The Berbers were living in North Africa long before the arrival of the Arabs – their culture probably dates back more than 4,000 years. Today, there are substantial Berber populations in Morocco and Algeria, plus smaller numbers in Tunisia, Libya and Egypt. Collectively, the Berbers refer to themselves as Imazighen or Amaziah – “free and noble men”. The word Berber comes from an Arabic word, possibly borrowed from the Latin – and ultimately Ancient Greek – barbari, signifying the non-Latin speaking people of the Maghreb.
In Morocco, about 40% of the population – approximately 8,900,000 people – acknowledge a Berber identity, though many more claim the ancestry. The origins of the Berbers remain uncertain. The not unusual occurrence of blond or red hair plus blue or green eyes hints at a possible European derivation.
The Berbers of Morocco are of three main types which, in turn, are sub-divided into countless tribes: the Riffians of the north; the Chleuhs from the Middle and High Atlas and the Soussi, found in the southwest. The Berbers are most strongly identifiable by their language, which is split into three distinct dialects: Riffi in the Rif Mountains and northern Morocco, Tashelhaït in the High Atlas, Anti-Atlas and the south and Zaian or Tamazight in the Middle Atlas and Central Morocco. All are incomprehensible to most Arabs.
The Chleuhs of the High Atlas in Morocco inhabit the river valleys that cut down deeply into the massif. Their villages, with populations of several hundred inhabitants, are often perched high up on mountain crests, at an altitude of more than 6,500 feet. Terraced houses, crowded one up against the other, are built round a communal fortified threshing floor, or grouped around the threshing floor-plus-dwelling of the most important family in that particular community.
The mountain slopes surrounding the village are used for either pasturage or cultivation. Wheat, barley, fruits, vegetables, nuts and olives are all grown. If the land is irrigated there may well be two crops a year – cereals in winter and vegetables in summer. Cattle and goats are kept, together with oxen, mules, camels and horses. Sheep are grazed on low-lying land in winter and on the uplands in summer.
It was only in the twentieth century that the country was finally subdued by a central city-based government. Until then much of rural Morocco was known as the bled es siba – land of lawlessness – where Berber tribes, led by local Sheikhs, fought tooth and nail, while the more easily controlled city and coastal areas were known as the bled el makhzan or land of government. As a result of this continual unrest, many Berber houses, although they have been standing for many hundreds of years, have often been inhabited for only relatively short periods of time. Whole villages were often abandoned, sometimes for generations, leaving the houses empty and crumbling. When times improved and peace, at least for a short while, reigned then the old houses would be re-occupied, the top floors rebuilt and so the cycle went on.
The typical house is flat-roofed and made of pisé – rammed earth or clay – and will have three or four floors. Oxen and goats are penned together on the bottom floor. Scraps are dropped through a hole in the ceiling from the kitchen above – a rather eco-friendly and efficient form of waste disposal. Farming tools and equipment for making flour and grinding coffee are also kept down here. If there is a toilet, this is where you will find it.
A better or more prestigious house has a stairway or ladder up to the next floor, both inside and out, thus avoiding the rather insalubrious bottom floor. The kitchen occupies the main floor-space on this level. Grouped round it are the family’s dining room and bedrooms. A ramp leads up to the next floor, most of which is occupied by the best room in the house which is where the men eat with guests or take tea. On the same floor, or just above it, is an open terrace where the family sleeps during the long and scorchingly hot summer months.
Almost all Berbers are Muslim, but various pre-Islamic elements survive, chief of which is the worship of local saints – marabouts – and the veneration of their tombs – simple white domed koubbas, which can be seen dotted around the countryside. Women are more likely to visit the tomb of a holy man, or even a sacred stream or tree, than pray at the male-dominated mosque.
Life in the mountains and desert is harsh, everyone has to work, and communities cannot afford the wasted labour of cloistering their women in the home. The Berber women, dressed in flamboyantly colourful dresses and headscarves rather than the restrictive and all-enveloping black haik, shoulder a large share of the agricultural work as well as being responsible for domestic chores, such as the collection of firewood, and the care of children.
Berber tribal jewellery, among the most beautiful in Africa, is always made of silver – gold is considered to be evil. It serves a much wider purpose than simple adornment – it identifies clan, symbolises wealth and reflects cultural traditions. The protective, medicinal and magical properties of jewellery are also extremely important. Necklaces contain charms bought from magicians or holy men. They provide protection from the evil eye, will ward of disease and accidents and help to ease childbirth. Silver is believed to cure rheumatism; coral symbolises fertility and is thought to have curative powers; amber is worn as a symbol of wealth and to protect against sorcery; amazonite and carnelian stones are used for divining fortunes and shells, traded from East Africa, symbolise fertility.
A girl receives jewellery from her mother until the time she marries. Her future husband will then commission pieces, frequently made by his own mother or sister, and they will be kept, and added to, throughout his wife’s life. Necklaces, bracelets, brooches, anklets, earrings and headdresses all become part of her dowry. Some will be worn every day but the finest will only be put on for special occasions such as festivals, on pilgrimage and at funerals.
Berber music is an extremely ancient tradition, probably pre-dating even the arrival of the Arabs in Morocco. It has been passed down orally over the generations and is quite distinct from the Arab-influenced forms in its rhythms, tunings, instruments and sounds. Village music is essentially a song and dance performance by both the men, and the women, of an entire village. The best-known dances are the ahouach, in the Western High Atlas, and the ahidus, performed by Chleuh Berbers in the eastern High Atlas. Drums – bendirs, and flutes – neys, are the only instruments used.
Ritual music, played by flutes and drums accompanied by lots of rhythmic hand-clapping, plays an important part in any celebrations or ceremonies within the agricultural calendar or at major events such as a marriage. It may also be used to help drive out mischievous evil spirits – djinn – or to encourage late-coming or scarce rainfall.
The professional musicians – imdyazn – of the Atlas mountains are itinerant and will do most of their travelling in the summer months. The leader of the group is called the amydaz or poet. He presents his poems, which are usually improvised and give news of national or world affairs, in the village square. The poet may be accompanied by one or two members of the group on drums and rabad, a single-string fiddle, and by a fourth player, known as the bou oughanim. The latter is the reed player, throwing out melodies on a double clarinet, and also acting as the group’s clown.
The most famous of the Berber festivals is the wedding moussem – religious festival – of the Ait Haddidou near Imilchil in the High Atlas. Each September this enormous tribe meets to celebrate the feast day of the local Muslim saint and to participate in the last really big market of the year before winter arrives. The Ait Haddidou tribe allows free association between the sexes. During the festival, groups of traditionally dressed girls cruise the market, catching the eyes of any young men who might make suitable future husbands. Dozens of brides, dressed in blue, white and red shawls, their cheeks rouged and their eyes lined with kohl queue up to sign the government marriage register.
As with other indigenous peoples in the world, the Berbers are protesting again the devaluation of their culture and identity, the absence of a written language and their lack of political influence. There is a general tendency, in Morocco, towards regarding the Berbers as backward or second-rate. Many of the Berber children drop out of school because they are taught, in what is to them, a foreign language – Arabic. This language barrier often remains a problem throughout their adult life, especially when dealing with officialdom. Thanks to the late King Hassan II and a growing number of Berber cultural associations, the Amaziah language is starting to have a small but marked renaissance. It is now regularly broadcast on radio and television, and its literature is being studied in the country’s universities.
Many Berbers have welcomed tourism and at local level, particularly in the Atlas, have been quick to profit from it, often undermining the government’s broader attempts to capitalise on big spending by foreign visitors. As a visitor, you will be constantly surprised and delighted by the openness and friendliness of these famously fierce and distinctive people.