Metaphor and iconography link furnishings to the tent's structure. The design on a hassaniya wedding pillow with its sexually overt symbols mirrors the design of the apex of the hassaniya tent. Drawing after Odette du Puigaudeau. Interior apex of a hassaniya tent, Rosso, Mauritania. Spatial organization is structured by mobility and transhumance.
Spatial acuity is critical to survival.
Orientation in space, symbolically expressed both on the interior and exterior, reflects and reinforces behavioral and social patterns. The reinforced wall opposite the entrance, designed to resist the strong desert winds, is also the focus of the wedding ceremony. Within, directly behind it, the wedding milk containers are hung. Tuareg kel ferwan tents are rotated in space during the extended wedding, emphasizing the relationship between ritual and space. Drawing after Dominique Cazajus.