Khomesa

Khomesa Pendant (Hand of Fatima) –Tuareg– (Agadez region, Niger)

The patient Tuareg always complains that the Arabs of the north live and talk too fast. Maybe that's why when they pronounce a word in that language they do it slowly, emphasizing each consonant and lengthening the vowels, until they recompose it to Tamanshek's taste. Khomesa is precisely one of those words.
Derived from the Arabic Jamsa (the number five), Khomesa is the name that the people of Air give to a bead that, hung around a woman's neck, protects her from her evil eyes and grants her fertility. It is the equivalent of that jewel of the north known as Hand of Fátima.
It is made up of five rhombuses that are arranged to form an M. At Black Market we have them made of leather, metal or made with seashells, but the one we show today is made of Tuareg silver on a leather base.

Length: 5.9cm; Width: 4.1cm