Tuareg: The Blue People

SISTERS AROUNDS THE WORLD, January 2008, by Rose


Tuareg:
The Blue People


We always wake up before the sun. There is much to do before it comes up. Today is a day of celebration, my first courtship dance. I am sixteen and already men that have taken their veil at twenty five are eligible for me to marry. Yesterday my younger brother went off with most of the men on his first camel caravan. I worry for him, for he is too young to take the veil like the other men, and the sun will beat down on him harder. We will not see each other again for several months. When he is back, we will have dates and money.

The Tuareg are a nomadic tribal people that live near the Sahara Desert in Africa. For years and years they have been known as the “blue people” because of their characteristic blue veils and clothing. Every year some of the men from each village travel across the Sahara for weeks with their camel caravans in search of the towns at the other side. There they trade for goods which they in turn sell for items needed in the village. Surprisingly and unlike most societies, the Tuareg pass inheritance down through the female side of the family, meaning that the firstborn daughter inherits. Also, instead of having to marry a higher ranked man to move up in society, you would have to marry a higher ranked woman! The men, not the women, wear the veil, although women can if they choose to.

I am the first daughter of my father, so he protects me more than my other siblings. Many men wish for my hand in marriage, but it is my choice who I will pick. This morning, I am collecting scarves to dye our traditional indigo so that the new men in the tribe will be able to hide their faces. My grandmother helps me, growling away. She can grumble as much as she likes, being an elder, first daughter, and a woman. As I submerge my hands in the dye, I hear the young boys down in the school hut chanting the Koran in their singsong voices. It is calming as grandmother mumbles about the shape of the dates she is sorting beside me.

My aunts have come out of their houses with their husbands and set out to the goat pens, their marriage head scarves flowing in the slight breeze. They will be milking and herding until long after the sun has come over the cliff where we live. Some of the men have set off to the fields where our barley and wheat need watering, yet the wells are almost dry. But it is always like this, and we are always alright in the end. I sing as I swill the cloth around in the bowl of dye and then take it out, hanging it upon a sinewy string laced from our hut to my aunt’s nearby.

Grandmother flicks me away to go write my poetry and play my father’s imzhad (musical instrument shaped like a violin). I always trip over my own fingers and find myself making frustrated noises. My eyes grow heavy and I fall asleep.

I awake with a start noticing it is now very near evening, the blood red sun dropping near the horizon. The goats are back in the pens and the cloth I dyed is dry in the breeze. No one woke me up knowing it was my special day. It is time for the ahal (evening courtship dance).

I go to the center of our village and find all the people there. I join the group of women my age and gaze across the opening to the men standing there, their veils up. Drummers stand around the square and begin. The women go first and I find the beat directing my movement. The rest seems to disappears into a hazy trance. Then it clears. The sun is gone and the stars shine in the sky. We all stand in the square across from each other where we began and then the joyful drumming starts. The dance is over. I cross the gap over to the men and they do the same, introducing themselves to us. The nights can be magic here.

Imagine living in one of the hottest places in the world and being the men, constantly wearing a veil. What a refreshing change for the women, being mostly in charge of their lives. The women of the Tuareg do what they wish. Live your life fully like they do. Remember to explore the possibilities and the gifts you have around you, and connect with your other Sisters Around the World.

~Rose



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