Le corps et les rites de passage chez les femmes du Yémen

• Main Author: Hanne Schönig
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Université de Provence 2006-11-01
• Series: Revue des Mondes Musulmans et de la Méditerranée
• Online Access: http://journals.openedition.org/remmm/2974

Among the many traditional substances and techniques, which Yemenite women use in rites of passage, I have chosen the following four: henna, the two black inks khiḍâb and ṣabr, and tattooing. Henna and khiḍâb mark the transition from the parents’ house to the authority of the husband, and to conjugal life and the obligations related to it. Tattooing among Bedouin women is equivalent to the use of the veil in the cities, a sign of maturity. Ṣabr, which is applied to both the mother in childbed and the baby, is understood above all as a protection against the evil eye and the junûn. In addition to the magical aspect characteristic of the application of the substances mentioned here, there is also the aesthetic appeal they have for women, who by the way mostly remain passive during the rituals. It also needs to be said that, in some cases today, a certain profanisation of these ceremonies is to be observed.