Culture of Tunisia

The culture of Tunisia is rich of its 3000 years of history and reflects its cultures punic, Arab, Turkish, African, European and Moslem as well as the influence of the successive dynasties which reign on the country. Historic sites (Amphitheater of El Jem and ruins of Carthage), the museums (whose National museum of Bardo), architecture of the cities (Sidi Bou Saïd and its arabo-Andalusian influence), kitchen (rod, Cheese and Growing French like Italian pastes) and music testify to this past where the cultures of the Mediterranean basin crossed.

Cultural hearth

Under the Aghlabides, the town of Kairouan is a intellectual center of great fame equipped with a house of the wisdom opened to the scientists. At the same time research and translation, studies center, it plays a big role in the diffusion of in particular medical sciences. In Mathematical, one can quote the contributions to the algorithms of calculation. At the E and centuries, poets, scholars, historians multiply. The Mosquée Zitouna is an active center of intellectuals which groups doctors and scientists: Ibn Zaïtoun, Ibn Al Abhar, Ibn Al Gafsi or Ibn Arafa.

Thanks to scientists like Ibn Khaldoun and Abou el Kacem Chebbi, Tunisia is thus, since centuries, an important cultural hearth that it is on the scale arabo-Moslem woman, Mediterranean or world. It is in Tunisia that is built the first Islamic university and of Tunisia: the University Zitouna.

Religion

See also: Religion in Tunisia

The Islam is the principal religion of Tunisia with a rate which borders the 98% of the population. The Judaism and the Christianisme are very minority there but Tunisia is characterized by its tolerance and its opening to the other cultures which made the identity of the country.

The Tunisians preserve some beliefs of Berber origin like the evil eye. Many practices and of Grigri S must be used to push back it. In addition, the country is strewn with small white constructions called marabouts. In fact the tombs of wise, by their meditation, were supposed to cure the patients and the blind men. Today, the Tunisians continue to request them and to ask them for some favors.

The Tunisian constitution envisages the free exercise of the religions as long as they do not carry not reached to the law and order. The government generally respects this right. However, it does not allow the establishment of political parties based on the religion, prohibited the Prosélytisme and limit the port of the Hijab (in particular in the administrations and public schools). Moslem religious holidays are regarded as bank holidays (Aïd to el-Kebir, Aïd el-Fitr, Mouled, etc). The government also recognizes the holiness of religious holidays of the not-Moslems, particularly those of the religions Monothéiste S.

Languages

See also: Tunisian, French, Chelha

Tunisia is the State of the the most homogeneous Maghreb on the linguistic level. The spoken languages in Tunisia are Tunisian (native tongue Semitic derived from the Written Arabic and without official statute) and the written Arabic (official language taught as of the maternal ).

The chelha is spoken per less than 1% about the population, mainly in the semi-berbérophones villages of the south - Chenini, Douiret, Matmata, Tamezrett, etc - like in some villages of the island of Jerba (especially Guellala/Iqellalen, Ajim, Sedouikech/Azdyuch, Ouirsighen/At Ursighen).

During the French Protectorate in Tunisia, French asserts itself through the institutions, particularly education, which become a strong vector of diffusion. Starting from independence, the country moves gradually towards the Arabisation of education and the services with all the difficulties caused by this type of process. However, the majority of the Tunisians speak French like second language and learn the English in primary education (as of the 9 years age). Thus, they speak three languages. As for the high-school pupils, they must choose an obligatory option, which will be their fourth language, between the German , the Spanish , the Italian , the Russian or the Chinese. Basic teaching is free and obligatory for all the children until the 16 years age. The rate of Analphabétisme is there of 22,9% in 2004 and the rate of schooling of the 6 year old children, equal for the boys and the girls, is of 99%.

Cinema

See also: Tunisian Cinema,

The cinema exists in Tunisia since its appearance on a worldwide scale:

  • In 1896, the brothers Lumière turn of the sights animated in the streets of Tunis.
  • In 1919, the first feature film carried out on the African continent, the Five gentlemen cursed of Luitz-Morat, is turned to Tunisia.
  • In 1927, the first Tunisian company of film distribution, TUNIS-FILM, begins its activities. After independence, the production of films depends on the Tunisian Public limit company of production and cinematographic expansion (SATPEC) which deals with the management of the cinematographic activity in the country. In the Years 1980, one attends the emergence of the private sector which involves the liquidation of the SATPEC thus.
  • In 1966, the first feature-length film Tunisian (95 minutes) in black and white is carried out and produced by Omar Khlifi: Al-Fajr (the Paddle) turned in 35 millimetres.

The Tunisian productions remain rare and confidential even if some meet a certain success out of Tunisia. Among the most known, one can quote a summer in Goulette (1996) of Férid Boughedir. This comedy makes a flashback on the small community of Goulette at one completed time where Moslems, Jews and Christians cohabit in the tolerance and good mood. Halfaouine, the child of the terraces (1990) of same Boughedir was undoubtedly the greatest success of the Tunisian cinema. It puts in scene a child in the Tunis of the Années 1960. Nouri Bouzid carries as for him on Tunisian reality a glance without kindness. In the Man of ashes (1986), it treats Pédophilie, Prostitution and relations between the communities Moslem woman and Jewish. In Bezness (1991), it is the Sex tourism which is in its line of sight. Silences of the palate (1994) of Moufida Tlatli was preceded by several jurys international. First Arab film carried out by a woman, one discovers there the life in an aristocratic house of Tunis through the eyes of an young girl. In 2007, the Tunisian cinematographic landscape sees the exit of several films off receiving a certain success near the public such as Making of Bouzid or VHS Kahloucha of Nejib Belkadhi.

Tunisia ambitionne since a few years to become small a Mediterranean Hollywood. The producer Tarak Ben Am, nephew of Habib Bourguiba, convinced the largest realizers to come to turn in his studios of Monastir. Roman Polanski filmed there the Pirates and Franco Zeffirelli its Jesus de Nazareth . George Lucas as for him was allured by the natural decorations and the troglodytic houses of the Tunisian South where some scenes of were turned the Star Wars . Anthony Minghella also turned the English Patient in the oases of the south-west of the country.

The cinematographic Days of Carthage, organized every two years, constitutes oldest of the cinematographic festivals of the Developing country.

Music

See also: Tunisian Music

The Tunisian music is the result of a cultural interbreeding. According to Mohammed Abdel Wahab, “the Tunisian music is sometimes defined as being the whole of the old Andalusian songs on which modes and injections of Turkish origin were grafted, Persian and sometimes Greek, in addition to the adjustment which takes place there time with other resulting from the influence of regional factors. ” It estimates that the Tunisian music knew three phases of external influences:

  • the first arrival of the East and whose center was Mecque and Médine.
  • the second arrival of the Moslem Spain and whose center was the Andalusia.
  • the third arrival of the Ottoman Empire and whose center was Istanbul.

Also influenced by the Occidental culture, it thus is relatively diversified. Its traditional musical current and most famous is the malouf. However, the traditional songs continue to meet a certain success. Side instruments, the urban and rural areas are different somewhat. In urban environment, they are the string instruments (Rebec, Oud and qanûn) and the percussions (Darbouka) which dominates whereas, in rural environment, song Bedouin, in addition to the percussions, and accompanied by instruments wind like the Mezoued and the Gasba.

Among the large Tunisian singers, one can quote Saliha, Khemaïs Tarnane, Raoul Journo, Ali Riahi, Hédi Jouini, Mohamed Jamoussi or Habiba Msika. In the musicians, one can also quote Anouar Brahem or Lotfi Bouchnak. In same time, a majority of the population is attracted by musics of Arab origin (Egyptian, Lebanese or Syria). The current Western music also gains an important success with the emergence of many groups and festivals of rock'n'roll, of Hip hop, Reggae and Jazz.

Festivals

Hundreds of international festivals, nationals, regional or local punctuate the annual diary. The festivals of music and theater largely dominate the national cultural scene:

Literature

See also: Tunisian Literature

The Tunisian literature exists in 2 forms: that in Arab language and that in French language. The literature Arabic-speaking person goes back to the 7th century with the arrival of Arab civilization in the area. It is more important in volume as in value than the literature in French language which follows the establishment of protectorate in 1881. In spite of the long story of the Tunisian literature, the national production remains thin: approximately 120 pounds in Arabic, all confused kinds, see the day in 2000. Among the Tunisian great authors, one can quote Abou el Kacem Chebbi, Moncef Ghachem and Mahmoud Messaadi.

Painting

The birth of a contemporary Tunisian painting is strongly related to the École of Tunis installation by a group of artists of Tunisia linked by the will to incorporate properly Tunisian topics and rejecting the orientalist influence of colonial painting. It is founded in 1949 and brings together painters French and Tunisian, Moslem, Christian and Jewish: Pierre Boucherle, the principal instigator, Yahia Turki, Abdelaziz Gorgi, Moses Levy, Am Farhat or Jules Lellouche. Some of its members thus turned to the sources of esthetics arabo-Moslem woman: Miniature, arabesque, Islamic Architecture, etc

After independence in 1956, the Tunisian pictorial movement entered a dynamics of national construction, artists being thus put at the service of the Tunisian State. A ministry for the culture is founded and, under the impulse of ministers such as Habib Boularès, a political volunteer is installation, which does not fail to question the relation between the artist and the capacity. Artists reached an international recognition such as Hatem El Mekki or Zoubeir Turki.

In addition, Tunisia marked many European painters. Thus, Alexandre Roubtzoff is often regarded as the “painter of Tunisia”. Arrived in 1914 at Tunis thanks to a purse of the imperial Academy of the fine arts of Saint-Pétersbourg, it chooses to settle definitively in Tunisia. Until its death in 1949, it will produce some 3000 tables representing the various facets of Tunisia under French protectorate. Paul Klee and August Macke also visits Tunisia in 1914. Macke will carry out a series of Aquarelle S of style cubist whereas Klee is marked by the light and the colors of the Tunisian landscapes.

Craft industry

See also: Tunisian Craft industry

Tunisia is also famous for its many artisanal products :

  • Pottery S: modelling, the cooking and the decoration of the potteries are remained primitive. The lines, the points, the ciliés features, the teeth of saw, the crosses, the rhombuses are as many reasons which point out the Tatouage rural S and fabrics. In fact the potters of Guellala are at the origin of the creation of other centers potters on the Tunisian littoral: Tunis, Nabeul, Moknine, etc But if the porous pottery is identified in Guellala, that enamelled (yellow, green or brown) is the trademark of Nabeul.
  • Ironwork: it is with the Andalous that one allots the decoration of the studded doors become characteristic of the Wrought iron Tunisian. Blue by tradition, intended to embellish the houses and to preserve the intimacy of the inhabitants, these grids recall the Moucharabieh S of the arabo-Andalusian tradition (carved wood panels which made it possible to the women to look in the street without being seen).
  • Costumes: each area or village has its own costume at the beginning of the 20th century. Today, the traditional costume is the behavior par excellence for the Mariage S and the ceremonies. It is the Jebba which was essential like national traditional dress. This loose dress, covering all the body, is different according to quality from its fabric, its colors and its passementeries
  • Babouche: the Turkish slippers of men are generally of the natural color of the Cuir. Those of the women in their majority are embroidered of wire of Soie, Coton, Or and money with floral reasons or crescents.
  • Carpet: the town of Kairouan constitutes the national center of production of carpet where the technique of weaving of the Kilim is in particular used.
  • Mosaic: Tunisia has the richest collection of ancient mosaics of the world. It is at the time Roman and especially as from the 2nd century that this art develops so much so that one can speak about a true African school marked by the control of the illustrated representation.

Habit and traditions

See also: Tunisian Proverbs, Bank holidays in Tunisia

Social life

Formerly wandering attached to a tribe, the Tunisians keeps the taste of the community life. Two places are in this respect symbolic systems: the Hammam and the coffee.

There existed before little of bathrooms in the houses, the hammam holding a very important place then. It was also for a long time the only exit authorized with the women who found themselves there between them lasting the afternoon. The men as for them went there the morning to chatter between friends. Today, hygienic dimension left the place to the dimension of relaxation.

The men are accustomed to going to the coffee. There, they drink Café or With mint (never of alcohol), discusses, smokes of the Cigarette S or plays dominos. They can also smoke the chicha, i.e. to smoke of the tombac - plant very close to the Tabac which one makes boil - in a pipe with water (Narguilé). One fills the furnace of it of the chicha - that one can cover with a sheet of Aluminum bored holes - then one has over an end incandescent Charcoal. If the foreign women are tolerated, it would not come to the idea from Tunisian, even young and modern, to settle in a coffee. However, that tends to evolve/move and one sees coffees known as mixed more and more being born.

The Mosquée S are also a meeting place. They were even the hearths of the freedom fighters in the Années 1950.

Jasmine

See also: Jasmine

Imported by the Andalusians at the 16th century, the jasmine became the emblematic flower of Tunisia. As of fallen the night, the salesmen make small bouquets and sell them with the passers by in the street or to the motorists stopped with the crossroads. In addition, the jasmine is the subject of a specific language. Thus, a man who carries from there to the left ear indicates that it is Célibat surface.

Traditional costumes

Men's wear

See also: Jebba, Chechia

The rural ones regard the jebba as a formal garment. White the be and gray the Winter, it is a Tunique without handles that the man carries over a shirt, a Gilet and a puffing out breeches (called seroual). The ordinary days, the men are satisfied with simple Pantalon S and shirts on which they thread sometimes a kadroun, tunic of Laine less broad than the jebba and provided with long sleeves. In winter, they pass a Burnous of wool or, in the north of the country, a kachabiya (coat of wool with cap and the brown and white stripes).

In urban environment, the formal dress is composed of a shirt of flax to collar officer and long sleeves. The seroual is decorated with bottom with the legs and on the pockets with a discrete decoration with Passementerie. Broad a girdles crossed in same fabric fixes the folds while retaining the seroual at the size. A jebba of wool and Soie supplements the costume to which one adds a burnous decorated with passementerie in winter. The shoes, of the Turkish slippers in Leather, leave the heel with overdraft. Lastly, the hairstyle of pageantry is a Chéchia or kabous, bonnet of felt red which girds the face, sometimes decorated with a nipple of black wire. For a behavior relaxed during the heurs of leisures, it happens that the townsman covers simple a jebba.

Ladies' garment

The ladies' garment is varied much more than that of the men. Downtown, the large majority of the young women adopted the European fashion but the women of a certain age, even in urban environment, often wrap sefsari, white veil of silk or fine wool which recovers the head and which they carry on a Blouse and baggy pants. These silhouettes carrying a sefsari belong to the Image of Épinal of Tunisia as well as the White Houses and blue of Sidi Bou Saïd. To the countryside, the women still wear dresses to the bright colors. Thus, the Berber women carry the melhafa, part of blue or red cotton fabric representative of their area or their village. The fabric opens on the side and is retained with the size by a belt and on the shoulder S by two Fibule S. They often carry summarily worked massive jewels.

The costumes of festival and ceremony differ somewhat according to the areas. In the the Sahel, the showpiece of the clothing of pageantry is a dress draped, out of wool or Coton, worn on a blouse embroidered silk and of Argent, a waistcoat of Velours decorated Or, pants of Dentelle and a silk belt. Until the middle of the 19th century, the young grooms of the Aristocratie Tunis oise carry a Caftan cut in velvet, Brocart or silk and richly embroidered of gold and fine stone nouveau riche. Nowadays, some married of the areas of Sousse and Hammamet still carry a caftan to the semi-long sleeves, opened on the front, and of which the length varies Genou with the mid- Mollet. The richness and the originality of the costume rest less on the cut or fabric that on the woven reasons or the Broderie S which recover it sometimes completely. These embroideries use money and gold wire or a contrast of red wires, blue and black. Thus, those of Raf Raf are made with money wire on waistcoats and pants of silk violet.

The port of the Hijab is not very widespread in Tunisia although in relative increase since the beginning of the Années 2000. In fact, the State prohibits it in the schools or the administrations.

Traditional arts

Until the beginning of the 20th century, Tunisia is characterized by the existence of a popular culture of Narration S oral and spectacles of Marionnette S. the Narrateur, known under the terms of raoui, fdaoui or meddah, highly was respected and appreciated, as well by the Islamic elite as the popular classes
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