Mauritania · Food / Tobacco / Drink Processing
Atay (also shay bil na'na', mint tea); the three organizing concepts of the ritual are jmaa ('the group'), jmar ('the embers'), and jar ('time'); the charcoal brazier is called a canoun
The ceremonial brewing and glass-to-glass aerating of Chinese green tea sweetened with sugar and mint, prepared and served in a fixed three-round sequence that structures daily social life throughout Mauritania. Tea leaves are rinsed with hot water, then brewed over charcoal embers held in a small brazier (canoun) beneath a small tin teapot; the tea maker -- traditionally the senior male of the household -- pours the first glass from a height of two to three feet above the tray, then pours that same glass into the next, and the next, building a frothy foam in each vessel before returning the liquid to the pot for further boiling and tasting for optimal flavor. Mint and copious sugar are added between rounds, with each of the three obligatory glasses carrying a distinct, proverbially fixed character, summarized in a saying rendered in Hassaniya Arabic and French across Mauritanian sources: the first glass is bitter like life, the second strong like love, and the third sweet (or gentle) like death. Tea is consumed without limit throughout the Mauritanian day -- served a minimum of three to four times daily in nearly all households, from the affluent neighborhoods of Nouakchott's Tevragh-Zeina to the most remote peri-urban settlements, and sometimes flowing continuously from morning until bedtime.
Risk level: Thriving · Not independently inscribed
The fabrication of gold jewelry using filigree and granulation techniques by Moorish master jewelers of Oualata, a historic caravan town in southeastern Mauritania already independently significant for its distinct tradition of geometric…
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The steam distillation of lavender essential oil from the lavender fields of Brihuega — the self-styled 'lavender capital of Spain', whose Alcarria plateau produces a lavender (Lavandula latifolia — spike lavender; and Lavandula…
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