In the premiere issue of AFAR, Candace Feit followed writer Todd Pitock into Morocco’s Berber territory where an old style of living mixes with modern life. Here are some pictures that didn’t make it into the story. Read the full story here.
After weavers are finished with the carpets, they are laid on the mountainsides.
The carpets’ colors carry different messages: yellow for happiness, red for life and warmth, etc.
Though they have been Muslim since the Islamic Conquest in the 7th century, Berbers have kept pieces of their own polytheistic religion.
Mbarka, a Berber weaver, told Pitock, “There is a Berber proverb: A carpet speaks but it takes time to hear what it says.”
Around 60 precent of Morocco’s 34.8 million people are Berber.
Although Berbers live all over the region, the true Berber lifestyle is found in the mountains.
Berbers call themselves the Imazighen, or Free People.
“For a Berber, what’s most important is tradition–families and the ways of the elders,” one Berber told Pitock.
Pitock was reminded of cliff dwellings of the Anasazi in the American southwest when he saw the stone architecture of some Berber villages.
Berbers use wool from the sheep they raise to make carpets expressing cultural beliefs.
A Berber and her baby.
Berbers, such as Ahmed and his wife, live in the Souss-Massa National Park.
