Archives du mot-clef Morocco

Other Moroccan handicrafts

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Other Moroccan handicrafts

Leather work

Being a country that breeds a lot of cattle, Morocco also possesses an important leather handicrafts industry which has in fact given rise to the French word « maroquin « . Purses, wallets, desk-pads, slippers, handbags as well as jackets and trousers are produced: in 1980, 630 tonnes of leather-goods were exported to all corners of the earth. Twice as much as six years before.

Other handicrafts

Carpets and leatherwork are only part of the handicraft produced in Morocco although they do represent the majority, we must not forget the other smaller products: Embroidery, formerly the pastime of well to do young girls (no longer today). Curtains, wall-hangings, furnishing fabrics, belts, tablecloths and mats are the main items skilfully worked both now and in the past by the embroiderers in Azzemour, Chaouen, Fez, Marrakesh, Meknes, Rabat, Sale and Tetouan.

Traditional costume

The inevitable « Djellaba « , the best-known Moroccan garment for wearing out of doors, is worn equally by men and women. Quite simple, it is a kind of straight coat with long sleeves which is slipped on over the head and falls from the shoulders down to the ankles.
The « burnous », the traditional Moroccan coat, or « selham « , is worn over the Djellaba. The « Caftan » is the indoor garment for women: made of brocade silk decorated with a floral pattern embroidered in gold thread, or of velvet adorned with gold braid, or of simple muslin, everyone can find one to suit their taste and their pocket. An embroidered belt is worn around the waist. On great occasions, a silver or gold belt is worn.

Wood-work

Another leading factor in Moroccan handicrafts is the working of wood. You only have to visit the rooms and patios of the Bahia Palace in Marrakesh to see the truth in this: its doors and coffered ceilings of sculpted and painted wood are true works of art. However, the working of wood emanates a simplicity that is close to austerity: in this field only the simplest and purest lines are used. The cedar-forests of the Middle Atlas and the Rif supply the basic raw material. One of the countless advantages of cedar wood and by no means the least important, is its slightly pungent scent which wafts around the carpenters’ quarters, for example the Nejjarine souk in Fez. Here everything is made: the well-known wedding chests, sculpted seat for mattresses, in fact a whole line of tastefully chiselled furniture…
In this abundance of different kinds of sculpture you cannot fail to come across « Moucharabiehs », one of the original aspects of Muslim art. These consist of miniature columns of turned and sculpted wood crisscrossed to form a grille: they make simple balustrades or large screens which offer certain privacy whilst allowing air and light to pass through.
Light the secret is out: for it is this very light that is the generous muse of popular Moroccan art, which it perpetuates, giving it the everlasting quality it deserves…

Moroccan Feasts and Moussems

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Moroccan Feasts and Moussems

Perfumed by mint tea, dazzled by dizrzying fantasias, awed by women in surnptuous robes enigmatically dancing to spellbinding chants … In Morocco, the feasts and moussems stud the seasons with their ancient rites.
From the north to the south of the Kingdom, between 600 and 700 « moussems » are celebrated each year, causing veritable tent villages to arise for both pügrims and tourists. Great popular seasonal feasts, part pilgrimage to the tomb of a saint, part market fair and amusement park, the moussems can take place over a week or three days or even Just on a single day.

Some moussems preserve their purely religious character while others are more renowned for their souk, their fatasias or the sheer excitement they generate all the same, each region takes pride in displaying its local resources, traditionally at the end of harvest. In the Spring, the feast of roses celebrates the gathering of these wild flowers which bloom by the thousands in the region of Kelaa M’Couna. Against a background of colored carpet. and giant paper roses, young girls, their tresses intertwined with multicolored woolen threads, dance joined one to the other the sound of the bendir. The Cherry Feast at Sefrou in the summer, the Date Festival at Erfoud in autumn, the Almond Fair at Tafraoute or the Honey Fete at Immizer des Ida Outanane, ail use the pretext of their fiestas to bring together musical and dance troupes dressed in their most beautiful traditional costumes. With their heads covered by multicolored scarves, with their hair laced with small coins or tied with silver threads, adorned with neck laces of large brown amber or coral balls, subtly made up with henna, the women dance, alternating with the men; to the sound of unchanging chant banded down through generations.

Outliving the fairs of yesteryear, formerly held at the crossroads of the caravan routes, the moussems were also the occasion once a year, for trade between different regions. Today, the moussem of fiances, not far from Imilchil, brings together every yea the Ait Haddidou tribes who are dispersed along the high plateaux of the Atlas Mountains. These engagements or promises marriage are signed by the young couples who have had over the course of several days the opportunity to get to know one another. The immense. souk of colored cloths allows the population to restock their provisions, to renew their livestock and to repair their too, before winter snow closes the vàlley to the outside world for many long months .
At Goulimine, Saharan buyers and sellers come together in the summer for three days in the midst of a huge camel market while guedra dancers, on their knees, bodies completely covered, sway, moving their benna colored fingers to a syncopated rhythm until exhausted. These highly colorful festivals reflect a popular culture which is both mystic and joyful.

Wonders made of enamel and earth

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Wonders made of enamel and earth

Clay which is a component of the zellige is extracted in blocks. It is then immersed in the «zoubo» (kind of basin) for 24 hours during which time the ajjam (mixer) kneads the clay to make it smooth.
The squares are formed using a wooden frame mould and then they are dried in the sun. « No sun; no zelliges »says maalem Melouki.
And this is quite true Morocco was short of zelliges after a period of insufficient sunshine.

Once set, the squares are made smooth, cut and laid in the sun again to dry out completely. Zelliges are therefore made during the summer. After being baked a first time, the tiles are dipped into powdered enamel of various coleurs mixied with water and then backed a second time.
24 hours later, they can be cut. Before this operation, the craftsman draws the outline of each piece with a bamboo stick dipped in ink; using a frame mould as a guide . On each piece he will draw as many figures as possible.

The cutting of the zellige is the most delicate operation.

Leaning on a small bench, the craftsman uses a heavy hammer to cut the pieces in a regular movement. After being filed down, they are divided into baskets according to their shape and colour and transported to the work site.
The maalem has already prepared the job. On a perfectly even ground, he lays out a sample of his motif. This creation carried out the right side up (enamel side) will serve as a guide for the zellige layers to do their work.

The laying of the zelliges is on the wrong side: the en against the ground. This see mysterious and extremely skilful way of working to the uninitiated In fact, it is simpler than one think as each motif has a given colour. The laying is done according to each piece which, in the “feerragh’ s » mind, automatically determines the colour.
The maalem’s creativity sometimes demands technical prowess when the size of zelliges becomes minute and fine .Some small rosettes are made about 150 pieces that can fit into a match-box! The laying then takes place with the help of special plies as fine as tweezers.

Once the whole panel is up, the pieces are stuck together with plaster and cement, then covered with mortar the work is then complete. Turned onto the right s’ the coloured harmony ingenious structure of design spring to light, the panel is now ready to placed on a wall or decorate the sides of fountain. A who corporation of artists rat than craftsmen is no rewarded for their long hours of patience and meticulousness.
However, the true maalems, keepers of t secrets of the zellige show modesty a humility thus arousing profound admiration.

Mineral waters in Morocco: strength and health

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Mineral waters in Morocco: strength and health

Morocco is a country blessed by the gods: it reunites beaches, forests, mountains and desert. Although its subsoil contains multiple mineral riches, the most precious treasures spring from the spurs of the Middle Atlas, mineral and thermal waters whose virtues are unparalleled, whose origins are deep, linked to the regions distant volcanic past.

The Middle Atlas has become Morocco’s hydrothermal water-tower with many well-known springs already recognized by the Romans, thanks to the following occurrences: very ancient volcanism from the end of the Primary era and a more recent volcanism from the end of the Tertiary era. Waters are formed a long way beneath the surface, as a reaction against the magma and come to the surface, driven by bubbles of carbonic gas between the faults of the schists and granite. These waters, improved by molten lava, are exceptionally pure and free from pollution. Three springs are favourites’ among Moroccan consumers.
Three waters, each with different and complementary qualities, one gaseous and two non-gaseous.
Two springs are situated near Tiflet, on the road to Meknes and the third near Fez.

It is in the Zaian massif, 1100 m high, west of the Middle Atlas, that spring the waters of Oulmès and Sidi-Ali. Oulmès : a juvenile hypogene water, is found on the banks of oued Aguennour at 552m altitude, at the foot of the Tarmilate plateau and the massif of Zguit. Oued Aguennour flows at the bottom of a real canyon; the descent to the spring in a jeep, a 700 m drop with hair-pin bends on the edge of the precipice, is an unforgettable experience. The spring gushes out in a very wooded region, in a forest of centenary corkoaks, dominated by the majestic dark blue of the peaks of Layachi and Toutabal.Oulmès is particularly rich in carbonic gas and trace elements. This water has exceptional virtues; it is the only natural gaseous water in all Arabic countries, diuretic, tonic and energizing thanks to the presence of calcium, magnesium, sodium, lithium, fluor and iron. Its therapeutic properties make it suitable for intestinal and hepatic complaints, anaemia and arthritism. Oulmès exists since 1933, at which time its site was destined to become the Moroccan Vichy.

To create a spa at Oulmès would necessitate enormous investment, because the spring is at the bottom of a deeply embanked river, very difficult to reach. In addition bottling takes place 7 km from the site whereas the law stipulates that hydrotherapy should take place at the spring. A very pleasant form of hydrotherapy exists, however, at the spring: baths carved in the rock where you can bathe in water at body temperature.in the fifties, a French doctor even gave baths of mud, taken from around the spring. There is a magnificent 46-bedroom hotel near the spring and the surroun-ding area offers hunting and fishing, or many walks or mule-rides. In this same Zaian massif springs the mineral water of Sidi Ali. This water is not very mineralised, destined for daily table water. Perfectly suitable for salt-free diets, it is above all the water used for mixing babies’ bottles.

This is a non-gaseous water that springs at 18,5°. It has been exploited since 1977. The waters of Oulmès and Sidi Ali exploited by the same company and their cumulated production reached 512 000 hectolitres in 1991, of which 82 000 for Oulmès and 430 000 for Sidi Ali. The third Moroccan spring is further north, still in the Middle Atlas, 10 km from Fez. Already known by the Romans, the inventors of hydrotherapy, Sidi Harazem, also called Khalouane, was described in the chronicles of Scipion the African.