Re: Harquus questions
Posted by Catherine Cartwright Jones on December 17, 1999 at 15:13:37:
In Reply to: Harquus questions posted by Carrie on December 17, 1999 at 05:27:31:
: I see lots of attention drawn to the chin and cheeks. I've heard the
: superstition about Harquus in Morocco being near the mouth so that
: your husband pays attention to what you are saying.
It may not be possible to generlize about beauty vs symbolism vs
identifying tribal marker in the harquus/tattoo patterns. The
forehead - between - the- eyebrow thingies are often to avert the evil
eye. The lip and chin thingies were often to enhance sexuality. Some
of the little branchy thingies were to increase fertility (like a
glyph for a stalk of wheat). The assymetrical Yemeni thing is a
serpant. THe corner of mouth things look like cat whiskers. Now
those wheat, cat (Leopard or lion) whisker, serpent things are
related to old symbols of Anath/Asherah/Astarte (I can't find two
scholars who agree consistantly on identity of the figures). Anath
definitely did harquus, because it is on figures of her and mentioned
in the epic poem (alng with henna) from 3000 BCE. Asherah figures are
harquused too. I really don't know if it was beautification, tribal
marking or magic. No clue. Probably all three.
Someone asked me if the bindi and eyebrow jewels in India were related
to the harquus patterns, and I told her that I thought they were
probably not .... I really think India developed a parallel indigenous
facial cosmetic tradition.
I don't know how much difference the sunblock effect would have made.
Some of the mentions of harquus indicate that is was for special
occasions, and the hard partying was mostly at night. (partying at
high noon at 120F is a real non-starter).