2. Who Are The Berbers?
The Berbers call themselves Amazigh and they have
been around for at least 4000 years living in North Africa.
Today most Berbers live in Morocco and Algeria.
They believe they are warriors because they fought
against the Romans, Arab, and French invaders who tried
to control them but they won and didn’t get conquered.
Because the Berber people have never been conquered
they have been able to keep their own language and
culture!!
3.
4. What Is The Berber
Language?
The Berber’s languages are French, Tamazight, and the
language taught in school- Arabic.
The Berbers have 300 dialects used in their language. The
three main dialects used in Morocco are Tachelhit,
Tamazight and Tarifit.
It is difficult to find Berber writing even though its been
around for over 2500 years – the Berber language is mostly
oral.
A problem for many of the Berber children is that they drop
out of school because in school they teach in Arabic and not
in their dialect.
5.
6. Berber Music
There are three different types of music in the Berber
culture: village music, ritual music and the music
performed by professional musicians.
1) Village music is for dancing and the instruments
include drums and flutes. These dances begin with a
chanted prayer.
2) Ritual music is performed at ceremonies like
marriages and other important events. Ritual music is
also used to protect themselves against evil spirits.
7. Berber Music Continued
3) Professional musicians travel in groups of four and led by a
poet also known as “amydaz”. The amydaz creates poems
spontaneously. Drums, a fiddle and a double clarinet are being
played while he performs. The person playing the double clarinet
acts like the clown for the band.
8. Ancient Berber Tombs
The Berbers and their ancestors believed in life after death.
At first bodies were buried in little holes. But the Berbers
realized that the bodies were being dug up by wild animals
so they started burying them in deeper holes.
Over the years they buried the dead in caves, tombs in
rocks, and mounds. Soon these simple tombs became very
detailed and large especially for the important people in the
Berber communities.
10. What Do The Berbers
Look Like?
What makes them different than the other people in North
Africa is their body build and their skin color. They are
thin and smaller size and their skin color can range from
white to dark brown.
11. Berber Weddings
The Berber wedding takes up to 7 days to prepare.
There are many important things to do during these 7
days. One is to pay for the “dowry” which is when the
groom pays the bride’s family with gifts. If the family is
very rich, the bride gets gold jewelry and furniture for
their home.
Five days before the wedding the bride gets a
“hammam” which is like a milk bath to prepare for her
wedding day.
The day of the wedding the bride and her bridal party
get their hands painted with henna and the grooms
name is hidden in the henna design.
12.
13. What Did I Learn
I learned that the Berber people are strong because they
have never been conquered. They have existed for 4000
years and they have over 300 dialects. Their culture is
very different from their wedding ceremonies to the burial
process.
This is different than the Americans because the United
States is about 200 years old and we don’t have dialects.
Our wedding ceremonies last a day and we don’t have
tombs for burial sites.
