''Omek tannou'', ''Ommk tangou'' or ''Amuk taniqu'' is an ancient

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rainmaking ritual Rainmaking, also known as artificial precipitation, artificial rainfall and pluviculture, is the act of attempting to artificially induce or increase precipitation, usually to stave off drought or the wider global warming. According to the cloud ...

which was inherited from

Punic The Punic people, or western Phoenicians, were a Semitic people in the Western Mediterranean who migrated from Tyre, Phoenicia to North Africa during the Early Iron Age. In modern scholarship, the term ''Punic'' – the Latin equivalent of the ...

and

Berber Berber or Berbers may refer to: Ethnic group * Berbers, an ethnic group native to Northern Africa * Berber languages, a family of Afro-Asiatic languages Places * Berber, Sudan, a town on the Nile People with the surname * Ady Berber (1913–196 ...

traditions involving invocations of the goddess

Tanit Tanit ( Punic: 𐤕𐤍𐤕 ''Tīnīt'') was a Punic goddess. She was the chief deity of Carthage alongside her consort Baal-Hamon. Tanit is also called Tinnit. The name appears to have originated in Carthage (modern day Tunisia), though it doe ...

. It is now all but extinct. It features the ritual use of the sculpted head of a woman (somewhat resembling the head of a girl's

doll A doll is a physical model, model typically of a human or humanoid character, often used as a toy for children. Dolls have also been used in traditional religious rituals throughout the world. Traditional dolls made of materials such as clay and ...

), which is carried in procession between the houses of a village during periods of

drought A drought is defined as drier than normal conditions.Douville, H., K. Raghavan, J. Renwick, R.P. Allan, P.A. Arias, M. Barlow, R. Cerezo-Mota, A. Cherchi, T.Y. Gan, J. Gergis, D. Jiang, A. Khan, W. Pokam Mba, D. Rosenfeld, J. Tierney, an ...

by children singing the refrain (Tunisian latin script: ''Ommk tangou ya nsee, talbt rabbi ëla s'sctee) - (

IPA IPA commonly refers to: * India pale ale, a style of beer * International Phonetic Alphabet, a system of phonetic notation * Isopropyl alcohol, a chemical compound IPA may also refer to: Organizations International * Insolvency Practitioners ...

mː(ə)k tɜngu jæ nsɛː tälb(ə) rabːi ʕla ʃːteː "Oh women, Ommk tangou has asked God for rain". This song varies according to the region because the term ''shta'' designates rain only in certain urban areas. Each housewife then pours a little water on the statuette, invoking rain. In some villages, instead of the sculpted head, a stick is used. Each woman attaches a piece of clothing to this before giving some

barley Barley (''Hordeum vulgare''), a member of the grass family, is a major cereal grain grown in temperate climates globally. It was one of the first cultivated grains, particularly in Eurasia as early as 10,000 years ago. Globally 70% of barley pr ...

to the children in the procession, who then move off, while singing the refrain (transliteration: ''ya bu gṭmbu ʾaʿtina shʿir ymla gdḥkm malghdir'', "O Bouktambou eformation of ''Omouk tangou''give us barley, your container will be filled from the water sources").

References

Religion in Tunisia Tunisian cultural history {{Tunisia-stub

See also

References