Reviving Amazigh Language Through Weaving

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In the mid 1990s, electricity was installed in my village. This year marked great change. Cars took the place of donkeys, satellite dishes substituted for story and the plastic carpet moved in like a convenient killer. Up until this point we had an entirely self-sustained life where language, prayer, harvest and family were harmoniously woven together. 

 

My mother remembers her mother weaving with women from the neighborhood while the children played in the courtyard. They sang songs that correlated with the beginning of the weaving, the middle and the celebration at the end. They shared tajines and flat bread and drank mint tea, each life being marked in the weaving by their contributed yarns.

 

These carpets were not for sale but kept by my family to warm their homes during the cold season. Before settling in mud houses, our nomadic ancestors used reed carpets which worked as the floor for their temporary tent homes. These reed carpets evolved into horse, goat and mule carpets. The same technology was used to make large sacks to carry grains from the fields on the backs of the mules. Our Tamazight language, symbols and patterns have been woven into these intricate masterpieces for thousands of years.  

 

Our language is oral. We have no written word. We have no paper as trees are sacred and not cut. These carpets are the canvas that the language has survived on and been passed down for thousands of years. Without them, our language will be disappear. Our Amazigh language has been suppressed by our of pan-Arabic governments and banned from our schools, public communities and printed currency and signage. This is a political act to fight the complete erasure of our mother tongue. 

 

In the modern world you have access to “Berber Carpet” which Home Depot or Lowe’s will conveniently install in your home. This white washed pattern is stripped from the marks of our people. The word Berber, like nigger, was given to us by our oppressors. We are the Amazigh and these are our carpets . .  .full of color, language, earth, story and life.

 

Please help launch Asufnu NTessa’s weaving revival. We need looms, dye, yarn and other tools to bring back this practice. This is a chance to ensure that the real Amazigh Carpet exists, so that it won’t slip into history and be buried with our grandmothers.