In the “Jewellers’ Souk” in Tunis or other big towns you’ll see dazzling modern gold sets of matching necklace, earring and bracelets, prized as wedding gifts to the bride and worn for the ceremony and other special occasions later. Elsewhere you’ll find ladies in country markets wearing interesting traditional silver pieces for every-day. Either way, a Tunisian woman’s jewellery is regarded as a nest egg, bought in good times in case of a ‘rainy day’ later.

Circular or triangular shoulder pins (khlal) hold together the local wrap dress (mellia), often linked by a looping chain (silsila).  A hip belt of corded wool fastens with a large decorated silver ring, while some earrings are so heavy they’re supported by a cord passing over the top of the head or hooked into the headdress.  Necklaces can carry circular, square or triangular pendants, or small cylinders (qannouta) or book shapes (kitab), decorated with incised patterns, applied twisted wire or coloured enamel.   Special necklets called skhab are made of black perfumed ambergris beads or cartouches interspersed with coral or other semi-precious materials.

Typically Tunisian are the impressively large anklets called kholkhal – don’t worry, they’re hollow, so not as heavy as they look!  The tinkling sound of a girl’s ankle rings as she walks is thought to be very seductive to an admirer and was often mentioned in poetry.

Certain designs are traditionally very popular and reflect the country’s rich heritage: the ‘Hand of Fatma’ (khomsa) where the fingers represent the five tenets of Islam (declaration of faith, prayer, fasting, charity, and pilgrimage); the fish (huut) standing for fertility and abundance and also used by early Christians, as was the square cross shape still found in some patterns; the six-pointed star (nejma), widespread in olden days when many of the jewellers were Tunisian Jews;  the crescent (hilal), with connections to earlier Phoenician art as well as being the main Islamic motif, and finally the bird or dove (hammama) – the universal peace symbol. 

So, whatever piece of jewellery you choose to take home as your souvenir of Tunisia, there truly is something for everyone.

Friday, March 30, 2007 11:23:10 AM (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)    Comments [0] 

You may well notice the name Dido mentioned in Tunisian museums,  streets, cafés and hotels and wonder what it refers to.  According to ancient Greek mythology recounted by the Roman author Virgil, Dido was a Phoenician princess who fled from Tyre in the Eastern Mediterranean in the 9th century BC, after her husband was murdered for his wealth by her own brother, the king. When Dido and her group of exhausted exiles reached the northern coast of Tunisia, the local chieftain granted them a little land on which to settle - just as much as could be encompassed by a single ox-hide.  A hide was duly provided and the clever Phoenicians quickly folded and cut it in such a way as to make an enormously long continuous strip, which they laid around the summit of a hill in a prime position overlooking the bay of Tunis.  This they swiftly set about strengthening into a fortified citadel – byrsa in their Phoenician language - by building defensive walls and earthworks around it, turning it into the famous Punic city of Carthage. 
The Carthaginians soon came to dominate the surrounding peoples and lands and then spread out from this secure base, building a trading empire with outposts and contacts as far away as Spain, West Africa and even Cornwall.
This, according to the ancient story, is how the mighty Carthaginian civilisation began on top of the hill still called Byrsa today.  Is it just coincidence that byrsa also means ox-hide in Ancient Greek?

Wednesday, December 06, 2006 8:34:44 AM (GMT Standard Time, UTC+00:00)    Comments [0] 

Where did Africa come from? Of course, we all know where Africa is – it must be the easiest continent to identify on a map – but how did the name come about?

It was the Romans who named the southern shore of the Mediterranean ‘Africa’, apparently after an indigenous Berber tribe called the ‘Afri’.  Their traditional territory lay to the south of Carthage, near present-day Tunis.  In time the name Africa was applied first to the Roman province and then to the whole land-mass as its true extent progressively became known.

The Roman name was adopted into Arabic as ‘Ifriquiya’, and virtually every language today uses some recognisable form of the original word.  Tunisia itself was still called Africa (Ifriquiya) until the Turks made it part of their Ottoman Empire in the 16th century and began to call the country by its modern name.

So while Africa now refers to one of the most diverse and colourful regions of the world it can be said to have originated in Tunisia, whose early inhabitants gave their name to a whole continent.

Wednesday, November 29, 2006 1:09:37 PM (GMT Standard Time, UTC+00:00)    Comments [0]