Striped Stars | berber-arts

FLAT-WEAVES OF THE AIT OUAOUZGUITE – MOROCCO

No other tribe in Morocco has mastered a broader range of textile techniques as expertly as the Ait Ouaouzguite. It is thus all the more surprising that there has never been a study devoted solely to their highly aesthetic elongated flat-weaves. Although Prosper Ricard described these weavings in the mid-1930s, it is only now that Prof. Wilfried Stanzer, author of the standard volume “Berber: Tribal Carpets and Weavings from Morocco”, provides us with a comprehensive overview. Flat-weaves from the collection of Abdelhay Alouani Bibi, the legendary Marrakesh dealer who passed away prematurely, are being published here for the first time.

1 Glaoua, Ait Ouarghada, Ait Oubiel or Ait Tamassine, late 19c, 435 x 165 cm (14' 3" x 5' 5"). Outstanding pieces were always used with utmost care, which extended their lives. Either the Ait Ouarghada, Ait Oubiel or Ait Tamassine could have produced this “blanket with knots” (lahmal n’ibouli), though the colours tend to indicate the latter. Striking features are the equal status of the patterned stripes in various techniques and the visual weighting from the two black stripes with included coloured designs (Wilfried Stanzer Collection, formerly part of the Friedrich Spuhler Collection). Photo: G. Blazek

The Ait Ouaouzguite, one of the largest tribal confederations in Morocco, belong to the Shilha-speaking Berbers of the south and trace their roots back to the legendary Masmuda Berbers. These groups that got sedentary in southern Morocco most likely were not originally masters of the art of pile-weaving.

Their arid tribal area is located around the extinct volcano Jebel Siroua, which towers 3,305 m above sea level the landscape. Beginning in the southwest near the Souss Valley and extending northeast to the provincial capital of Ouarzazate, it is thus located in the rain shadow of the mighty High Atlas mountain range. The summit of the volcano is where the High Atlas meets the Anti-Atlas. As a result, the moist air masses that come off the Atlantic and push into the interior of the country between the mountain ranges are blocked, covering Jebel Siroua in snow in the winter. This is the source of life for the small terrace fields along the streams of water that extend up to 2,300 metres above sea level. In addition to agriculture, cattle farming accounts for the region’s second economic mainstay, with the small, all-terrain “Siroua” sheep being prized for their extremely high-quality, smooth wool. These sheep are either lily white or jet black and are never spotted, contrary to Mendel’s Laws of Heredity.

In the heart of this region, Berber women make an annual pilgrimage to Anzal in the territory of the Ait Tamassine sub-tribe for the festival (moussem) of Lala Tlaitmaze. She was the daughter of the founder of a brotherhood (zaouia) from the great palm oasis of Tafilalet and lived in the early 16th century. She is honoured as the person who brought the art of pile-weaving to the region. This oasis region with the historic centre of Sijilmassa was the hub of the caravan trade between Fez and Timbuktu. It thus seems plausible that handicraft expertise could have been transferred at this cultural crossroads. Leo Africanus, for example, reported from Fez in the 16th century that a knotted rug was part of a bride’s dowry and mentioned a rug and flat-weave auction in the city.

2.1 Historical photograph of a lahmal shadoui with dark middle section.

2.2 Hand-written note on the back of the historical photograph.

Lahmal shadoui with dark middle section, published in 1934 and 1935 by Prosper Ricard in Nord-Sud, with a hand-written note on the back of the photo – probably written by Ricard himself (vintage photo: Gebhart Blazek Collection). Photo: G. Blazek

3 Lahmal, border region to the Sektana tribe, 1st half 20c, 280 x 155 cm (approx. 9' 2" x 5' 1"). A simple blanket (lahmal) without a design that visually lives from the different degrees of abrash. The white horizontal stripes suggest a sub-tribe in the border region to the Sektana tribe. (Gebhart Blazek Collection) Photo: G. Blazek

The women of the Ait Tamassine were the first to not only pile-weave for their own needs, but were also commissioned by the Kaid Ouaouzguiti ou Ouarzazi. In the early 19th century they were already using designs not native to their tribe. These rugs are characterized by fine, lustrous wool and a rich colour palette, with the colours of the wefts alternating in horizontal stripes. After 1900 they were producing for the powerful tribal leader of the Glaoua, the later Pasha of Marrakech. Under the French, when urban dealers discovered an interest in rugs produced by the Ait Ouaouzguite, the rugs were first sold under the designation of “Haut Atlas”, even though the tribal region is geologically part of the Anti-Atlas. It wasn’t until later that dealers upgraded the designation to “Glaoua” rugs.

In the late 1920s, the high-ranking French protectorate official and distinguished rug and carpet scholar Prosper Ricard suggested the designation of Ait Ouaouzguite and even the names of the sub-tribes. In 1935 he earned an even greater merit when he put flat-weaves in the limelight as well. After all, up until then these pieces had been mostly ignored, but they certainly have a longer history than the regional knotted rugs. They are the real stars of Ait Ouaouzguite textile art.

Hanbel, the Arabic word for blanket, was the umbrella term for flat-woven textiles. Those made by the Ait Ouaouzguite are divided into the categories of “Glaoua” (Fig. 9, Fig. 1) and “Zanafi” (Fig. 8). The term “Zanafi” for flat-weaves goes back to the name of a local Caid (comparable to a district commissioner) and was generally used for blankets with a high proportion of sections using the weft twining technique. The blankets known as “Glaoua”, on the other hand, have knotted design stripes and even knotted borders. During the first ICOC conference in Marrakech in 1995, corresponding terms were introduced in the Berber dialect of Shilha: “lahmal” (Fig. 3) for flat-weaves with simple stripes in black and white; “lahmal shadoui” (Fig 2.1, Fig. 4, Fig. 6, Fig. 8) for flat-weaves with weft twining design stripes (two threads in different colours are twined around each other when placed in the warp threads and surround one or more warp threads depending on what the design calls for); in “lahmal n ibouli” pieces (blanket with knots, Fig. 9), woven sections alternate with knotted sections. The term “lahmal tirira” was also used for colourful patterned stripes using an interlocking slit tapestry technique. Overall, these tend to be rather cumbersome terms that are most likely to be used in academic work rather than in the day-to-day business of rug dealers.

4 Lahmal shadoui, Ait Ouarghada, late 19c, 365 x 145 cm (12' x 4' 9"). A lahmal shadoui with colourful patterned stripes and a dark middle section, which suggests that it was used as a transport bag (folded in half and sewn on the side) – in this ornate design it was first used as part of the dowry and later as a blanket. (Gebhart Blazek Collection) Photo: G. Blazek

5 Ait Semgane or Ait Khozema, 2nd half of the 19c, 415 x 145 cm (13' 7" x 4' 9"), blanket with an exceptionally clear and wonderfully simple design, which easily indicates an old age. (Gebhart Blazek Collection) Photo: G. Blazek

The blankets were certainly multifunctional, but their main purpose was as sleeping blankets. Usually a mat made from date or dwarf palm leaves or esparto grass was used as an underlay. A unicoloured, simple wool blanket over the mat was already a luxury. Once they had reached a certain degree of wear and tear, these flat-weaves were cut up and used as saddle covers or transport bags. Yet some of these items were also produced specifically for pageantry. There were also smaller storage bags (adil), duffel bag-like provision bags (rhomd) and feed bags (asgars). Some of these items were limited to a few sub-tribes.

Outstanding pieces with colourful patterned stripes are usually attributed to the Ait Ouarghada (along with the Ait Oubiel) or the Ait Tamassine, whereby the former have warmer and clearer colours to distinguish them from the darker character of the Tammasine pieces. The Ait Semgane do not just fall in between the aforementioned groups geographically, but also in terms of their textile expression. The colour blue becomes more significant. The flat-weaves of the Ait Khozema and the Ait Mahlif (with Zaouia Quala) are based on those of the Ait Semgane. In Ait Mahlif pieces, dark grey and natural brown wool are used more.

6 Lahmal shadoui, Ait Ouarghada or Ait Semgane, circa 1900, 347 x 127 cm (11' 5" x 4' 2").Lahmal with a large shadoui middle section, which is significantly thicker than the rest of the kelim and provides better insulation as a sleeping underlay and lasts longer when used as a transport bag due to the duplicate effect of the weft twining technique. (Rabii Alouani Bibi Collection, formerly part of the Abdelhay Alouani Bibi Collection) Photo: Rabii Alouani Bibi

7 Adil, Ait Ouaouzguite, circa 1900, 231 x 68 cm (w7' 7" x 2' 3"). This storage bag (adil) may show clear signs of folding and wear in the middle (the support area), but given its ornate design it was surely only intended to carry valuable items. Not only the section with weft twining shows two different sides, but upon closer examination even the other decorative elements are not the same on both sides. (Rabii Alouani Bibi Collection, formerly part of the Abdelhay Alouani Bibi Collection) Photo: Rabii Alouani Bibi

An attempt can be made to attribute colour and design preferences to individual sub-tribes. Yet the more insight one gains on site, the more confusing attribution becomes because the features were passed on through intermarriage or encounters at festivities (moussems).

In addition to the tremendous effort involved in running a household and the hard work of farming, a married woman’s time was more than filled with weaving blankets, bags, belt straps and fabrics for everyday and festive clothing for her family, which usually grew each year. In traditional production, weaving and knotting accounted for no more than 40% of the work, while preparing the wool took the most time.

A mature Siroua sheep produced only one kilogram of wool per year, with only half a kilogram remaining after washing. Dyeing with plants was also extremely time-consuming. The flowers of the thorny broom shrub were usually used to produce yellow. At least one kilogram of the flowers had to be picked from between the sharp thorns to dye the same amount of wool. Even more effort was involved to produce red dyes from the madder root. Up until 1910, the indigo plant for blue dyes was grown relatively close to the tribal region in the Drâa Valley. Yet obtaining indigo powder and producing the vats is so complicated that even in the villages these tasks were left to professional dyers. With very few exceptions, these professionals were Jews who had settled in great numbers in the region, but were not given any farmland and thus had to live solely from a trade.

8 Zanafi, Ait Ouarghada, circa 1900, 560 x 162 cm (18' 5" x 5' 4"). This so-called “Zanafi-Hanbel” with black and white weft twining stripes and colourful patterned stripes in an interlocking slit tapestry technique has a relatively crowded design, but it is still balanced and has a lively effect through the delicate use of colour. The details are richly varied and playful without interrupting the concept. The shadoui pattern is also clear and diverse: A masterpiece of the Ait Ouarghada and surely an antique despite its immaculate condition. (Rabii Alouani Bibi Collection, formerly part of the Abdelhay Alouani Bibi Collection) Photo: Rabii Alouani Bibi

9 Lahmal n’ibouli (Glaoua), Ait Ouarghada, 19c, 420 x 152 cm (13' 9" x 5'). An outstanding flat-weave by the Ait Ouaouzguite that was never used in everyday life since the unusually rich palette of obviously natural dyes can almost certainly only date it to the 19th century. Even still, there are no signs of wear and tear. The system of the usual three large patterned stripes has been adhered to. A distinctive feature is the knotted middle stripe that divides the “semi-flat-weave” into two three-part sections. The abundance of designs almost makes it seem a bit congested, yet it is skilfully divided up so that the overall image stays clear. (Rabii Alouani Bibi Collection, formerly part of the Abdelhay Alouani Bibi Collection) Photo: Rabii Alouani Bibi

When Jewish dealers brought easier-to-process chemical dyes to the remote villages after 1890, plant dyeing became a thing of the past throughout Morocco. Only in the flat-weaves of the Ait Ouaouzguite, which used very little dye, was wool dyed with plant dyes for up to 30 years into the 20th century, at least as a mixed dye.

If we assume that Lala Tlaitmaze of Anzal is rightly credited as the bringer of the art of pile-weaving, then rug production came to this tribal region in the 16th century at the earliest. But blankets had certainly been necessary ever since the mountainous land around Jebel Siroua was first settled. Because they have such isolated technical features, a longer development period can be assumed. Whereas in knotted pieces, and even in the knotted stripes in lahmal n ibouli pieces (trade name “Glaoua”), pattern-related outside influences took hold very quickly, the patterns in flat-weaves remained traditional in the scope of small, personal artistic features.

After around 1950, the doors were opened for the commercial marketing of rugs and flat-weaves for all sub-tribes of the Ait Ouaouzguite. Up until then, the Berber women of the region knotted one or at most two rugs for their own household in their lives in addition to the standard production of flat-weaves. In contrast to other tribes in Morocco, the rug was not used as a bedding underlay, but as a seat for guests of honour at festivities. If more rugs were needed, they were borrowed from relatives.

After 1970, the good local wool was sold at expensive prices. Instead, cheap machine-carded and spun Australian wool was purchased and prosperous rug production drove out the production of flat-weaves throughout the entire tribal region. Even in homes in the region, flat-weaves were increasingly replaced by more prestigious rugs, or cheap machine-made blankets were purchased at the weekly markets with the profits from rug production.

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