tagelmust

The tagelmust is worn only by adult males, and only taken off in the presence of close family.

This Tuareg-Berber turban is known as a tagelmust, and is often blue.

- an insulting reference to the tagelmust veil worn by the Almoravid ruling class.

Instead of using dye, which uses precious water, the tagelmust is coloured by pounding it with powdered indigo.

The tagelmust covers the head and prevents the inhalation of wind-borne sand by its wearers in the Sahara region.

Because of the scarcity of water, the tagelmust is often dyed by pounding in dried indigo instead of soaking it.

The Almoravids veiled themselves below the eyes (see tagelmust), a custom they adapted from southern Sanhaja Berbers.

A tagelmust (also known as cheich or cheche) is an indigo dyed cotton garment with the appearance of both a veil and a turban.

Depending on their location and occupation, they may wear a Tuareg-style turban around this to veil the face (known as Alasho or Tagelmust).

Niger - Gandora, Tagelmust or Alasho (male), Kaftan (female)

During the Almoravids, the Lamtunas were known as the Mulathamin or Tagelmust; which mean the veiled ones in Arabic and Berber language respectively.

Among the Tuareg, men who wear the tagelmust are called Kel Tagelmust, or "People of the Veil".

The men of the Tuareg people in North Africa wear a blue turban called a tagelmust, which protects them from the sun and wind-blown sand of the Sahara desert.

The most famous Tuareg symbol is the Tagelmust (also called éghéwed), referred to as a Cheche (pronounced "Shesh"), an often indigo blue-colored veil called Alasho.

Tuareg men often find shame in showing their mouth or nose to strangers or people of a higher standing than themselves, and have been known to hide their features using their hands if a tagelmust is unavailable.

In Agadez and Saharan areas of central Niger, the Tuareg and Hausa groups are indistinguishable from each other in their traditional clothing; both wear the tagelmust and indigo Babban Riga/Gandora.

The tagelmust has other cultural significance, as the manner in which it is wrapped and folded is often used to show clan and regional origin, and the darkness to which it is dyed showing the wealth of the wearer.

Also encountered in ethnographic literature of the early 20th century is the name Kel Tagelmust "People of the Veil" and "the Blue People" (for the indigo colour of their veils and other clothing, which sometimes stains the skin underneath).