Moroccan Culture

Moroccan Culture

Morocco is a nation with a rich culture and civilization. It has always been a land of cultural exchanges and encounters given its strategically-located position between the Mediterranean and Atlantic, Europe and Africa. Morocco hosted many people coming from these areas, all of them have had an impact on the social and cultural structure of the country.

The richness of the Moroccan culture comes from the various civilizations that Morocco encountered trough different eras in its history. From the Byzantine civilization to the Roman influence to the Arab civilization, then the Spanish and French, Morocco is now a panorama of genuine values of tolerance and multiculturalism and gets its unity in its diversity.

The Kingdom is well known to be a center for interfaith dialogue among Muslims, Christians and Jews and today provides an arena for open dialogue. The country is constantly offering innovating solutions to contemporary problems through progressive applications of Islamic principles.

Cultural Diversity:
The country's long-standing history has undoubtedly contributed to the emergence of a rich, authentic and diversified culture that takes several forms and manifestations, such as literature, architecture, clothing, handicrafts, traditional music and folklore and gastronomy.

Language:
The Standard Arabic is the official language in Morocco. However, French is widely used as business is conducted in French. In the north of Morocco and the Deep South, Spanish is widespread. Staff in hotels is multilingual. In tourist cities like Rabat, Fez, Marrakech and Agadir, merchants and guides speak several languages. The “Tamazight” has its origin in North Africa back 10,000 years ago and is the language Berbers speak today. The Tamazight in its historical and cultural aspects is part of the Moroccan identity.

Literature:
Two main features characterize the contemporary Moroccan literature. First, it is a bilateral literature since it is expressed in Arabic, Berber, French, Spanish and English. Second, although it is young- hardly 70 years of existence – it has grown and evolved tremendously.

Some of the literature in Morocco is written in Arabic, French, Berber and even in Spanish or English. The diversity of Moroccan literature is truly amazing, as are the writers who pen these literary masterpieces.

Architecture:
The visual style of Morocco's decorative arts has enthralled visitors for centuries. Common thèmes are a deep commitment to complex geometric, floral and calligraphic visual pattern, pared with simple, bright, and often whitewashed colors.

A walk through any medina will reveal extraordinarily complex tile, or zellij mosaics, covering public fountains, walls, and furniture. A visit to any riad “house” or medrasa “school” will reveal stone and wood carved calligraphic patterns taken from the Holly Koran, against a background of near-infinite geometric complexity.

The architecture of Morocco consists of more or less the Islamic style of construction. However the designs show signs of being profoundly influenced by Spanish styles of the mid centuries.

Moroccan architecture has witnessed an extraordinary renaissance in recent years as architects and interior designers from Morocco and around the world have taken an interest in Moroccan design elements big (courtyards) and small (lamps), rethinking and updating them.

One of the finest examples of architecture in Morocco is found in the Hassan II Mosque in Casablanca. It ranks second in size, behind the Masjid al-Haram in Mecca, the tallest mosque in the world, in addition to being one of the most beautiful.

A great portion of the Hassan II Mosque, Casablanca is built on the water of the Atlantic Ocean. There is a saying that the mosque reflects a line of Qur'an, "the throne of God was built on the water".

The interior of the mosque is even more impressive than the exterior with an amount of detail in the work unheard of at this scale, with beautiful ceramic mosaics on the walls, luxurious marble and rugs on the floor, and beautifully carved wood ceilings.

Handicrafts:
The Moroccan artisans are known all over the world for their intricate woodworks, most of which are sculpted and painted ornately. The colorful and the beautifully adorned pottery done by the Berber people of Morocco is also very popular amongst the tourists.

However, amongst the various handicrafts of Morocco, it is her lovely carpets that will leave tourists wonderstruck. Every carpet has a story to tell about one particular aspect of Morocco culture and her people.

Traditional Clothing:
Morocco's clothing tradition has been a source of great pride to Morocco's craft industry for centuries. Beginning with Moroccan carpets and leather products, Moroccan clothing has quickly gained popularity around the world.

The caftan, a long flowing Moroccan dress, the pouf, a circular leather pillow used for seating, and the babouche, leather slippers traditionally worn in mustard yellow or white, have recently become very fashionable in the West. Morocco's clothing renaissance is just beginning thanks to an exciting and talented young generation of designers who are adding a modern flair to many traditional styles and products such as the babouche and caftan.

Music and Dance:
The multi-ethnic character of the culture of Morocco is nowhere more evident than in her music and dance forms. The predominantly Arabic population in Morocco has given its music a mellifluous Arabic tone but you can also detect significant Andalusian strains in Moroccan music.

Besides, there also exist other varieties of Berber folk music and other ritual music such as Chaabi (popular) music, the Gharnati music and the languorously mystical Gnawa music of the Sub-Saharan people.

There are also many dance forms prevalent in Morocco, the most prominent amongst them being the Guedra Dance, the Casbah Dance and the very exotic and the very enchanting Belly Dance.

Gastronomy:
Moroccan gastronomy is one of the world’s greatest for its imaginative and ingenious combinations of flavors. It is based on a sophisticated blend of spices.

Moroccan cuisine is colorful, sweet spicy, vibrant and rich. Everything is cooked freshly with a lot of spices, and it is very healthy. Olive oil is at the base of many dishes in Moroccan cuisine.

Moroccan cuisine has long had a reputation of being one of the world’s most diverse and developed cuisines, and has been gaining tremendous popularity around the world as of late.