Double Pair Berber Bracelets – ASBIA’ IQUORAIN – Ait Atta Tribe – Morocco
Mid 20th century. Tribal metal. Gr. 1.437,1 (50.69 oz). The bracelets with the tips are cm. 11,3 width x cm. 3,5 high (4.44″ x 1.37″); inner diameter cm. 6,0 (2.36″). The others bracelets are cm. 7,8 width x cm. 3,5 high (3.07″ x 1.37″); inner diameter cm. 6,5 (2.55″). These bracelets, asbia’ iquorain, were originally worn by women of the Ait Atta tribe to defend themselves during raids; nowdays the are purely ornamental. The Ait Atta are a large Berber tribal confederation of South eastern Morocco. They are divided into “five fifths” (khams khmas), all said to descend from the forty sons of their common ancestor Dadda Atta: these “fifths” are the Ait Ouallal, Ait Ouahlim, Ait Isfoul, Ait Yazza and Ait Ounbgi. They speak Central Atlas Tamazight. The Ait Atta originated as a political entity in the Jbel Saghro region in the 16th century with the founding of their traditional capital Igherm Amazdar. For more examples see:
- p. 21 of “A World of Bracelets”, by Anne Van Cutsem;
- p. 262 of “Africa Adorned”, by Angela Fisher, Collins Harvill;
- p. 129 of “Bijoux du Maroc”, by Jacques and Marie-Rose Rabaté, Edisud / Le Fennec.
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