Traditional dress of Mauritania

Our discovery of people around the world brings us to Mauritania. Mauritania is that land, strewn between North Africa and Sub-Saharan Africa, where arabe and Berber cultures intermix. A trip to Sahel where the colors white and blue of boubou fill us with wonder.

Dress code dictated by climate

Arid climate, hot winds and cold nights, the mauritanian traditional suit is tinged by climate-related-natural hazards. Everyday life in the desert needs adaptation because of skin mistreating. So in order to protect themselves from those skin trouble, mauritanian people have got well-reasoned traditional suit : saroual, boubou, and turban. Ideal hightlight against sun and winds.

Moorish boubou, or Draa

Mauritanian people are very attached to their traditional boubou even if they live in the city. In no way they would give their boubou up.

What is a boubou ?

Decorated with golden and white embroidery, Moorish boubou or Drâa is a kind of long sheet with a hole in order to let the passage of the head, with two large opened sleeves in each side. In summer time, when it is very hot, sleeves can be rolled up until shoulders. Pockets are sewed in each side to allow men to put their personal effects in. Boubou can be worn on top of a saroual and/or a tunic.

Source : https://www.nouakchott.diplo.de/Vertretung/nouakchott/de/01__Willkommen__MRT/Kultureller_20Einblick/__Herrenmode.html

Everyone should have a boubou

It is embroidery, colors, and fabric in which boubou is cut that will set everybody’s social scale. People with the lowest means will content themselves with a simple cotton-made Drâa when the people with highest economic background will wear Bazin damask boubou. This fabric is characterized by stiffness, brightness and expensive costs.

From silk to cotton

At the origin of boubou, it was sewed in silk, but as Isla forbids wearing silk for men, we can, now, find Moorish boubou made of cotton or synthetic material. The same result, as silk, is much in demand.

Sarouel

Introduced in Africa by Persian invasion, sarouel is representative of african trousers. Fresh, aerated, black, white and blue,Mauritanian people love to wear it under their boubou. Mauritanian sarouel goes with a leather black belt which goes outside trousers, and is very soft and fresh to wear, especially during summer time.

Turban

Mauritanian wearing the traditional costume of Mauritania (sarouel, turban, boubou and belt). Source : https://www.idoumou.com/

Turban, also called cheche or “haouli”, is a long rectangular sheet of 3.5 to 5 meters long. Just like boubou, it is, without doubt, an important piece of the traditional mauritanian suit. Much more than just an accessory, cheche is essential to protect oneself from sun’s heat and sand storms.The moor covers his face with it in order to protect his skin and eyes.

Even if mauritanian youth turns to western fashion, boubou keeps on being a clothe very popular in the country. Wedding days, religious feasts and celebrations, mauritanian drâa is still attractive.By the way, it has seduced neighbouring countries.Just stay tuned, we talk about it in the next post.

Source : https://www.nouakchott.diplo.de/Vertretung/nouakchott/de/01__Willkommen__MRT/Kultureller_20Einblick/__Herrenmode.html