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Collectors only learned about weavings from
this tribe in Morocco's eastern High Atlas Mountains in 1997.
Traditionally, the tribe's large sacks - called tharart - stored
sugar, grain, flour, clothing, or other valuables in their tents.
But now, as families abandon tents for fixed abodes, they often
replace storage tharart with small wooden cupboards. Transport
tharart are used to bring clothes or large gifts to marriage
ceremonies. They formerly carried grain from weekly markets called
souks, a role now replaced by woven plastic sacks.
Tharart usually combine pile, flat-weave, and
tapestry techniques. Their weavers often cluster pile motifs in the
center. For everyday use, women turn the thararts inside out, only
revealing the weaving's colorful pile on special occasions or when
entertaining guests. Elsewhere in Morocco, sacks of this type have a
back of plain, striped flatweave, with broad stripes of
floating-weft tapestry designs appearing in front.
Weavers make tharart on an upright loom
constructed of wood transported into the desolate, almost treeless
tribal area. They weave them in one piece, folding them in half
widthwise to form the sack (see digitally joined weaving
below,
depicting the piece as it came from the loom). After folding, they
sew the edges together and finish with a decorative herringbone
stitch. Long-lasting goat or sheep-hair threads often reinforce the
herringbone. Some bags are closed with a slitweave and loop
technique.
When relatives of the groom-to-be come to
discuss marriage, the parents of the bride-to-be will prominently
display a high quality tharart, heavily decorated with hanging
tassels. Hanging in the middle of the tent and equally visible to
the visiting men and women, the sack demonstrates the bride-to-be's
weaving prowess and her suitability as a wife. This display remains
private until the tharart conveys large household goods to the
marriage ceremony, at which time the bride's expertise is put on
public view. This sack's fine tassels and straps indicate that an
Aït Rguig weaver made it for a wedding. Other women consider the Aït
Rguig to be the tribe's best weavers.
This finely woven grain sack is composed of a
fluid diamond lattice set on a striped plainweave background. The
central portion of the lattice has a light-colored border on the
inside of each element and is completely filled with pile. In some
rows, the weaver carefully alternated the color of the lattice fill.
She also placed a small, sometimes bordered, irregular shape of
contrasting color in the center of the filled lattices. Bands of
zigzag, amjer-pattern, floating-weft tapestry show through the open
lattices, providing a traditional protection against evil spirits as
well as visual contrast. AS |
