Moroccan Festivals

 

Hi learning circle mates,

 

We’re pleased to work with you on this interesting project. So here is one of the celebrations in Morocco.

 

Name of the festival:  Popular Arts.

Reason: development of tourism, economy and cultural and artistic folklore.

Activities: During this festival, Marrakech is very crowded with artists, craftsmen, musicians, acrobats and even fire swallowers who come from all parts of Morocco. In the past, the festival has been about Moroccan folk traditions: folkloric dance, Berber music and dramatic interpretations of Moroccan plays. But this year, European, Asian and American troupes have also been invited to participate in the festival. In Jamaa El Fna, a giant square in the centre of the city, there are many exciting activities: performances of acrobats, jugglers, storytellers, trained monkeys, snake charmers, plenty of musician especially Gnawa a special troupe who clang their iron cymbals for hours on end. What makes this international square more beautiful at night is that it’s filled with food stalls lit with hundreds of kerosene lanterns. there you can taste and eat all types of Moroccan food!!

We are trying to send you a postcard of Jamaa el fna.

 

By: Hassan Garara, Ilyass Lamssougar and Marwane Aoulay (students at year 10 in Abdelkrim school Rabat Morocco)

Our teacher: Latifa Bouhlal.

 

 

 

Hi all,

We are happy to write about one of our festivals. It’s called “ Almond Blossom Festival”.

Time: 2nd week in February.

Place: Tafrout. ( a small town in the south of Morocco).

Feasts and activities: there are a lot of almond trees in Tafraout and in the blossom time it’s very tremendous to watch the  pink colours which unfortunately the blooms don’t last long. This festival attract many visitors to see the spectacle on special excursions!.

It’s an interesting festival for people who like nature!

 

By : Mohammed Bayed and Mouad Rahali (year 10) Abdelkrim school, Rabat Morocco.

Teacher: Latifa Bouhlal.

 

 

Hello everybody,

There are many festivals in Morocco. Here is one of them.

Wax Lantern Festival. Or “Mawkib eshomouaa”It takes place in Salé (the oldest city in Morocco,  and twin sister of Rabat the capital city), on the eve of “Mouloud” that is another religious festival celebrating the birth of our Prophet Mohammed-PBUH-.

The feast of this festival is to bring back the Barbary period in Salé when the corsairs carried wax lanterns to the town ‘s patron “Sidi Abdullah Ben Hassoun” to implore his protection before a long voyage. Now it has become an attractive and entertaining festival!

 

Written by: Hajar Mahmou and Majda Elounzi form Abdelkrim Khattbi High school; Rabat Morocco.

Our teacher is Latifa Bouhlal.

 

 

 

Hello dear partners,
This is what my students wrote about some of our celebrations:

We are writing this article so as to describe some of our ceremonies.
There are many kinds of ceremonies:


    1)Engagement: This ceremony is the first step before celebrating the wedding. The way this ceremony is carried out depends on traditions & customs of the town, but in general, the groom’s

family visits the bride’s family and they take gifts and flowers with them.
When the guests arrive, the hosts meet them with flowers, milk and dates and they sit with each other and talk with the bride’s parents so as to agree about the date of the wedding ceremony.

 

   2)Marriage:We celebrate it in a big place, where there are many guests(from the groom’s family, the bride’s family& their neighbours) to whom a music band sings traditional as well as modern songs. People spend the night dancing and having fun.

 

Concerning the bride’s clothes, she wears traditional ones like “Takchita, Caftan”, and at the end of the ceremony she wears a white wedding dress like the one we see in most films. The groom

generally wears two types of clothes a traditional “Jellaba" and a modern suit.
As for meals, guests eat pastilla, meat with dried prunes, chicken, dessert. They also have tea with

several varieties of cookies…
   

3)Baptism: Seven days after the baby's birth, the family celebrates it by inviting relatives, cousins and neighbors and preparing food for them just like in a wedding.



Best,
Jamaldin Slimani,
Abdelkarim Alkhattabi High School,
Rabat, Morocco.

 

 

 

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