My Marrakesh: Culture

So tell me, do you have a tattoo? What's that, you say? You have one on your ankle? On your shoulder blade? On your lower back? I see. But have you ever seen tattooing like this? It's referred to as harquus and is sometimes found on women in Morocco.

Catherine Cartwright-Jones explains that harquus is a word for black facial ornamentation in North Africa and the Middle East. It can refer to both tattooing and skin painting. The patterns of harquus, tattooing, and henna often mirror each other, and were intended to enhance each other.

I used to have a Moroccan housekeeper who had tattoos on her face. She told me that people assumed that she was from the countryside but in fact she had lived all her life in the bustling metropolis of Casablanca. Her tattoos gave her face such a distinctive look.

However, sightings of facial tattoos are growing less and less common in Morocco. According to Ethnographer Susan Searwright, many Moroccan women were tattooed in the 1930s but fewer with each subsequent decade.