Various types of traditional morrocan foods: Al bastilla

Al bastilla
The bastilla is a plate that is famous especially in the northern part of Morroco .The legend says that this is a spanish recipe that was served to the army of Tarik ibn Ziyad by the locals in the 8th century in spain has a sign of gratitude for fighting the Wisigoths. This plate was appreciated to a point that it was brought to Morroco and was became part of the culture . The bastilla can be sweet and cooked with almonds inside it or can contain chicken and lamb or both in the same time it is quite a heavy treat that is eaten during important occasions like the Aid circumsicion, engagement parties and burial gatherings.

Bastilla with almonds and chicken 

                                                               This how it's cooked

Various types of traditional morrocan foods: The Tanjia

The Tanjia
If there is one plate that can describe Marrakech and it's surrounding it's the Tanjia it's a plate cooked exclusively by the men of the Bahja (other name of Marrakech) . It is composed of fine pieces of beef meat olive oil garlic turmeric cumin and potatoes .Traditionally when the tangia is ready the men bring it to Faran al houma (the neighbourhoud oven) to cook for 5 hours it is then eaten with some round bread . It is a famous dish amongst all morrocans that many tried to copy the recepies around the kingdom but nothing beats the original . It is also famous amongst the tourists and during the summertime the famous traditional mat3am are full from midday to midnight especially in jema al fna.

the traditional Tanjia

The Tanjia seller in Jama al fna

                           

Jema al Fna Marrakech

Various types of traditional morrocan foods: The Couscous

Introduction
Morrocan food is diverse in itself and contains also influences from other cultures that came in contact with the Kingdom trough the centuries adding some subtil changes and nuances to it and making it richer bringing in European Arab and Andalucian. However it's bases and roots are Amazigh which is known to rely heavily on corn ,olives, plums, beef, lamb, chicken and local spices like the Safran. Morrocan cuisine is also known to rely heavily on a combination spices which give a unique taste making it one of the most renown in the world . In this article i'm going to present to you one the all time favorite Couscous.

One of the stapple foods of this cuisine is the couscous it's a 3000 years old recipe made with wheat semolina that is cooked several times and "ftale" which is the term used in morrocan darija to describe the action of aerate the semolina with your hand so that is won't become pasty like texture and instead become a very light texture. The toppings differ greatly from one region to the other for instance in certain parts of the northern regions of morroco the couscous can be made with fish or sweet with plums it really depends when it is served. But the classical one is more popular and is the same al throughout Morrocan . Toppings are essentially composed of beef, lamb carrots hummus pumkin. It is generally served after the friday prayers and eaten with the family gattered around it.

Sweet Couscous

Traditional Couscous

       
                                               
                                                         
                     


     


                                                                                             

Fish Couscous

Music of Morroco

Introduction
Morroco is a country endowed with musical diversity there is countless of styles such has the Andalusi style it is a collection of poems dating back the time of the Andalucian Emirats in the 14th century there is the Malhoun is it also a collection of poem but in Morrocan darija this style appeared in the 17th century .There is also the Madih they are odes to the prophet mohammed they are really popular especially during the period of the Aid a saghir and aid al kabir they are broadcasted on national TV this day . But we are going to concentrate on the styles that are popular in the region of the Rif the Atlas and the Sahara.

The rif music is really close to the chleuh they both use the Ghita it is an Amazigh flute the watar is a type of lute that give a particular sound it is only known in those regions they are used in popular type of music. The bendir is a percussion instrument also used by both Chleuh and Riffis but is played differently the Rifs used is generally in past paced while the Chleuh use more slowly and with a more dramatic tone shall we say. The voice in the amazigh music is always really bold weither it is singed by a male or a female it can seem strange to unfamiliar ears but it is really about singing about one's pain and emotions in the raw way possible .

Watar

Ghita

Bendir

An extract of traditional Rifi music
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WppnpyvtyBE

An extract of traditional Chleuh music
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YqUSJiBTJXo

The sahraoui music is completely different it is influenced with african rythmes and the lyrics are poetic it is one of the speciality of the Sahraouis they are usually either in classical arabic or in the Hassania dialect Mauritanian music is exactly the same. they use the Ardin which is a moorish harp only found in southern Morroco and Mauritania it is a female only instrument it gives an African vibe to the song and also the tabla sahraouia it is a sahraoui drum that accompanies the Ardin .

The tabla sahraoui

the traditional Ardin

 An extract of traditional sahraoui music
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bczGOQnoerE

The sahrawi people

History
The sahraoui people live in the southern part of Morroco from the city of Guilmim to the little village of Lagwira there are essentially a nomadic people they used to go from Morroco to Mauritania to the Mali they were and are essentially living of the trades nowdays they essentially sell clothing and traditional medicine but their was a time when the sahraouis traded jewleries gold textiles and slaves all the way down to the niger river it was a time of great prosper for the region and created a wealthy elite families of traders. But it came to an end in the beggining of the 20th century with the french colonialism monopolized the ressources of western africa and stopped the trades between the Niger to Southern Morroco and when the Spanish colonialism appropriated the Sahara and restricted the movements of the Sahrawi people which forced them to sedentarize in cities like Al ayoun or al dakhla. The society had a system ressembling the Indian caste system with the arabic tribes of Banu Hassan at the top the Amazighs tribes and then the Marabout who are known for their piety and then the slaves . The Arabs and Amazighs could intermarry but it was restricted to the heads of the tribes so they can create bonds between tribes .Marabouts only married amongst themselves .And then the slaves where forbidden to marry outside their class and even if a slave woman have a baby with a freeborn that doesn't automatically free him like it says in the Quran but he access to a higher status by serving his half brothers until his death and until his death he will be considered a lowborn .But in the 1970s the Morrocan government outlawed these practices but there is still prejudices against lower casts.

Clothing
Men wear the daraa in the desert which is a 4 meter large jellaba with opening in the side in the desert there is two colors white and blues with a amama white or black it help them cool off and generally decorated with golden ornaments.They are not all the same the ones that are heavily decorated are more expensive than the more simpler ones. It helps determinate the status of the man in society. But the arabs and the amazighs wear it the same way it helps determine the class but not the ethnicity or the tribal belonging.

Expensive daraa with heavy ornaments

Simple daraa with no ornaments

Women wear melhafas they are very longue veils that can be up to nine meter long they are worn by both Amazigh and Arab women it is a symbol of modesty and is worn majoritarily to this day there is different types of melhafas. The ancient ones have two peace a longue white robe and a black melahfa on the top which was soaked into product called al nilla it is a product extracted from a blue stone only available in the region it helps maintain a porcelaine skin. There is another type of melhafa made of pure silk sewed by hand with finer details and colors and it is more expansive and the other type of melhafa called melhafa al Gass which is made with cheaper fabrics imported from Yemen India Oman and the united arab emirates generally with grosser details and colors it is very popular right now because if it cheaper and easier to wash .

Silk melhfa with fine details 

Ancient Melahfa

Cheaper melhfa al gass with grosser details and colors

The chleuh people

History
The chleuh people live mainly in the Atlas region and Souss they are the descendent of the zianides and sanhaja tribes they got scattered trought the region by tree main events the fall of the Almohad dinasty dinasty the fall of the Merinide dinasty created chaos troughtout morroco and the third one is the bloody attempt to control the chleuh people trought pillaging douars who are villages and also the kasbahs the destruction of goods and the stealing of prime ressources such has food,water etc... But even with that chleuh people are known for surving in extreme conditons they are known for being farmers are sedentary Chleuh they own several lands and are considers to be the main providers of fruits and vegetable in Morroco . Just has the Rifs they fought and refused for centuries the authority of the makhzen the regions occupied with the Chleuhs were called for century Blad siba which means the country of chaos and and lack of order in opposition to Blad al makhzen the parts of Morroco that were controlled by the Alaouite dinasty . Just like the Rif  the atlas was governed by the tribal law inspired by ancient pre islamic costumes and Sharia law . For instance robbery was punished by being ostracized for a certain amount of time according to the gravity of the crime .

Clothing
Men used to wear jellabas but the wool burnous was and is more common because it keeps warm especially in cold climates like in the Atlas region and is also practical for sheperds . But the colors and pathern differed according to the social place that men held in the Amazigh society and also between the various tribes for instance the Ait Atta which is one of the most famous tribe in the region were recognized with more darker colors in the burnous colors varied from grey to black to a darker shade of brown and were accompagned generally with a white gandoura worn by all the men in the region and they wear a really loose under pants going from the belly button to the knees called saroual it is Iranian in orgin and worn by a majority of men in the Mena region . It was also common for men of the atlas to wear the Ammama. It was also a custom among certain Amazigh men to travel will the face veiled it was called being mlatham especially when travelling trought the desert to protect oneself from the sand storm but also to ward off the evil eye and the amourous Jinns .

Ait Atta man with a white gandoura a grey
burnous and a white Amama

Women's clothing are bit more diverse and are attached to different customs .When women reaches mariageable she must wear either the haik or the khent which is a long veil generally black dark blue or violet but it is not worn in the same way for example unwed women don't cover their faces and wear it even if there is exceptions it is a simple veil with no ornaments .The married women have a khent with colorful pathern and are adorned with jewlery they are given has a Mahr which is the equivalent of a dowery and also must cover her face out of respect for her husband .Some may even ask that the eyes of their wives don't appear.

Unwed Atlassi woman in simple Khent

married Atlassi woman in Haik

Married women in Khent

The Rif people 

History
Historically speaking the Rifis people live in the northern part of Morroco they were known for their strenght and fighting skills. The Rif region just like the rest of Morroco and the rest of northern part of Africa were occupied by several Amazighs tribes they used to rule on different pieces of land and laws were established by a congregation of the tribes living in the area . The life was encoded by  tribal customs the region .The region however did knew important population influx after the fall of Granada in 1492 from the Andalucian refugee jews and muslim they did influence the culture by bringing the spanish language and influenced the morrocan Darija and the rifi language and were also known for their craftsmenship skills this is why they established themselves easily in the textile industry that added a rafinement to morrocan clothing. The region didn't experience alot in it's history centralised governement and to this day there is still people that want to gain independance from Morroco and for that the Alaouite dinasty that was founded 1631 never ceased to fight them and launched various attacks against then even after the independence in 1956 manifestations were severally repressed by the governement . They were also called aoubach by Hassan II for refusing the authority of the makhzen. But even with that some Rifi people hope that one day they will gain independance.

Clothing
Traditionally men wear a white Amama which is basically a turban put in the head acompagned with a Jellaba made from wool .However there was a difference in the clothing for instance men that used to work in the field and also sheperds wore short  Jellabas varying from black to to grey to brown with or without stripes they looked generally rougher and they almost never wore white except for religious ghaterings such has the tarawih prayer during the nights of Ramadan and also at the aid al Fitr which is the day following the last night of ramadan it is a happy occasion when people gather prayer offer gifts and buy knew clothings for the occasion . The white color was generally worn by pious men and also women because it's consider has the best garment in Islam the prophet said "Clothes yourselves in white verily it is cleaner and purer and you should shroud you dead in it" and also the officials of the governement. Men who belonged to the upper class usually wore white jellaba with ornament accompanied with a white burnous .

                                     

Man from the upper class

Man from the lower class 

                               




















Women's clothing were a little bit more diverse they used to wear various clothing such has tkachit who wear long dresses with a large belt surounding the waist again the takchita varies alot from a region to another and also from a class to another for instance wealthier women had finer tkachit with ornaments and were embroided with silk and heavier. While poorer women had more simple and lighter tkachit to help them do the every day shores and work in the field and also the famous nothern fouta that differenciate rifi women from the rest of morrocan women . However there is a common point between poorer women and wealtier women when they go out of their homes they veil themselves with the Haik which is a rectangular piece of clothes who is two meter large and six meter longue it was required to go trought cities and villages but women in isolated regions did not wear it because of it's lack of practical use . It is considered a sign of modesty and honor but there is differences wealthier women have haiks made with pure silk while poorer women wore haiks made of coton or nylon .

Haik made of cotton

Haik made of silk

poor women takchitas

                   

Takchita of a wealthy jewish woman 

Fouta chamalia

Darra