Amchaqab

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Simple amchaqab under a Mauritanian tent near Tidjikja

Amchaqab ( hassania ) also amšaqab, pl. Imšeqben, tamazight amšaġab; is a wooden frame that is used by nomads in Mauritania and Western Sahara in two ways: it serves as a luggage rack for storing household items in the tent ( chaima ) and as a camel saddle for women when traveling.

Design

The frame consists of four legs ( ūted , Pl. Āwtād ) made of dark hardwood ( grenadilla , Dalbergia melanoxylon ), richly carved and supported by a rectangular frame ( aġḍ ). The remaining (in simpler frames all) wooden poles are made of lighter wood, for example from Desert Date ( Balanites aegyptiaca , Hassania: tišṭāya , Pl. Teīseṭ ), Acacia raddiana (sub-species of acacia vachellia tortilis , Hassania: ṭalḥaīye , Pl. Talha ), Osher ( Calotropis procera , hassania turǧāīye , Pl. Tūrǧa ) or breastberry tree ( Ziziphus lotus , hassania: sedre , Pl. Sder ). The frame size is 60–90 × 110–140 centimeters. The legs are stabilized by eight diagonal struts. The pieces of wood are connected by strips of raw animal hide (camel or cattle), which are wrapped wet and contract as they dry. The geometric, always symmetrical ornament motifs on the corner posts are delimited by fine sawn lines that are 1 to 2.5 millimeters deep. They used to be the most elaborate of all woodwork and showed fixed motifs with a symbolic meaning.

In the case of simpler designs, the construction consists of any kind of billet that has been brightly painted and wrapped with colored strips of fabric. The wooden poles are about 100 to 110 centimeters long and undecorated. Often the diagonal struts are not used.

Function and cultural significance

The amchaqab is the most important and usually the only piece of furniture in a nomad tent that is inhabited by a family. On it, removed from the ground and thus protected from vermin and animals, lies the entire household effects of the family. This used to be packed in differently sized storage bags made of artistically decorated leather. This included large, pyramid-shaped, pointed suitcases ( tazāya, pl. Tiziyāten ) with a rectangular base area of ​​up to a meter in length. Little smaller were the most widely used, tisufren (Sg. Tasufra packing bags mentioned), the pattern similar to those on the leather pad surmije were characteristic of the region. Clothing and food supplies such as flour, dates, tea and sugar were transported and stored in the sacks. A wooden chest (m. Tandūg, Pl. Ṣnādīg ) in which the woman keeps her jewelry, a teapot (m. Berrād , Pl. Abrārīd ) with glasses and wooden dining bowls (Sg. Gdaḥ ).

In the last two decades of the 20th century, economic hardship forced many families to sell the precious leather work. The decorative fringes (pl. Gsas ) of the tiziyāten were cut off and ended up on the markets and in the Moroccan art trade, a few of the fringes, consisting of five individual stripes, were also seen hanging down on the imšeqben until the 1970s . The tradition of leather processing is only continued in a few places, so that today the household items on the table frames are mostly stowed in imported suitcases and plastic bags.

When traveling, the amchaqab is turned over and attached to the camel with the legs up . The frame is supported on the side by tied sacks (formerly the tiziyāten ) or pillows (surmije) . It can be covered with a cloth as sun protection and offers a flat surface on which the woman can sit while the man rides the narrow wooden camel saddle .

In 1957, over 90 percent of the population in Mauritania lived in tents, by 1960 two thirds of the population were nomads. This number fell to below 5 percent in 2010. As a transition to sedentariness, the amchaqab is placed under a stationary metal structure covered with fabric or corrugated iron next to the sleeping and storage areas, which as before consist of floor mats and the armrest cushions surmije .

literature

  • Wolfgang Creyaufmüller: Nomad culture in the Western Sahara. The material culture of the Moors, their handicraft techniques and basic ornamental structures. Burgfried-Verlag, Hallein (Austria) 1983, pp. 128, 238f, 248, 251, 371, 411-421

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Creyaufmüller 1983, p. 365
  2. ↑ The number five has a magical meaning and is related to the hand of Fatima (Arabic ḫamza, "five") that blesses or avoids
  3. ^ Walter Reichhold : Islamic Republic of Mauritania. Kurt Schroeder, Bonn 1964, p. 59
  4. ↑ Abdel Wedoud Ould Cheikh: social structures and political power in Mauritania. In: inamo 61, spring 2010, p. 4