Tattooing has been a custom among Berber women, be it ornamental, to adorn themselves and make themselves more beautiful and desirable, with a subtle touch of eroticism, or to express a feeling.

The tattooing of nomadic Berber tribes also served to symbolize a social status by dissociating and identifying members of different tribes by drawings, often on the face, with very geometric characteristics and supposedly magical virtues. 

The tattoo was supposed to ward off the evil eye and brought good fortune and success. Every detail, every motif has its own symbolism. Thus, to represent this sign on oneself is to attract what it symbolizes.

The Imazighen, (free men) or Berbers, tattooed the forehead, chin, cheeks, back of the hands and temples using pigments derived from substances of vegetable origin, coal, mixed with water or blood, motives and symbols that were unique to them and had a very particular meaning.