Azday, Gathering Stories of Food - Targhat - ⵜⴰⵔⵖⴰⵜ & Twiza - ⵜⴰⵡⵉⵣⴰ
Illustration by Refael Scialom
In the extreme North West of Libya lives the Amazigh community of At Willul. The At Willul have inhabited the area surrounding the city of Zuwara for centuries, Yet despite their historic roots, much of their history and culture has gone unrecorded. Sadly, this is particularly evidenced by the minimal amount of sources in existence preserving their culinary heritage.
To ensure the preservation of At Willul dishes, culinary traditions, and mythologies, 15 Amazigh elders were asked to reflect upon these topics. The story you are about to read is one of the traditions they recounted.
The Amazigh people are distinguished by the multitude of their dishes. Couscous, ‘ⴽⵙⴽⵙⵓ’ is one of the Amazigh staple foods, consisting of small grains made out of wheat. The word Couscous traces its roots to the Tamazight language and it is derived from the phrase meaning ‘small pieces’ or ‘well rounded’. Couscous serves as the base for a variety of dishes, also known as couscous.
The Ibran of couscous, the transformation from wheat to fine grain of couscous, is a time intensive activity. In the highly collectivist culture of the Amazigh, it makes little sense for one household to Ibran on their own. Instead the community can invoke Targhat - ‘ⵜⴰⵔⵖⴰⵜ’, to prepare a large quantity of couscous at once. Targhat is the name of the Amazigh tradition that brings together the community to work on a large project to benefit them as a whole.
When invoking Targhat; parents, neighbours and friends gather in one house, bringing together all their harvested grains and Ibraning the couscous. Once the transformation process is completed, the couscous produced is shared amongst all participants according to the amount of wheat they contributed. Collective labor such as Targhat is often accompanied by singing.
In the same spirit, one household can invoke the Twiza - ‘ⵜⴰⵡⵉⵣ’ⴰ tradition. During Twiza, people gather and work collectively for the benefit of one household or an individual that will receive all of the transformed product.
For example, Amazigh weddings consist of two ceremonies (one for the bride’s family and one for the groom’s family) held concurrently and lasting three days. The hosting family must provide a large amount of food. To help them prepare sufficient amounts of couscous, each hosting family can invoke Twiza.
To mark the Twiza and collaboration for Ibran of the couscous, the hosting family will prepare a special feast for relatives, neighbours and friends. In the morning, people gather at the hosting family’s house and start the Ibran of couscous. To thank and provide good omens on those who participated, a small amount of couscous will be set aside for lunch. Once lunch has been served and eaten, the Twiza work is finalised by spreading the couscous to dry.
Traditionally, the community would help the hosting family by doing a Twiza of couscous, as it would bring them Erozen ‘ⵉⵔⵔⵓⵣⵏ’, or blessing. Erozen are a collection of acts and intentions carried out to garner positive outcomes, similar to the concept of ‘karma’ in Indian culture. For many At Willul, Erozen was sought after and life revolved around pursuing it. By doing the Twiza of couscous, bringing joy to the different arduous tasks, helping the hosting family during the 3-day wedding reception and ensuring that the hosting family’s door stayed open, people were bringing good blessings on themselves. In time, the doors of their houses would also in return be opened to guests for big festivities.
This story is part of Azday ‘ⴰⵣⴷⴰⵢ ‘ project, an effort to document the culinary heritage of the At Willul. In the coming days, we will be sharing more stories of At Willul culinary heritage. We will also be publishing a booklet containing all the stories and more.
Azday project is funded by the British Council’s Cultural Protection Fund, in partnership with the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport. The project is conducted in partnership with the At Wellol Movement.