Amazigh woman of the loom

 

These women kneel or sit when they work on looms, which are larger than they are, that look like frames for bunk beds. They weave by hand, working in cooperatives of 15 to 40 people, and sometimes one woman picks up where another stops. It usually takes weeks to make a carpet, but for the most complicated carpets it can take months.

Weaving in Morocco is a living thing - it is an ancient art form that is rooted in tradition and tribal boundaries, but is not limited by the past. Incredibly, it manages to transcend time, adapting to the modern era and creating new patterns of expression that are now recognized worldwide as part of the Moroccan weaving lexicon, if not the universal lexicon.

The loom used to create the weave remains the ultimate symbol of magical protection. It is considered as a living being and treated as such. It is believed that the loom possesses the baraka. Baraka is an Arabic term meaning "blessing". It is the attachment of divine goodness to something, so if it occurs in something small, it increases it. 

During the process of yarn production, the weaver is constantly aware of the spirit world. Wool is seen as an opportunity, but the weaver must always be careful that evil does not enter between the threads during weaving. The weaver's moulds and hammer combs have carved handles with patterns to avoid evil. The symbols of these tools are also woven into many Moroccan tribal carpets.

Before starting to weave, the women say a quick prayer: Bismillah! (In the name of Allah) to ensure good fortune and, presumably, to protect the progress of the carpet while it is still in its period of fragile development. If the weaver takes all the necessary precautions to remember the number and combination of threads to produce a design, the finished textile will not only give aesthetic pleasure, but will contain power, or baraka. It will act as a "shield of power" against the evil eye and jin (evil spirit). The overall design of these textiles can be seen as a woven "net" offering protection against the forces of evil (the threads of samharouch, the great master of evil). The Amazighs believe that their finished weavings evoke a power capable of protecting not only the weaver and her family, but also the textile itself and the entire Amazigh tribe and people.

Although the majority of rural women in Morocco are illiterate (or pre-literate, to use a politically correct term), weaving has survived without textbooks or trade schools for generations. The older women weavers who train unmarried girls have always passed on their skills orally. This transfer of knowledge, where young female apprentices learn the skills and take over the reins, is essential for the strength and survival of weaving as an Amazigh cultural heritage in Morocco past and present. The different types of Amazigh carpets

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