tuareg ruler, Kahina, organized a very long and extremely fierce resistance to the Arab conquerors; she died in battle. This, by the way, provided the basis for placing the mythical kingdom of the Amazons on the lands of the Tuaregs. But the Tuaregs never submitted to the Arabs - they simply left. And to this day, the nomadic Tuaregs call themselves “imishag” or “imoshag” - free people. They roam the Sahara and adjacent countries, not paying attention to borders.
The Tuareg language Tamashek is a Berber language, although in appearance the Tuareg are very different from the Berbers of the Atlas Mountains. At the same time, the Tuaregs have a special “female” letter, Tifinagh (in the Tamasheq language), which comes from the ancient Libyan letter. Men use the Arabic alphabet.
By religion, the Tuaregs are Sunni Muslims. However, they retained many pre-Islamic traditions. Despite the fact that the Tuaregs are Muslims, where polygamy is accepted, a real Tuareg marries only once in his life.
Women are respected in Tuareg society. Girls learn to read and write from an early age, but men are allowed to be illiterate. The main occupation is hoe farming (grains, legumes, vegetables), combined with breeding small cattle. Some of the Tuaregs who inhabit the Algerian Sahara and the Tenere Desert roam with herds of camels and goats.
The Tuaregs are the only people in the world whose men, not women, cover their faces with a bandage-veil, which is why they and their related tribes call them “Tigel Must” - the people of the veil. And to this day, a young man who has reached maturity receives two things from his father as a sign of this - a double-edged sword and a face veil.
To appear to anyone without a bandage is considered the height of indecency, just as with us it is to be naked in public. The bandage is not removed even at home, while eating and sleeping.
When a young man turns 18, his family organizes a holiday at which the Tuareg is given a blue or white scarf - the “foxes”. From this moment on, he is considered an adult; it is no longer proper for him to appear in public without a fox, and only when eating is it permissible to lower the foxes up to his chin. And Tuareg women, unlike Muslim women, do not cover their faces.
The main and significant part of the Tuareg diet is milk and dairy products. In addition, millet and sometimes wheat are used in the diet. Dried dates play an important role in the nutrition of the Tuareg (not dried dates, which are sold here, but dried, like pebbles). Dates are crushed and eaten with camel milk. Although everyone considers the Tuaregs to be livestock breeders, they consume meat only in exceptional cases - at family celebrations, on religious holidays, and also when there is a danger of mass mortality of livestock from lack of food (it is better to eat than to be lost).
When eating, the Tuaregs, unlike most Muslim peoples, use spoons, which is typical only for them. They drink water and milk, and since the beginning of the last century, when tea bushes began to be grown in Africa, the Tuaregs began to drink green tea, borrowing this custom from the Arabs.
And finally, the most interesting thing is about the role and place of women in Tuareg society. Among the Tuaregs, the husband comes to his wife's family, and not vice versa, as among other African peoples. Therefore, in particular, in order to protect the wife’s family from the spirits living in the head of the alien stranger, all exits from this head - his mouth, nose and ears - must be tightly covered. Among the Tuaregs, it is women who own the lands and family values, and they exclusively have the right to divorce. The Tuareg house is called by the name of the mistress - its head.
In case of divorce, the husband leaves the house, leaving his wife and children there. A man can improve his status by marrying a woman from a higher social level. But at the same time he himself must be of a noble family. Women choose their own husband. Tuareg men are considered the strongest and most ruthless warriors, the best traders, that is, they are quite independent. And at the same time, having no family property, the husband is obliged to support the family.
Tuareg women play an important role in the accumulation and storage of cultural information. They are literate, compose and sing songs to the accompaniment of a one-stringed musical instrument called amzad.
Tuareg amulets Tuareg cross The Tuaregs considered the cross to be a very powerful talisman; it was also revered by other tribes. Usually the cross was made of silver, which was highly respected by the Tuaregs. The Tuareg did not usually wear gold because they believed that this metal brought bad luck to people. Often the names of oasis cities were in one way or another connected with the concept of the cross.
Contemporary jewelry created by a Tuareg from Mali (wood carving)
Until the age of 30, Tuareg women refuse to get married. They consider it a sign of bad taste to be faithful to your husband. This custom is approved by both the girl’s parents and all men. But women can only live with men of their own tribe and at the same time have equal status with them. Those women who violate these two rules doom themselves to shame and dishonor.
When a Tuareg woman finally marries, her husband is obliged to consider her his only legal wife. Unlike other Muslim nations, there is no polygamy here. The husband may have concubines, but entry into the family tent is closed to them. During the period of Italian rule, the occupiers attracted various Libyan women into prostitution, but not from the Tuareg.
Taureg jewelry
If a Tuareg had a son from a black slave, he was released; he could not become a full Tuareg, although he had the right to his father’s inheritance. But women from the Tuareg tribe were forbidden to have relations with black slaves, otherwise they would be subjected to public ridicule and kicked out of the tribe in disgrace.
The Tuaregs retain tribal divisions and significant elements of the patriarchal system: the people are divided into tribal or “drum” groups, each headed by a leader, whose power is symbolized by the drum. And above all groups there is a leader.
The head is the leader. The leader's power is not unlimited; most decisions are made by a meeting of the leaders of the "drum" groups, and the mother of the amenokal can impose a ban on the implementation of any decision.
Leader - amenokal
Amenocal mother
The traditional Tuareg social division also includes a division into castes. Castes:
Nobles or nobility own herds of camels.
The guardians of the faith or spiritual guides are non-slemen.
vassals are imgads engaged in goat breeding.
slaves - iklans.
blacksmiths are inedens.
Slaves and blacksmiths have nothing to do with the Tuaregs of the higher castes. They are usually dark-skinned, while the Tuaregs themselves are light-skinned and tall and thin.
There are many stories and legends about the predatory raids of the “blue people” in the Sahara; the Tuaregs often did this. Edien - a robber attack, can be explained by the warlike disposition of the Tuaregs. Edien was committed not only for the purpose of robbery, seizure of food and wells, and not even for the sake of revenge or subordination of other tribes to his power, but simply to distinguish himself in front of women, to bring rich booty as a gift to his ladies. The desire to prove oneself by showing courage and courage found full approval among women.
The concept of theft is completely absent among the Tuaregs. A quiet theft is a shame, while Edien, which took place 100 years ago, is the subject of proud stories. When cattle breeders or camel traders were raided, the attackers limited themselves to taking away the livestock. But if the camp was plundered, the Tuaregs captured Africans, turning them into their servants or slaves. (The line here is very thin; usually only black Africans became slaves)
The Tuaregs despised physical labor and slaves - artisans in the oases played a huge role in their lives.
The life of the Tuaregs changed greatly with the arrival of the automobile in the Sahara.
The trucks dealt a fatal blow to the camel caravans. For a thousand years the Tuaregs were masters of the desert and never worked. Arabs and blacks forced the “blue people” out of trade, who became greatly impoverished.
Little is known about the mysterious African Tuareg tribe. Its culture, traditions, history are strikingly different from other peoples of the continent. Once upon a time, the Tuaregs were nomads who wandered for centuries across the vast expanses of the Sahara. The powerful and warlike tribe was famous for its excellent weapons and war chariots. Without recognizing anyone's authority, the warriors conquered many neighboring tribes. Today they are a settled people numbering about 1 million people. Only a small part of it continues the nomadic life.
Racially, the Tuaregs are classified as southern Europeans, although they profess Islam. Being representatives of the Berber group, at one time they did not want to live under the rule of the Arab conquerors and moved to the southern regions. The Tuaregs managed to preserve their unique language - Tamashek and writing - Tifinagh, although only women speak the ancient script. Men use the Arabic alphabet or the Latin alphabet (in countries that have retained colonial writing). Most Tuaregs are tall, have fair skin and blue eyes like the sky. Even in the home circle, men are required to cover their faces with a veil. A young man of the tribe who reaches adulthood receives as a gift from his father the two most important things - a sword and “tagelmust” - a blue or white scarf, the length of which can reach 40 meters.
Indigo color and covered faces of men in the photo below:
The Tuaregs are characterized by tribal division with preserved features of the patriarchal system. The people are divided into tribal groups, headed by the most worthy representatives. Their power is symbolized by the drum. The head of the entire tribe is the chief with limited power. In the Tuareg tribe, women have occupied a special position since ancient times. Elements of matriarchy are still preserved here. Young spouses, for example, settle near the house of the wife's mother. According to ancient legends, an evil spirit lives in a person’s head and can come out at any time through the ears, mouth or nose. Therefore, a young husband who comes to his wife’s house from another family must necessarily cover his face with a veil.
Beautiful photos of women:
Tuaregs prefer blue in clothing. They get an incredibly beautiful shade from indigo dye. Moreover, the fabric is not saturated with paint, as is customary, but, to save water, is literally hammered in with stones. The paint often crumbles, turning the body blue. Therefore, the Tuaregs are often called “blue people”. Although the Tuaregs are gradually getting used to European clothing, they still wear dokkali with great pleasure - traditional wide dark blue tunics or thin woolen haik.
A few more photos of the Tuaregs:
Video: Visiting the Tuaregs. Drum jam.
Video: Tuareg tribe
Video: tuaregs
Video: Touareg music
13.3.1. Tuaregs
General information. The Tuaregs are a people of Berber origin, originating from the ancient Garamantes who lived in Fezzan (Libya). The Garamante civilization was destroyed by the Romans, but the development of camels at the beginning of the new era opened the Sahara to the fugitives, which became their refuge and source of enrichment. The caravan routes of trans-Saharan trade passed into the hands of the Tuareg-Garamantes. Trade with Black Africa led to the emergence of black slaves, who eventually became part of the Tuareg. In subsequent centuries, there was a migration of Tuaregs to the Sahel zone, attributed in legends to Queen Tin Khinan (IV–V centuries AD). The Tuaregs were finally driven out of North Africa by the Arabs in the 7th–11th centuries. The Tuaregs were not conquered by the Arabs, but they converted to Islam and adopted some Arab customs.
There are only 5.2 million Turegs, but they are settled over a vast territory of the Sahara desert and the steppes of the border Sahel. More than half of the Tuaregs live in the south of the Sahara and in the Sahel - in Niger, Mali and Burkino Faso - 3.76 million; the rest are in the north - in Algeria and Libya - 1.44 million people. The common Tuareg language of the Berber branch of the Afroasiatic family of languages broke up into dialects around the 4th century. n. e. The main dialects are tamahak in central Sahara and tamashek in the Sahel. The Tuaregs have preserved, although in a modified form, the ancient Libyan alphabetic writing Tifinagh, which is owned by women and men of the upper caste. The Tuaregs are divided into castes: noble - Imkharov; clergy – Inislimen; shepherds vassals - Imradov; servants - iklans. There are also small categories of personally free people who are dependent on the imkhars.
The Imharas are the Tuareg aristocracy. Name imkhari"noble" has the same root as the verb "to rob." Previously, their source of existence was robbery. Overcoming vast distances in the desert, robbing, risking life, fighting and killing - this is a life worthy of a high-born Tuareg. The Imkhars involved the vassals of the Imrads in their expeditions and gave them a share of the spoils. Returning home, they rested: they looked after women, wrote poetry, or slept. The Imkhars lived at the expense of the Imrads, to whom they handed over their cattle for grazing, leaving themselves only a few goats for food and camels for riding, and at the expense of farmers living in the oases Kharatinov. For household needs they had black iklans. In turn, the Imkhars were always ready to fight for their vassals, the Imrads. The Imharas (and the Inislimen clergy) are the most Caucasian among the Tuaregs. As a rule, Imkhars are tall, thin and slender, dark-skinned, but not dark-skinned, with regular facial features. The hair is not curly, but wide-wavy; gray and green eyes meet. They behave with dignity, nobly. Henri Lot, who lived among the Tuaregs, describes the Imkhars as follows:
“In general, imkhars are much more refined than imrads. Their attire is more refined, their gait is more noble, and they can often be distinguished from vassals by their stately posture. They speak in a more elegant style; in their speech there are no rude expressions inherent in the language of servants. This difference in behavior and language is especially noticeable among Imhara women. The latter sometimes amaze with their grace and good manners. They often look like real "grand dames" - high-society European women - when they host receptions in their leather tents. They take great pride in being able to host guests well and please them with their violin playing. Among the Tuaregs, such qualities of a young girl as the ability to create comfort in a tent, make some leather crafts, decorate them with embroidery (gifts for friends or your boyfriend), and the ability to play the violin are highly valued.”
Tuareg imhar (noble) with his camel. Province of Kaya (now in Burkina Faso). Mid-20th century Museum of the Tropics. Amsterdam. Wikimedia Commons.
Inislimen- a class of clergy who perform the role of priests, spiritual educators and teachers of the Koran. In the hierarchy of Tuareg society they follow the Imharas. In some tribes they have their own imrads, although this is prohibited by the Koran. The Inislimens, like the Imkhars, are Caucasians and often, without any particular reason, claim to be sheriffs - descendants of the prophet. Imharas allow marriages with Inislims.
The largest caste is Imrads: there are 5–8 times more of them than imkhars. The Imrads look like Ethiopians. They are dark-skinned, of average height, with Caucasian features, and hair not as curly as that of blacks. Name imrad comes from the word aired -"goat" In the past, the Imrads did not have camels, but raised goats, sheep and donkeys. Having fallen under the control of the Imkhars, the Imrads began to raise riding camels - Mehari. The fleet-footed Mehari Tuaregs were used for raids. An old song says: “Give me a fur, a saddle and a tent - and I will be happy.” Each Imkhara clan was subordinate to several Imrad clans, who paid tribute in goats and provided camels for a time. The Imkhars never oppressed the Imrads - they took only what was necessary. For their part, the Imrads took part in the campaigns of the Imkhars, and to this day remain loyal to the overlords, although they are much richer than them. Like the imkhars, the imrads could have their own iklans.
Sedentary farmers were in the position of serfs haratins; they grew date palms, millet, watermelons and melons in the oases, and gave part of the harvest to the Imharas. The Haratins, like the Imrads, are similar in appearance to the Ethiopians. The lowest level of the caste hierarchy is occupied by the descendants of slaves iklans- “servants”. By origin, the Iklans are blacks captured by the Tuaregs during raids. Iklans grow millet and wheat for their owners, look after their gardens and vegetable gardens in oases, and graze their livestock. At the end of the 19th–20th centuries. some of the Iklans were turned into oasis or, more often, Sahelian farmers; in some places the Iklans mixed with the Haratins.
Housing and clothing. The Tuaregs camp in places where the pasture is rich in food for livestock and where there is a body of water nearby. The time spent in the parking lot depends on the abundance of food in the pasture. It can last from ten days to a month, in rare cases longer. Transitions from pasture to pasture depend on food and are usually no more than 1–3 km, except in cases of severe drought, when it is necessary to move to a more prosperous area.
The Tuaregs do not have long-haired camels, and unlike the Arabs, they use leather for tents. Tent ( ehan) is a tent made from 30–40 square pieces of leather (up to 80 pieces if it is a meeting tent). The soft and durable mouflon skin is highly valued. Where mouflons are not found, bovine skins are used. The leather is soaked in oil to make it waterproof and then treated with red ocher to protect it from sunlight and rain. The tents are divided by mats into male and female halves. A man and a woman each sleep in their own half: boys with their father, girls with their mother. Women sleep on lamb skins, on carpets, even on fine sand poured into the tent. In the summer, when it is especially hot, the Tuaregs sometimes build huts from straw: during the day, the heat makes staying in a leather tent unbearable, and people take refuge in the shade wherever they can. In the oases, the Haratins and Iklans build houses from flat stones.
In clothing, the Tuaregs prefer blue, obtained from indigo dye. Clothes are not soaked with this paint (water is saved), but are hammered in with stones. When worn, the paint crumbles, gets on the body and stains it, for which the Tuaregs were nicknamed “blue people”. Tuaregs claim that body paint retains moisture, which allows them to drink less. The clothing consists of wide trousers tied at the ankle, a leather belt trimmed with white canvas and a dark blue tunic - dokkali. In cool weather, woolen capes are worn. They are sewn in the southern regions of the Sahara by black tailors; the entire cape consists of sewn strips of fabric. The Tuaregs wear sandals with wide soles and curved toes, made for walking on sand and stones. Covers his head foxes– a piece of blue or white fabric like a scarf. It is wrapped around the head and covers the face to the eyes. The Tuareg does not take off the foxes even while eating and sleeping. He moves it just slightly to put food in his mouth. The upper castes do not tattoo or paint their bodies like the Iklans do.
Women do not cover their faces: only a light veil is acceptable in the presence of strangers. Unlike Arab women, they do not wear bloomers, but wrap a piece of white linen around their hips in the form of a skirt. On top they wear a shirt made of white fabric. Rich women put a second indigo shirt on her. An indigo-colored blanket made of linen, fine wool or silk is thrown over the shoulders. Women wear henna and use cosmetics extensively. They apply ocher to the face for protection from the sun and for beauty, and paint their lips with indigo. A layer of dark ocher is applied to the cheeks and forehead, and the eyes are lined with charcoal. When traveling, they wear wide-brimmed straw hats to protect themselves from the sun. Tuareg men and women have an unbridled passion for jewelry and decorations. Imkhars until recently, and some to this day, wear a long sword on their belt - Takuba, the privilege of aristocrats.
The Tuaregs pay great attention to their hairstyle. Young people shave their heads, leaving only a longitudinal strip of hair or a strand on the top of the head. Adult men wear their hair long in braids and have the front of their head shaved. When the hair begins to turn gray, men shave their heads. Tuaregs wear a beard, but shave or cut their mustache short so as not to interfere with their foxes. Women braid their hair. It is customary for women to brush each other's hair. This work, which requires time and patience, is performed once or twice a month. First, the hair is combed with a comb and sprinkled with sand or ash to remove fat; then the lice are destroyed. Then the “hairdresser” separates the strands from the hair and, moistening them with water and oil, braids them into three or four braids, falling on both sides of the face, or into many thin braids. Hair is oiled to protect it from dry, hot air, which makes it brittle.
Food. Tuareg food is limited to nomadic products, dates and cereals - sorghum, millet, wheat, and sometimes vegetables and fruits from oases. The food is monotonous and meager: the Tuaregs really only eat once a day - in the evening, when the cattle are milked. During the day they were content with only a small amount of milk. Milk - camel, goat or sheep, is drunk diluted with water or sour. Whole milk is considered a luxury, affordable for nursing mothers, children and the sick. Milk is drunk in the morning and evening, after milking; During the day they drink the whey left over from preparing the oil. Only camel milk is consumed in its natural form; goat and sheep milk is processed to produce butter and cheese. Milk is added to porridges, gravies, and mixed with crushed dates. When the Tuaregs make long journeys, they load skins of milk onto camels. On the road, the milk curdles, and the whey, which has a sour taste, quenches thirst well. However, milk is mainly used to make butter and cheese. Oil is added to porridges, wheat cakes are smeared with it, but they are never fried with it. Tuareg cheese is dry cottage cheese: it is crushed and added to stews and porridges.
The Tuareg eat porridge made from millet or sorghum with camel milk, butter or cheese; They make flat cakes from wheat. Couscous, borrowed from the Arabs, is prepared for special occasions. It is prepared from semolina. The semolina is sprinkled with water, then grains are formed from the resulting mass, which are sprinkled with dry semolina, then sifted. Couscous is steamed. Where they can get vegetables from farmers, the Tuaregs make a sauce from tomatoes, onions, pumpkins and red peppers and pour it over porridge and couscous. The Tuaregs eat a lot of dried dates; they are pounded and filled with camel milk. Meat is eaten occasionally - at family celebrations, on holidays and in case of threat of livestock death from lack of food. The meat is boiled or baked in ash. The meat eaten is camel, goat, ram, bull, gazelle, antelope, and mouflon meat. Previously, the Tuaregs did not eat camel meat, but under the influence of the Arabs, they began to eat the meat of young camels. The Tuaregs also did not eat chickens, eggs, fish or reptiles, that is, animals that fly, swim or crawl. Now, they eat chickens and eggs. As Muslims, the Tuaregs abstain from pork and warthog meat, and alcoholic beverages. But they love grasshoppers: they roast them on coals, dry them, grind them into powder and add them to food.
When the Tuaregs cut up a carcass, the best parts - the head and the tenderloin from the back - are given to the women, and the worst parts - the legs, neck, tail - to the clans. The entrails are stuffed into the stomach, layered with hot stones and, tying the stomach at both ends, they are placed in hot ashes. On major celebrations, baby camels are slaughtered and baked whole in ash. This dish is served with coarse couscous. When eating, the Tuaregs, unlike the Moors and sedentary Berbers, use spoons. Since the beginning of the twentieth century. The Tuaregs began to drink green tea with mint, borrowing the custom from the Arabs. The tea ceremony is similar to the Bedouin drinking tea. Sometimes Tuaregs add roasted peanuts and almonds to their tea. Coffee, once widespread, is now used as a remedy for coughs or stomach pain. Tuaregs love to chew tobacco. In the Sahel zone they adopted the Negro habit of chewing kola nuts.
Women's freedom. The Tuaregs are Sunni Muslims, but they still have vestiges of matriarchy. Women enjoy unprecedented respect among Arabs. Although Islam allows polygamy, a Tuareg only marries once in his life. Girls learn to read and write from an early age, while men often remain illiterate. When a Tuareg marries, it is not the wife who comes to live with her husband’s relatives, but the husband with his wife’s relatives. In a family, women own land and family assets, and only they have the right to divorce. The Tuareg house is called by the name of the mistress - its head. In case of divorce, the husband leaves the house, leaving his wife and children there. Women choose their husbands themselves, but only within their caste. A well-born woman cannot take a commoner as her husband. Special mention should be made of the freedom of Tuareg women, which is so different from the seclusion customary among sedentary Muslims. The situation of Tuareg women shocked the Arabs. The famous traveler Ibn Battuta, who visited in 1352–1353. Tuareg tribe mussafa, shares his impressions:
“Most of the inhabitants...belong to the Massoufa Berbers. Their women are exceptionally beautiful and surpass men in their social importance. ... The qualities of these people are amazing, and their deeds are strange. As for their men, they have no jealousy. Neither of them traces their origins to their father, but to their maternal uncle. A man is inherited by his sister's sons, and his own children are excluded. I saw the same situation only among the infidels of the country of al-Mulaybar in India. As for these massuf, they are Muslims, observe prayers, study the law and memorize the Koran. As for their women, they are not ashamed of men and do not cover their faces, despite the fact that they are diligent in prayer. If anyone wishes to take them as his wife, he can do so. However, they do not follow their husband if he leaves. Even if any of them wanted to do this, her relatives would certainly prevent her.”
It is interesting to compare the Tuaregs with the Nairs of the Malabar coast of India (al-Mulaibar). The Nairs have the same matrilineal system of kinship and inheritance, when what a man gains is received not by his children, but by his sister’s children. As for the sexual liberation of Tuareg women, it cannot be compared with the polygamous customs of the Nairs, who often had 8 to 10 husbands. The Tuareg aristocrat can rather be compared with a French lady of the 17th–18th centuries, who, without particularly hiding from her husband, makes admirers on the side. Ibn Batuta is outraged to the core: infidel Nair women in pagan India are one thing, Muslim women, and even Berber women, are another, because Ibn Batuta himself is from a Berber family.
“The women there have friends and acquaintances from among foreign men, and in the same way men have girlfriends from among strangers. And it happens that one of them enters his house and finds his wife together with her friend, and does not see anything unpleasant for himself in this. ... One day I went to the qadi ... after receiving his permission to enter, and I saw that he had a young woman of amazing beauty with him. When I saw her, I was embarrassed and wanted to leave. She started laughing at me and showed no shyness or shame. The Qadi asked me: “Why are you leaving? This is my friend." And I marveled at both of them."
Ibn Battuta is also outraged by men who allow such debauchery:
One day I went to Abu Muhammad..., the one with whom we arrived.... I found him sitting on a carpet, and in the middle of his dwelling was a bed, with a canopy on top for shade; there was a woman on the bed, and a man was sitting with her. They were talking. I asked Abu Muhammad: “Who is this woman?” And he replied: “This is my wife.” Then I asked: “Who is the man who sits with her?” He replied: “This is her friend.” Then I asked: “And you allow this? After all, you lived in our countries and know the commandments of Sharia!” He said: “In our country, women communicate with men in a good and decent way. There is no room for suspicion in it. After all, our women are not like the women of your countries!” I marveled at his stupidity, left him and never came to him again after that. He invited me to his place several times, but I did not respond to his invitation.”
Special mention should be made of courtliness imkharov - Tuareg aristocrats. The Imajegan men are similar to the medieval knights of Provence. They are not only formidable warriors, but also beautifully court and dedicate poems to their loved ones. They know how to convey love messages secretly from those present by reproducing tifinagh signs on the palm of the interlocutor. Aristocratic women are worthy of their fans - they are literate, write poems and songs and sing to the accompaniment amzada- one-string violin. These songs, as well as erotic dances, are performed on ahalah- meetings of unmarried women and young men. Such an ahal was described by A.V. Eliseev, who visited the Tuaregs at the end of the 19th century:
“Once I even went to an original feast given by... one of the Tuareg leaders... Here, in addition to men, there were many women. The daughters of the desert were dressed in long blue robes and adorned with necklaces and rings. Many of them had faces painted with yellow ocher... Among the Tuareg women, the leader’s daughter stood out especially, who, despite her beauty, was coquettishly dressed in a snow-white short robe with a red belt... This beautiful girl... endured all the hardships no worse than a Tuareg warrior, she had excellent command of a bow and a spear and a small dagger that she wore on her left forearm... Night had already fallen over the desert when the celebration began. About a hundred Tuaregs of both sexes were already filling the camp and talking noisily among themselves. The old people sat separately, chewing and sniffing tobacco with caustic soda, while the young people started playing and dancing. Mugs of milk and water flavored with fragrant honey passed around the guests. The girls formed a round dance, the young men also formed their own circle, moving in the opposite direction...”
There have always been many poets and romantics among the Tuaregs. It should be said that free communication between the sexes has been practiced among the Tuaregs since childhood. As boys and girls reach puberty, they gain sexual experience and losing their virginity is not considered shameful. If a girl becomes pregnant and gives birth to a child, then nothing bad happens either. The whole village gathers for a council and tries to find similar features of the child and possible fathers. When the putative father is found, he is considered the father of the child, regardless of his consent.
The sexual freedom of Tuareg girls and women may explain the lack of pederasty among the Imhars and Imrads, so popular among the Arabs of the Maghreb and Egypt. Only among the Iklans is pederasty widespread, but it is the young Iklans who experience difficulties with sex: the best women, like concubines, are taken away by their masters, and the young men are sent to herd herds far from the villages, and they, in the words of Father de Foucauld, who lived among the Tuaregs, “settle in as best they can.” .
Tuaregs of the Sahara after Gaddafi...The desert is like a sea. We look at the endless and majestic sand dunes, and it seems that these are waves that are about to start moving. Here and there, whitish lamb-like tornadoes appear on the surface, instantly curl up into a whirlwind,