Dear Reader (2025-11-08 – posted simultaneously to FB)
It has taken me longer than usual to write today’s post and the next post, as my thoughts were even more jumbled than usual. In these two posts you and I are visiting the M’zab Valley where there is a pentopolis (a geographic and/or institutional grouping of five cities). The five towns of this pentopolis are Beni Isguene, el-Ateuf, Melika, Bou Nouara, and Ghardaia. The latter is the largest of the five, and is often used to refer to all five towns. Ghardaia, founded c 1100, is not a walled village. The other villages are walled ones, and access to them requires a guide. This area is the home of Ibadi religious sect in Algeria.
The Ibadi religion in its current form is one of formal codes of behaviour founded on Berber beliefs and practices overlaid by Islam. For instance married women wear a white gown and shawl called a hayek. They hold the shawl with hidden hands in such a way that one eye is the only visible part of their bodies. The only visible clothing distinction among women wearing the hayek are their shoes. It is forbidden to photography women wearing the hakek. Within the walled villages photographing people is also forbidden, and if your guide catches you photographing people (especially adults) then the tour is immediately brought to an end.
In this post you and I wander through the streets of three villages of the pentopolis.
References (For those interested in rabbit holes, here are some starting points)
~ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pentapolis
~ https://www.britannica.com/topic/Berber
~ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gharda%C3%AFa
~ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ibadism
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Cheers, Sean
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