Ommok Tangou or Ommok Tannou is an ancient Tunisian tradition of invocation of rain. Inherited from the Berber and Punic tradition, Ommek Tangou is Tanit, a Carthaginian goddess of fertility and growth. She appears in the form of a doll that is dressed (often a stick with pieces of fabric). And children go out with it in the streets during droughts.
In Tunisia, the ritual to celebrate “Ommek Tangou” consists in making a wooden structure in the shape of a cross, on which are placed the clothes of a woman, then the children carry it. They roam the alleys and roads singing rhymes to the request of rain.
Many foreigners have noticed the existence of this custom in Tunisia, among them the civil observer in Kairouan, Charles Monchikor, who spoke of the girls of the frosts who walk with a long stick in the form of a doll.
And Dr. Bartholon spoke of the girls playing soccer during the time of Tanit, as a request for rain.
This custom exists throughout Tunisia, as Hsouna Mellouli mentioned its presence on the coast in his book the history of watering in Sfax, as our grandmothers told us about its practice in Sfax. And last month (September 2015) many children in one of the neighborhoods of Sidi Mansour asked God for rain through the ritual of “OMEK TANGOU”.
As Dr. Akun Muhammad Al-Arabi says in his book Economy and Society in North Africa: “Africans, like their Moroccan grandchildren today, multiply magical rituals in order to get rain like the weather that is still practiced today, which is the circumambulation of the rain bride, which is a large spoon made of wood. She is worn with pieces of cloth of various colors.
It is a ritual that expresses the ability of this symbol to bring down rain. The bride is known as Taghanjeh or Boughanja, and Taganjout is the spoon in the Berber language.
“Tanit” has gradually changed through the ages to become her name in our era “OMMEK TANGOU”, but she has kept the same task on the minds of those who believed in her. The ancient Phoenicians sanctified Tanit as the goddess of fertility and motherhood. According to their belief, she provided them with helpful rain.
· “Oumouk Tangou : et la pluie fut ! , 7 Septembre 2017 , wepostmag
· “ أمك طنغو شهلولة ان شاء الله تروح مبلولة” , 21 Décembre 2020 , trustnews
· “أيام زمان أمك طنغو” , 30 Mai 2019 , turess
· “دراسة حول أمك طنغو أو أمك طنبو أو التانيت” , 22 Septembre 2015 , zaherkammoun
Editor: Slim YAICH
Proofing: Mohamed ELARBI
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