Creative Morocco

      Sitting at the mouth of the Mediterranean Sea, only a hop-skip-and-a-jump from Europe to the north and to the east and south several African and Arab-Muslim countries, Morocco has been influenced by a fair few cultural invasions. From all of these cultures comingling, importing their own artistic styles and cultural traditions, Morocco’s creative identity is a collection of all these symbols, motifs, styles, colours, shapes, and textures, which has over time developed its own regional styles. The most prominent being the divide between the urban and rural regions (Jereb 1996, 11). The one unifying theme throughout all the styles is the Arab-Muslim culture, reminiscent of the Islamization, who made large contributions to the fully developed geometric patterning and styles that are so characteristic of modern Morocco. From there, Moroccans have grown in their own artistic styles and build a creative cultural identity all their own that is both them and everyone else who has contributed.

A seemingly simple geometric design, this Berber rug has a deeper meaning
of being watchful, or being watched.

 A prominent cultural group in Morocco that have a distinct artistic style, and is considered to be quite independently distinct in Moroccan, are the Berber people. The Berber people are a semi-nomadic group come from the north of Africa, live mostly in the rural country side, and are well known for their crafts and geometric artistry (Jereb 1996, 41). What makes them so well-known are through their interaction with the Phoenicians, the Berbers specialized their skills and techniques in weaving and dyeing, widening the range of artistic symbols and designs which are incorporated into their already well-established artistic vocabulary (Jereb 1996, 41). Because of their highly specialized and particular style in Moroccan artistry, the Berbers’ crafts stand out in Moroccan culture and as a cultural group whom I will be focusing my research around.

      The vocabulary of the Berber and Moroccan motifs carry deep meanings, in spiritual, social, and powerful ways. The iconographic and symbolic patterns in Berber textiles predate Islam (Jereb 1996, 14). The Berber people have adopted some of the Islamic and Arabic spiritual costumes into their own culture; however they mostly stick to their own décor in order to keep the powerful meaning and messages of their culture true to their intended meaning. They take great care with their work, treating every activity as a purposeful action. “Women of both nomadic and semi-nomadic Berber tribes prepared the fires used in the weaving of shawls, blankets, rugs, tent bands, sacks, pillows and grass mats – items which they still produce today” (Jereb 1996, 41). The craft of textile is considered a meditative practice, one which contains the collective “legacy of the popular, collective and sacred artistic traditions in Berber history…” (Jereb 1996, 41). The importance of the quality of worker in the process of the making of the textiles is as important, if not more important, than the quality of the end result.

Berber Evil Eye

When it comes to symbols and motifs in textiles, embroidery and fabrics, the animalistic values of Islam play out. Referencing historic images in the Koran, the restricted human an animal images appear in both realistic and stylized forms which are incorporated into floral and geometric patterns (Jereb 1996, 18-19). These can be abstracted to the most basic forms, such as the Berber evil eye. Symbols and motifs like this one carry power which can be used for a whole host of activities. Such as healing, protection, and bringing good fortune; they act as a talisman (Jereb 1996, 20). In the case of the evil eye, it can be incorporated into any medium, such as jewelry, henna, tattoos, textiles, wood work, leather work, ad embroidery. “The people generally considered most susceptible to the evil eye are brides, pregnant women and babies, who are likely to wear a variety of pendants cut in this shape” (Jereb 1996, 21). By placing power into the objects, through meditative and spoken word practices, the symbols and objects are given a life that help to either bring good or bad fortune to those possessing them.

There is an additional religious element present in the making of these crafts, where the objects hold the words said by the makers as a piece of history. Much like in the making of the Koran, which requires the writer to say the words of the Koran as he is writing them to ensure the power of the words are embedded into the ink and paper, the words of spiritual power are put into the crafts themselves (Jereb 1996, 42). The textiles and objects become a piece of the greater spiritual identity of the person who made it, the region it comes from, and the people who see stories see the stories play out in every stitch of the textile fibers. 

Work Cited

Jereb, James F. Arts & Crafts of Morocco. San Fransico: Chronicle Books, 1996.