Protective Jewelry in the Maghreb: A Crash Course
Since before the beginning of recorded history, humans have chosen to adorn themselves. Handmade objects have been worn on the body for purposes of decoration, but also to serve other important functions such as indication of marital status, group affiliation, the economic status of the wearer, and even protection from evil or misfortune.
This last function has inspired the creation of many fascinating objects. Amulets are used by virtually every culture across the globe, but the variety and scope of amulets made and used in the Maghreb is particularly wide.
Among the various groups who make their home in the Maghreb, several important kinds of amulets are employed. Hirz, tcherot, khamsa and khoumeissa, grisgris and kitab amulets are worn for protection across North Africa. Not taking the form of a specific amulet, but often employed as a protective device in the form of jewelry, are magic squares.
A hirz is also called a prayer box, with the term hirz specifically referring to those made in the Tiznit or Kabyle style of silver and colored enamel craftsmanship, or in plain silver, as differentiated from Kel Tamasheq amulet boxes (tcherot). These are typically rectangular, with some having pointed or square protrusions on the lower edge and sometimes small dangling pendants. The stringing hole goes across the top edge, and they are typically said to contain papers including verses from the Quran.
In the case of Tiznit and Kabyle style hirz, whether or not they contain any actual amuletic verses or ingredients is not always certain. Most probably do not, with the shape and style of the amulet alone being enough to signify its apotropaic function — each hirz being a stand-in for the style generally, it isn’t important if any individual hirz does or does not contain anything inside. It serves the protective function regardless. Hirz are often a part of the elaborate bead necklaces made and worn by Amazigh women, which include components of many prized substances like amber, coral, amazonite, conus shell, and silver.
Tcherot is a word in the Tamasheq language used by Kel Tamasheq a.k.a. Tuareg people. Literally meaning a paper on which something is written, in the context of jewelry it refers to a type of prayer box, similar to a hirz but in typical Kel Tamasheq style. These are occasionally quite large, and carefully decorated with engraving, bosses, inlay, multiple metals, and leather work. They are usually worn on a long cord around the neck, though men may also include them as decor in their traditional blue fabric headgear.
Unlike hirz, tcherot do always contain something — the contents vary a lot. Many contain paper with verses from the Quran or other magical inscriptions meant to protect the wearer — these papers being the source of the name for the amulet. Some contain herbs, or even sand or dirt from a holy place. It is considered very unlucky and potentially dangerous to open or disturb the contents of a tcherot. Occasionally they may wear out and reveal their contents, in which case they are typically no longer worn and would be kept somewhere safe instead. They may also be repaired or encased in leather.
Khamsa pendants are perhaps the best known style of amulet from the Maghreb. Taking the shape of a human hand, they are also referred to in English language parlance as a ‘hand of Fatima,’ Fatima being the wife of the Prophet Muhammad. Hand amulets have a long history in North Africa and the Levant, with ancient examples having been found from sites in Egypt, and antique pieces all over North Africa.
The hand is seen as protection against the dangerous force of another part of the human body, the eye. Belief in the evil eye is common all over the world but probably stems from ancient traditions of the Levant. The hand is protective against the evil eye because it can literally poke the eye out — a phrase in Arabic that refers to this is “khamsa fi ainek,” literally “five in your eye.”
Khamsa pendants themselves vary widely in material, size, decor, and form. Some specific shapes are associated with particular communities, for instance a typically Moroccan Jewish variety includes a stylized bird’s head as the thumb. Some may not look immediately like a human hand, but are still known as khamsas, in various pronged or pointed shapes.
Khoumeissa pendants are the Kel Tamasheq version of a khamsa. The best quality pendants are made with five diamonds carved from white shell, mounted on a backing of layered leather, and always in an M shape. These are traditionally worn by Kel Tamasheq women and serve the same protective function as khamsa pendants worn by other Amazigh groups. The five diamond shapes represent the five fingers of the hand. One finds contemporary silver examples in this shape as well, and occasionally khoumeissa are carved from other substances like bakelite or white PVC plastic as stand-ins for shell.
Grisgris are distinguished from other types of amulet boxes in that they are crafted entirely of leather. Leather is stitched tightly around folded paper to form a box shape amulet with a stringing loop. The paper contains verses from the Quran or magical formulas, as with other types of amulets. Since leather is an inexpensive material in the Maghreb, these amulets are indicators of the economic class of their wearers. They are sometimes worn in great numbers, for greater efficacy.
One more word which refers to box type amulets is kitab, the Arabic word meaning book. This refers to the contents of the amulet; papers with verses from the Quran, the Muslim holy book. The word kitab does not appear to be connected to a specific style of amulet box and is used interchangeably.
Magic squares are employed as another common protective device. In mathematics, a magic square is a grid which contains rows of numbers. The numbers add to the same sum no matter which way one works through the grid. Other kinds of magic square amulets exist which employ numerical patterns, such as prime numbers, which finding their origin in nature are thought to be protective. A magic square amulet may also contain a spell or magical formula in letters, similar to the European ABRACADABRA triangle charm.
Most often seen in the form of mens rings which have been incised with the square, magic square amulet pendants are occasionally found as well. These pieces are typically Saharan in origin.
So what does all this have to do with henna? As body adornment, jewelry and henna along with tattoos, decorated items of clothing, and fragrant products such as skhab, zbad, and bakhour form an aura of protection surrounding their wearers. These functions are taken very seriously in the Maghreb, where belief in supernatural forces of good and evil is widespread. People interact with these forces daily, and take care to guard the forces of good and repel the forces of evil or misfortune through the items and products worn directly on their person.
If you find all of this as fascinating as we do at Mektoub, stay tuned! We are testing the waters for some special projects that more broadly address the realm of personal adornment, not limited to henna.
