Te saqwit (tent divider)

Designed to be suspended from the rafters of a tent, this mobile wall separated daytime and nighttime quarters. Among the nomadic Beja of the Eastern Desert, a woman’s female relatives produce such an elaborate, multimedia composition at the time of her betrothal. The work’s red background, cowrie shells, and applied beadwork designs of crescent and full moons allude to marriage and fertility. Dividers may also feature embroidered livestock brands, considered potent protective symbols within this pastoralist society. Guarding the threshold of an intimate space devoted to sleep and marital relations, such amuletic compositions contributed to the interior’s physical security.