How to read the symbols on a Berber rug

Amazigh weavers have passed down a vocabulary of symbols for centuries. Here are a few you will find on our rugs.

• The diamond is the eye, protecting the home from envy.
• The comb stands for cleanliness and the weaver's own tools.
• Zigzags are water and the snake, fertility and life.
• The palm or "khamsa" is the hand that wards off the evil eye.
• The tent and the camel recall nomadic life in the south.

Each rug is a message from the woman who wove it, often for her own wedding or the birth of a child.