Reblog: May 11, 2022. "SYMBOLS OF THE MYSTIC: AMAZIGH WOMEN AND THEIR TATTOOS" (A.GLASS AND ANINA CHAHID 2022)

"...indigenous Maghreb tribes of Northwest Africa and in 680 BCE (Before Common Era) she lead a campaign against Muslim rule over the Maghreb region. Dihyā became, as a female Amazigh icon, the beacon of resistance under an oppressor, to which the practice of Amazigh tattooing of young Berber woman was also, beyond its own cultural significance, seen as a rebellious force or as the Arabs titled, in referring to the Berber queen Dihyā, as al-Kāhina, the sorcerer “priestess.” 

The Amazigh practice of tattooing, may have started as early as 1300 BCE, which could have been influenced by the Egyptians, who were tattooing women as far back as 3000 BCE and then later by the Carthaginians (modern day Tunisia), who worshiped the feminine deity Tanith. It was assumed that these 'markings' found on female mummies were to indicate a dancing girl or prostitute, further denigrating the practice of tattoos of the ancient peoples of the Middle East, rewritten to suit the narrative and spread of monotheistic religions such as Islam and Christianity throughout North Africa. It was also used to oppress the feminine of prehistoric times who was venerated as a divine goddess, to which these tattoos in ancient Egypt represented. Writing into history that only low class women received these markings, historians have since argued that all women of Egyptian society may have also had tattoos, later to be theorized, as permanent marks that represented fertility and protection.  Physical amulets to assist in childbirth, in which ritualized tattoos of Egyptian women could have also been applied to the roles of a high priestess, in her reverence of the cult goddess Hathor..." 
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Full article: https://chiasmusmagazine.blogspot.com/2022/05/symbols-of-mystic-amazigh-women-and.html