Tuareg Dagger-Swords + cabalistic engravings

[francantolin]

Hello everybody,

I got this batch-lot of ''decorative tuareg'' items,
they are pretty big:

the long sword is 80cm long
the second sword 70cm without scabbard
the dagger 50 cm

I think the long sword and the dagger are recent ''tourists'' items
( the dagger ( with camel bone ? ) is not tuareg I think ...)

I bought the lot more for the ''small'' sword,
It looks older to me, nice blade ( really sharp ) with interesting engravings
silver mounts I think on the scabbard

[francantolin]

Here some pics of the small sword and the ( cabalistics ?) engravings:

Men ? and snake on one side

sun moon and lion on the other side...

Don't looks made for tourists for me ( in comparison with the engraving on the other long sword...)

What do you think ?

Kind regards

[Jim McDougall]

These are very attractive pieces though of course modern, and as always, it is hard to draw distinction between genuinely intended traditional items for actual wear in events etc. or those which are probably souvenir material.

I would say the first sword is likely the latter case, and seems interpretive of various dagger forms but in larger size of course.

The second, though not corresponding to traditional Tuareg form, does display some characteristics of their weapons, and seems well made.

The third is of course, well made and of the 'koummya' type daggers.

The inscribed/drawn markings on the blades are a pastiche of symbols found on native blades, and are not cabalistic though in their original settings did have some varied talismanic purpose in degree.

On the larger sword, the diamond shaped figure represents the Cross of Agades, which is essentially a grouping of 'crosses' of some variation but seen often in Tuareg material culture. These 'crosses' are originally from Niger (Air region) and in Saharan parlance the cross is not religious but represents the four cardinal directions in the compass.

The others,
A lion, as seen on some Saharan blades (Briggs, 1965) and known from Sahara, even into Sudan in some cases.

The pentagram, or star resembles same seen in some Moroccan political motifs more modern, but known to appear on Sudanese blades if I recall discussions here some time ago.

The cross and orb is clearly drawn from some illustration and as applied on blades in North Africa usually just the sphere and cross in simple form.

The snake is found occasionally on some Sudanese blades, and is believed to come from Qajar and Sufi influence, representing the staff of Moses and certain folk religious symbolism in these cases.

Interesting and most attractive pieces reflecting various ethnographic characters of North African edged weapons.

[motan]

Hi Fracantolin,
You were right because the Moroccan Koummya and the Mauritatian-style dagger do look like recent items made for the souk.
The Tuareg straight dagger however is of much better quality, although I doubt if it old.
As for the symbols. Amazigh (Berber) people are known to have many "pagan" beliefs as shown by the myriad of ritual objects like amulets and charms. Kabala is a Jewish mysterious set of beliefs based on the book of Zohar (Glow). There is some symbolism, but the essence is revealing encrypted messages in Biblical texts by using numerical values of letters and other deciphering methods. Jews did live with the Berber people for centuries, especially in the Atlas regions of Morocco and Algeria and they share some of these symbols, like the 5-pointed star, the eye (against the evil eye) and the hand (H'amsa), but these are pretty generic for African, Middle Eastern and some other regions and the same can be said about the lion and cross. Snake worship was common in Ancient Middle East, but even more so in more recent West Africa and the Sahel (Kingdom of Dahomey). That is what I know, but perhaps someone else can provide more specific information.

[Jim McDougall]

Originally Posted by motan

Hi Fracantolin,
You were right because the Moroccan Koummya and the Mauritatian-style dagger do look like recent items made for the souk.
The Tuareg straight dagger however is of much better quality, although I doubt if it old.
As for the symbols. Amazigh (Berber) people are known to have many "pagan" beliefs as shown by the myriad of ritual objects like amulets and charms. Kabala is a Jewish mysterious set of beliefs based on the book of Zohar (Glow). There is some symbolism, but the essence is revealing encrypted messages in Biblical texts by using numerical values of letters and other deciphering methods. Jews did live with the Berber people for centuries, especially in the Atlas regions of Morocco and Algeria and they share some of these symbols, like the 5-pointed star, the eye (against the evil eye) and the hand (H'amsa), but these are pretty generic for African, Middle Eastern and some other regions and the same can be said about the lion and cross. Snake worship was common in Ancient Middle East, but even more so in more recent West Africa and the Sahel (Kingdom of Dahomey). That is what I know, but perhaps someone else can provide more specific information.

Very well observed and explained Motan. I very much agree with your assessments, and I had not thought of the Mauritanian context of the 'larger' sword which looks like a dagger.
On the symbols, good points on the star, and since it is of five points, the key number of the fibula, and its purpose toward the 'evil eye'.
The snake symbolism can be widely interpreted, and as you have noted, the snake worship which is based on ancestral dogma is widely practiced in West Africa. In the Sudan and in their symbolisms there are Persian connections from Qajar influences .

[francantolin]

Hello and thank you for all these specific and detailed informations,

Sorry for the misunderstanding about ''cabalistic'',
''Fake friend'' : in french it means esoteric, talismanic, occult and is not directly associated with the hebrew Kabala ( in etymology sure !!!)

Even if the snake representing the staff of Moses is close

Thank you Jim for share all these precious infos !!!!

I really admire the precision and fantasy of north african craftsmen in edged weapon,
they are not greedy with metals-silver:
the koummya per example weighs more than 2,6 pounds !!
( with this weight, sure more a decorative piece than for real use !! )

Kind regards

[Iain]

The longer piece has a cut down European blade. It's a form I've seen several times. The exact same blade can be seen here: http://takouba.org/catalog/index.php...ers/takouba-05

[francantolin]

Hello,

Thank you Iain !

When I saw the blade, I first I thought about a Qama blade,
but it can be an old European blade,
it seems old and the ''quality'' has no comparison with the other bigger tuareg sword per example, sharp edge and quite flexible.