Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
purpose (MAKILAM)
dedication and organization
The central position of women in the life of the
opening words Berbers of Northern-Africa exemplified by the
introduction Kabyles
the program The Four Seasons Life Cycle of a Kabyle Woman
schedule
Introduction
lecturers of the congress
The Kabyles are an ethnic sub-group of the Berber people, today still living
exhibitions in Algeria, Tunisia and Morocco. They are the oldest known people of
Northern Africa. The three most important groups of the Berbers in Algeria
literature of the lecturers are the Chaouias, who live a semi-nomadic lifestyle, the Tuareg, famous the
world over as the People of the Desert, and the Kabyles, who are sedentary. I
registration was born in Kabylia and was able to observe how people preserved some of
their traditions. This happened in spite of the conversion to Christianity
hotels during the Roman Empire and to Islam after the arrival of the Arabs.
Examples are: the veneration of saints, belief in the magic and power of the
transportation earth, the sun, the moon, springs and the rain. As a young girl I had already
learned about the secret code of women, displayed on hand-painted
poster ornamentation on pottery and on the walls of Kabyle houses. It took a long-
lasting initiation by old women-potters in the '80s to actually enable me to
contact decipher the symbols that can only be truly appreciated by women because
they relate directly to femininity and maternity.
press releases
The last phase of French colonialism in Algeria, lasting from 1830-1962,
1st World Congress on marked the end of the traditional life of the Kabyle society. After many years
Matriarchal Studies of research I have come to the following conclusion; the introduction of
Luxembourg 2003 written language together with the French educational system was one of the
Selected Papers fundamental factors leading to the demise of the traditional lifestyle, a social
order which was focused on the woman as mother of the clan. In Kabylia the
links: woman is seen as the "central pillar" of the house. The actual physical pillar
in the house receives religious veneration, because the protective house spirit
Center for the Study of the Gift inhabits this structure, and the woman of the house is compared to this spirit,
Economy everything rests on her (Genevois, p. 18).
International Academy Hagia Scientific research into Kabyle history and culture within French ethnology
and historiography was based unfortunately on the assessment factors of a
western civilisation. For a better understanding it is therefore expedient to
describe some of the fundamental traits of traditional Kabyle culture.
Without this knowledge one cannot understand the central focus of the
position of the Kabyle woman.
The Kabyles speak a Berber dialect, a language without script. Since eternity
knowledge has been passed on orally from parent to child via everyday
practical applications. The values, conventions and customs of the rural clan
were passed on in the form of legends and myths only in spoken form
(Taqbaylit). It is very interesting to note that the word Taqbaylit means
"woman" as well as "Kabyle language". It is the mothers who teach their
children starting with birth to speak this language. Thanks to the mothers the
language of communication in the villages is still Kabyle language, in spite
of the fact that at first French and since 1962 Arabic has been the language
taught at school. Since the Kabyles never formed a nation state, right up to
the middle of the 20th century. Their cultural continuation found expression
only via their oral tradition. There were no written laws, no government
administration, no civil registry office, no civil service, and no land registry.
The teachings, knowledge and words of the elders were regarded as holy and
as "living books", and the elders commanded high regard.
During my research I had to realise how the western scientific viewpoint and
also the perspective of many ‘enlightened' people caused difficulties in
understanding the ritualised life-style of Kabyle women. Therefore I
developed a new scientific approach, the four-phase approach. It describes a
work cycle for the production of a piece of pottery, a staple-food or a
garment, consistent with the four seasons of the year. One result, which
completely surprised even me, was the fact that all ritualised activities, be it
the moulding of a piece of pottery, the preparation of food, or the production
of a garment, closely follow the rules of the espousal between a woman and
a man. All subsistence life activities were modelled on the act of human
copulation. When working with clay, for example, the potteress forms an
object according to her own biology and the laws of reproduction. The
development of a piece of pottery is carried out along the lines of the
magical ritual of copulation. The potteress uses for this purpose a round ball,
symbolizing the feminine in the moon, on top of which a coil of clay is
placed representing the man. In the act of weaving, the warp threads being
crossed over by the weft thread, thus uniting the two, represent the mating of
the two souls. She creates a completely new piece of cloth, a living creation,
equalling the birth of a human being (Makilam 1996).
1. Childhood
An older woman of my kinship group was shocked when she heard that
fathers-to-be in western society are frequently present during childbirth.
Deridingly and sad at the same time she said to me:
In traditional Kabyle society the purpose of life is focused on the family and
its continuation. Without marriage no new social groups come into being.
Kabyles know, the individual does not count, if not backed up by a social
group. Beginning with puberty young men and woman are prepared for their
future role as mothers and fathers. There is almost no adolescence, because
arranged marriages take place quite early. Therefore the wedding rituals do
not refer to the separation of the spouse from their respective families, but to
the end of childhood. They celebrate the changeover to their new
responsibility, which is understood as the continuation of life's legacy passed
on by the ancestors.
"It is truly unbelievable, but women look for, choose and find
the wife. Whether a man has close relatives or is alone, he
would even send out a stranger he trusted, for it is always
women who one turns to when one is looking for a wife." (At-
Ali 1979, p. 90f)
Kabyle weddings are never a private affair of the future spouses. There is no
consent needed from them. They do not even meet up during the time of
preparation for the wedding. The wedding was originally the concern of the
whole kinship-group and a commitment by one's word of honour. The
French introduced a registry only at the beginning of the 20th century.
The wedding rituals were connected with the cycle of nature. Therefore no
weddings were held in May. What was true for the work of the potteress, for
the wedding the same applied, the fertility of the freshly seeded soil was not
to be disturbed. For this reason weddings were held mostly in October.
When the woman is fertilised by the man through sexual union she is likened
to the earth, the Earth-Mother of human life (Terre-Mère).
2. The pregnant woman - the "form-giver"
All native peoples equate woman-mother with the earth. The analogy
between the fertile soil and the fertile woman shows up clearly in the rules
surrounding pregnant women. These rules are identical for women and the
soil. Agriculture is accompanied by rituals similar to those that apply to
pregnant women. For the first time, when a woman walks through her
flourishing vegetable garden during harvesting season, she opens her belt
ritualistically in reverence and silence, as she would do before giving birth.
She does what a pregnant woman ready to give birth would do, so as to not
hinder the growth of the plants.
The positive regard given to the belly of a pregnant woman stresses the
importance of female creativity during the process of pregnancy. An
expression of thankfulness or reverence is still to this day: "May the belly be
blessed which carried you."
During her pregnancy a Kabyle woman is not allowed to work the soil, as
she would be ‘shaping' the soil with her work. In so doing she would also
analogously form the infant. During pregnancy she will also avoid
whitewashing, plastering, or decorating the walls of her house, or making
pottery, for this could also have an adverse affects on her or her child's
health. Baneful spirits could disrupt or even destroy the life in the womb.
They believe that childlessness is not to be ascribed to the woman, as this
would contradict her fertile and creative abilities. The inability to conceive is
always attributed to some magical, supernatural obstacle. This perception is
still found nowadays in Algeria. Pregnancy is treated magically and Kabyle
woman will employ difficult rituals, as for example undertaking rituals at
faraway grottos, holy springs and the gravesites of ancestors.
Until the time of delivery the Kabyle woman takes care of all her usual
chores, after the delivery she is obliged to adhere to a strict resting time. The
fixed time for this is 39 nights, both for mother and child. This time is
considered to be the most dangerous time for a mother. Often the woman
will spend this time in her mother's house, for her mother will instruct her in
all she needs to know. This is why the birth of a daughter is highly valued.
The mother cares for the daughter turned mother herself and accompanies
her through all the birthing rites. I have searched long for the meaning of
these magical 40 days, which are observed after delivery and likewise after
the death of a person. The older women gave the explanation to me: It is
connected with the cycle of the moon.
During the three days following the birth neither the child nor its mother are
allowed to leave the bed or the home. It is prohibited to visit her as the
saying goes: "She's got one foot in the grave." Like the dead, both of them
have to disappear from sight for 3 dark nights, before they can reappear
again. Mother and child then hold an additional resting period in the house
for 7 more nights. During this time they can only have visitors from the
immediate family. Only after these 10 days of isolation within the family
community is the woman allowed to cross over the threshold of the house.
But she will only do this after she has observed a number of magical rituals,
which will protect her from harm. The mother will furthermore wait another
28 nights, a moon-month, before she leaves the compound of the family.
Only then, covering the child carefully, is she able to show the child off to
the rest of the village. The time of 38 nights or 39 days is finally finished
after the woman has ritually visited a well or a sacred place. Only on the
40th day will the mother resume a normal life again.
3. 2. Motherhood
In the eyes of the Kabyles, the woman is the foundation of the house and the
family, but her role as woman and mother is only completely fulfilled when
she becomes a grandmother. One of the most important tasks a mother can
have, is the search for the wife for her sons, for it ensures the continuation of
the family line through her descendants. From early childhood onwards
traditional upbringing of the Kabyle boy is geared toward keeping him close
by his mother's house. It is not desirable for the young married man to cut
the ties to his mother. Traditionally the daughters also stay in close proximity
to their mother, in order to marry a cousin from a neighbouring house. Only
at the beginning of the 20th century did marriages between different villages
become more common. By marrying outside the original family kinship-
group the women followed the men to settle far away from their mothers
close to their mothers-in-law, who coordinated all economic affairs of the
local family group. The search for a "bride" has become much more difficult
these days. As long as the task is still under female guidance, I can attest to
the fact that they still concentrate on the same family group and that the
descendants of the mother are favoured.
When the first child gets married, the mother calls herself grandmother
according to her new role, tamghart or the Crone. In Kabyle language this
word expresses her very honourable position. At the same time her role as
mother to her grown up children lasts to her death. In old Kabylia the mother
cares for the children of her son turned father and at the same time assists
her daughter-in-law in her mother role. This is carried out to such a degree
that gifts at the birth of a child are handed to the grandmother, not to the
mother or the father of the child. The relationship between a mother and a
daughter is of utmost importance. The mother hands down all her knowledge
to the daughter, the heiress of all the mother's wisdom. She is endowed with
a "special love".
At the end of her life the grandmother is viewed as magic. In her womb she
created human beings, who have been recipients of her nourishment and
care. She turns into a weaver who is able to weave together the threads of
life of the ancestors with those of the descendants. The crone was present at
every fertility rite and directed all ritualistic-magical work. Based on her
experience she often became a midwife and every evening recounted the
myth and fairytales she had heard from her mother and passed them on along
with her mother's wisdom to her grandchildren.
Summary
This four-part analysis represents at the same time the methodology and the
main results of my research on the magical dimension of the position of the
Kabyle women. From the cradle to the grave the woman as mother is the
protectress of life itself, the potteress, the provider, the weaver of human
bonds. Until I developed my specific approach it was common to view
women's lives in two phases, young and old. This twofold model was later
replaced by a threefold model, girl, woman and elderly woman. But the great
regard given to the mother cannot be fully grasped with either the two-phase,
or the three-phase model, as it does not take into account the phase of the
pregnancy. When we consider the beginning of a human life as its birth, we
do not give credence to the most important phase of the life in vitro, the
unseen development of a human being inside the womb of the mother. When
the beginning of human life is the actual birth of the child, then the unseen
development of the human being in the womb of its mother is not perceived
as a crucial phase in the mother role. In this way the time of motherhood is
curtailed. Starting with the birth of the child would be equal to starting with
fatherhood, thus producing a false equation. The phase of pregnancy is very
important for re-establishing the basis for the forgotten roots of humankind.
The refusal to honour this vital part of a woman's life results in
misconceiving the woman as the true source and preserving power of life
itself. Every Kabyle is raised in deep reverence for their mother and in the
awareness that all humankind owes its life to a woman. In this way the
following sentence has to be understood.
The adoration of the mother was also expressed in the high regard given to
the family, as well as in ancestor veneration and in the rituals performed for
the natural environment. This spirit of unity - which encompasses the whole
of life - regulates, affects and explains the magic of the women and their
traditional customs in traditional Kabyle life.
Literature
AT-ALI, Belaïd, Les cahiers de Belaïd ou la Kabylie d'antan, Fort-National
1963.
----, "Démarches matrimoniales" in Tisuraf, n° 4-5, Paris 1979.
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