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Comments
great- and seeing them all being worn is one ideal way of showing the scale and sizes of the pieces, and how they articulate around the body.
i have 2 of the headbands with pointy elements and would be very interested to learn more about them and their significance.
are the green tufts at each side a fragrant herb?
the pointy elements headbands are called "ISNI" and do come from a very few localities around south western Morocco
Nothing is known about the origin of these but it is for sure they are quite old designs and most probably a very antique saharan heritage or less probably an exogenous jewelry coming from further afield (phoenician??) as is probably the case for the other famous adornment in this region ( the spiral pendants)
The oldest ones have braided leather backing (not cloth fabric) and genuine amber and semi precious stones beads
As for the herbs, it is common habit in the region for women to adorn their heads with herb tufts for it is very aesthetic, beautiful and of course a desirable sign of fertility in the arid lands they live in (hair styles and hair adornment are always full of symbols geared towards the fertility realm, both naive or imaged)
This habit can be found elsewhere in the arabic and islamic world, most notably in the sahara desert and in southern saudi arabia and northern Yemen, the famous ARABIA FELIX of the romans, but over there it is the males who adorn their hair with fresh herbs tufts.
Do post yours for comparison please
Best wishes
What a lovely tradition.