Traditional Fashion in Morocco:

Fashion In Morocco


Fashion in Morocco is considered a reflection of a person’s social standings. The Moroccans believe that the personal style and the clothes they wear give an insight into their life.


Traditional Fashion in Morocco:
Morocco’s traditional outfit is called djellaba. It is a loose, full-sleeved, flowing gown, with a head cover. During special events men generally wear a cap, which is known as a tarbouche and their footwear consists of flat leather slippers called baboosh and are generally yellow in color. The women’s djellaba can be differentiated by its use of bright colors and its ornamentation consisting of beads and embroidery. These kaftans are quite expensive but the fashion conscious Moroccans especially the women are very fond of their traditional outfit and purchase at least one each year. Even with the western influence over Moroccan fashion, djellabas are still popular, and there is an unspoken law to wear it for all social and religious occasions, all festivals and especially during marriage ceremonies.

Fashion is Morocco is greatly affected by the culture of Morocco. They have certain stereotypes, for example men are Moroccans believe that men should have short hair, should not wear ornaments, and should grow beard and moustaches. However nowadays
‘Boucles’, or ‘goatees’, are more popular among the younger generation. In case of women skin show is an absolute no-no. Women who wear revealing clothes are considered loose-moraled or vulgar. Moroccans have somewhat similar prejudices attached to women wearing make up. However in spite of all this modern Moroccan fashion is adapting more and more to the western fashion and breaking free from the prejudices.


morocco culture,moroccan food,morocco food,moroccan cuisine,morocco beaches,moroccan meal,beaches in morocco,moroccan culture,hercules cave,hercules cave morocco

Moroccan Caravan

Moroccan Caravan is owned by Addi Ouadderrou, Amazigh (Berber) a native of Morocco and based in Somerville/Boston, Massachusetts, United States. The Moroccan Caravan always carries authentic high-quality arts and crafts. We care about our friends and customers, we treat them as if they were part of our family and share with them the warmth of Moroccan hospitality. We want you to get things just like the ones we use in our homes.

Please keep in mind that shopping at Moroccan Caravan means directly helpping Moroccan artists, keeping alive ancient art forms for everyone's enjoyment.

Take advantage of the specials we have offered


morocco culture,moroccan food,morocco food,moroccan cuisine,morocco beaches,moroccan meal,beaches in morocco,moroccan culture,hercules cave,hercules cave morocco

Moroccan clothes

Made in Rabat: What’s your outlook on the blogosphere (the world of Moroccan bloggers)?
Safia Tellal: The Moroccan style blogosphere is starting, little by little, to come out of its cocoon. For three years I was the only one, but in the last year and a half blogs are starting to flourish. Of course, it’s very limited, but it’s better than nothing, and since there aren’t that many of us, we need to organize small events to bring together bloggers.


Made in Rabat: Do you feel like a journalist?
Safia Tellal: Not at all. I believe that bloggers and journalists are disassociated. A blogger for me is a “perk”, a way to communicate, and a journalist is a profession that’s studied. Personally, and speaking as a blogger, I am free to speak about what I want, to criticize or not, I don’t have the same obligations as a journalist.
Made in Rabat: Do bloggers have a lot of power according to you?
Safia Tellal: In my opinion, yes, and many do. But not yet in Morocco. When I see bloggers create their own collections, and do the worldwide tour of fashion weeks, I dream, but I tell myself that we’re still very far away.
Made in Rabat: What would it take for you to stop blogging?
Safia Tellal: Nothing could make me stop blogging, I’m too attached to this space.
Made in Rabat: The majority of your posts show the clothes that you wear? How many pieces of clothing do you buy each month?
Safia Tellal: I’m a true shopaholic, I buy a lot, a lot of clothes, shoes and bags. Accessories the least. I couldn’t say exactly how many I buy because that depends, what I want, what I need, the season. But I would say four to five pieces per month.

orocco culture,moroccan food,morocco food,moroccan cuisine,morocco beaches,moroccan meal,beaches in morocco,moroccan culture,hercules cave,hercules cave morocco

Women are best to wear loose fitting clothes that cover most of the body

Women are best to wear loose fitting clothes that cover most of the body
What you wear reflects your social status in Morocco probably more than anything else. Even those with the least financial means will dress as smart as they can.

Clothes are also often used as a statement about your view on life. For example, Moroccans with a more "western" attitude shun beards and traditional garments like the djellaba exactly because these are the favorite attributes of devout muslims.


Tourists

The ground rule for foreign visitors is: you can wear anything you like, provided you are willing to face the consequences. Flaunting the local dresscodes may result in anything from innocent sniggering by Moroccans to seriously offending people.

Let's separate the fashion bloopers from the cultural misjudgments.

For men, wearing anything that can be perceived as underwear in public will cause some good-spirited grins. Moroccans love to joke about the lack of style of the archetypal "German tourist", wearing shorts, an old t-shirt, hiking boots with knee-high socks and a guide book.

Less appreciated is walking around showing your bare chest. This is considered not just poor taste, but also offensive. You should always keep your shirt on, except of course on the beach or at a swimming pool. This rule also applies to hotel corridors, seaside terraces and under the sweltering sun of the desert.

Men who strip down completely in public will cause extreme offence, even in bathhouses ("hammams").

Women tourists walk a much tighter rope in Morocco. Not only does what's acceptable vary between the cities and rural areas, invidual reactions to more "modern" clothes differ widely.

Like Moroccan women who wear revealing clothes, foreign women doing so will attract a lot of attention from men. The constant hisses, whistles and remarks can become very tiresome, even if you manage to follow the example of Moroccan women and consistently ignore the comments. You should seriously assess whether this burden weighs up to any right you feel you have to wear whatever you like.

Many women planning to travel to Morocco only consider the reactions their clothing may provoke in men. In the countryside, however, you may be faced with downright hostility from other women. Fortunately, such aggression is not widespread and occurs mainly south of Marrakech and in the mountains.

In short, it pays for women tourists to adhere to the more conservative dresscode in Morocco. Loose fitting clothes covering most of your body will shield you (at least partly) from unwanted attention. As an added benefit, such clothes also protect you from the heat.

Of course, you can be too zealous in your efforts to fit in. Hardly any woman in Morocco wears the burka, the all-covering dress seen in Saudi Arabia and Afghanistan. Plus, a foreign woman wearing a headscarf will attract just as much attention as when she would be wearing hotpants.

Which brings us to the greatest fashion no-no for tourists: Do not wear traditional local clothes if you want to keep a glimmer of credibility. Kaftans, djellabas and the like are beautiful and very comfortable, no doubt about that, but tourists wearing them look... well, stupid.

Should you insist on going "ethnic", stay away from the more ornately decorated garments. These are only intended for special occasions and you would definitely look out of place wearing them in the streets.


Men
Moroccan men are generally very style-conscious and can spend considerable time grooming and dressing. They won't leave the house unless their clothes are clean, ironed and as smart as they can afford.

Showing skin is seen as a lack of style. Tank tops, shorts and flipflops are considered underwear. Great to wear at home, but not in the streets, unless you're going out to find a game of football or to take a swim.

The same goes for shoes. Even in summer, men prefer wearing closed shoes, worn with at least ankle-high socks. Shoes are polished regularly to get rid of the dust and sand, and many Moroccans won't travel without a tin of shoe polish.

Brands play a big role in a man's decision what clothes to buy. Those who can afford them, will buy genuine designer clothes. Others go for imitations, happily pointing out that Morocco is the "king of counterfeit". Indeed, most "brands" you will find in Morocco are fakes, from Adidas sports shoes to Duracell batteries. Even Ikea (called Kitea in Morocco) is copied illegally.

Cultural values, inspired by religious teachings, impose some restrictions on what a man can wear. Silk clothes, for example, are considered effeminate and too luxurious for men. The same goes for gold jewelry, although you will see lots of Moroccan men wearing discreet gold necklaces. Earrings, piercings and tattoos are deemed "gay" and are only worn by the young, urban "punk" generation as they are firmly anti-establishment.

The same cultural values dictate that a man's hair must be short and well-groomed. Long, dyed or messy hair is sneered at. Moroccans even have a word for such haircuts: M'shekek. With hair like that, a Moroccan man is never going to find a job. Again, only the "punk" youth will let their hair grow, dye it or have patterns shaven into it.

Beards are very much a religious statement in Morocco. Citing the prophet Muhamed, islamic scholars will stress the importance of growing a beard. But ever since lavish facial hair became the essential accessory for islamic militants, the beard has become associated with fundamentalist religious views. So much so, that sporting one now brands a man an "extremist" and may even cause suspicion at police roadblocks.

In general, only devout muslims will grow a full beard. The mustache, another prerequisite for a muslim, is a less contentious issue in Morocco, and a "boucle", or goatee, is quite popular with Moroccans.

Traditional garments, like the kaftan and djellaba, have fallen out of fashion partly because of the same association with religious views that beards have acquired. More importantly, though, traditional attire is considered "old-fashioned" in Morocco. Kaftans, djellabas and fez hats are now mostly worn by older men.

Only on special occasions, such as weddings and religious festivals, will younger men show a sudden preference for these typical Moroccan clothes.


Women
Moroccan women, like men, take great care of their appearance. Dirty, ragged or crumpled clothes are an absolute sign of poverty.

What is acceptable to wear in public for a woman is much more regulated by social and cultural values than is the case with the dresscode for men. In more rural areas, social control is stronger and traditional values still resist foreign influences, such as the ubiquitous soap operas.

In the countryside, shows like "The Bold and the Beautiful" (called "Top Model" in Morocco) serve as ominous proof of all that's wrong with western values. The same programs are eagerly watched in urban households as shining examples of modern living, influencing fashion and women's attitudes.

One of the traditional rules is that a "decent" woman will not display her beauty to any man, except the one she is married to. This means that many Moroccans, men and women, expect women to wear loose-fitting clothes that cover as much of the body as possible.

Showing skin or wearing anything that emphasizes the female forms is frowned upon. Some people will take it as a sign that the woman wearing such "revealing" clothes is "easy", some may even take her for a prostitute, but most will just regard her as vulgar.

The same is true for a woman who wears make-up or dyes her hair. Many claim that the only reason for the use of cosmetics is to make yourself more attractive to men, which is not a "decent" thing to do. Others consider it an unnecessary "masking" of the natural beauty of a woman.

Despite the stigmas, many "modern" Moroccan women will wear "western"-style clothes. Go out into any street of a large Moroccan city and you will see many women wearing tight shirts that reveal anything from the shoulder to the belly-button, short skirts and very close fitting jeans. Make-up and blond hair are very much in fashion, although most women will not use cosmetics during the month of Ramadan.

Moroccan women who dress "modern" perfectly illustrate the paradox of Moroccan society. While they attract some admiration from other women for having the guts to be progressive, more traditional women will scorn them for breaking the rules and leaning dangerously towards "western decadence".

Men, of course, have a lot of admiration for women dressing anything but modestly, allbeit not for any contribution to the feminist cause. Men will gaze, whistle and hiss at women who dress after the "western" fashion. The women, in return, ignore this attention with contempt for such an "old-fashioned" attitude in men.


morocco culture,moroccan food,morocco food,moroccan cuisine,morocco beaches,moroccan meal,beaches in morocco,moroccan culture,hercules cave,hercules cave morocco

Moroccan Dresses

Moroccan Dresses, Traditional Moroccan clothing

The classic Moroccan garment is called "djellaba", a long and loose hooded gown which Moroccans  wear it over their normal clothing. It covers the entire body except for the head, the hands and the feet and it comes in different colors, styles and fabrics depending on the season. During summer a cotton or rayon djellaba is preferred, while during winter a wool one.

The djellaba is worn traditionally both by men and women, but the women's djellaba differs in style as it has brighter colors and decorative embroidery.

Morocco is a country comprising a multitude of people from different ethnic groups. The population of Morocco constitutes people from the East, which includes Berbers, Phoenicians, Carthaginians, Jews, and Arabs; the South comprising people from Africa; and the North including Romans, Vandals, and Moors. The multi-faceted composition of Morocco's people has given the nation a rich culture and civilization. Moroccan men traditionally wear a long, loose, hooded piece of clothing with full sleeves called the 'djellaba'. On special occasions, they can be seen donning a red cap called a 'tarbouche', which is referred to as 'Fez'. Most men in Morocco wear soft leather slippers that are traditionally known as 'baboosh'. Women are also known to wear this footwear; however, ladies also wear high-heeled sandals mostly in silver or gold tinsel. The 'djellaba' resembles the Kaftan, however, the only distinguishing factor is that it has a hood. The 'djellaba' for women is available in an array of bright colors along with ornate patterns, beading or stitching; men wear the 'djellaba' in simpler, neutral colors. The overall cost of producing traditional Moroccan wardrobe is expensive as a substantial amount of the work on the clothes is done by hand. Moroccan women's clothing is prepared from silk. Despite the diversity in the cultural heritage of the country, the people of Morocco treasure and cherish their rich culture that has evolved over the years. Moroccan women are known to purchase at lest one traditional outfit every year for either a religious or a family function.



morocco culture,moroccan food,morocco food,moroccan cuisine,morocco beaches,moroccan meal,beaches in morocco,moroccan culture,hercules cave,hercules cave morocco

THE SOCIAL, ECONOMIC AND CULTURAL IMPACTS OF THE INTERNET IN MOROCCO

THE SOCIAL, ECONOMIC AND CULTURAL IMPACTS OF THE INTERNET IN MOROCCO


The most important event of this century is the increase of information and mental activity regarding the industrial production. We are starting a third wave economy. In a first wave economy, the land and farm labor was the main factor of production. In a second wave economy, the industrial production took over, while the land and farm production remained and took profit from the industrialization technological breakthrough.In the new third wave economy, the central resource is the set of data, information, images, symbols, culture, ideology and values or in a single word actionable knowledge. This revolution created a new world, parallel to the real one and inhabited by knowledge, including incorrect ideas, where people can put knowledge, alter it, or take knowledge out: the cyberspace. The portals to this world are any kind of information carriers such as TV sets, telephones, computers, and ultimately the Internet. Each economic wave gives new opportunities for countries to take off and a new inspiration to enhance the production of the previous generation fields. On the cultural side, the Internet by its nature - an interactive bi-directional information flow - will allow each society to know other cultures and to make its own culture known. So, it represents a chance - maybe the last one - for Morocco to improve its culture and give it the rank it deserves among other cultures. The coexistence between this variety of cultures and its availability will probably create a new criterion for social classification. The new definition of human relations through the cyberspace will conceive for each individual a virtual society at the same time with its real one. Morocco has finally entered cyberspace by making available the last portal: Internet. And it may seem logical then that our integration into the third age world would be automatic. But though technically Morocco is now a member of the earth's electronic community, its integration will not be effective until we consider seriously all the implications of connection.In the following pages, we will try to examine these aspects and particularly the social, cultural and economic ones. But first we will make some notes about the information age and our society. We will see then what is the Internet, what makes it that revolutionary and at last how we can make profit of it and give our economy and culture a last takeoff chance. Throughout this study, we will give some opinions based on a query we have done in this framework. The query text is available at the end.
The information age and our society, first notes

Moroccan society made its first steps into the information revolution many years ago. Most Moroccans have TV sets and know how to use a phone. However, only 31.9% of families have phone lines and the communication cost is still high so that many of them use the phone only for the strict necessarity. Therefore, we have not yet develop on-line communication habits or reflexes. Concerning television, we have a private channel which is not affordable by most middle and low class citizens. On the other hand, the programs of the public one does not satisfy new demands for knowledge and novelty in science, culture and entertainment. So, people purchase more and more satellite dishes to watch foreign TV. This new element in the Moroccan audio-visual space may introduce questions about its misdeeds and the changes it could operate on the society.The first drawback is the danger that this uncontrolled diffusion could bend and even erase the Moroccan identity. However, we may note that, for example, the citizens of northern Morocco after years of watching Spanish TV- have purchased satellite dishes once the Arabic channels became available, suggesting they are still concerned with and attached to Arabic identity and culture. Another danger is that the citizen become a negative consumer of the informational material. Indeed, in a very illiterate society - 51% - that suffers lack of artistic activities, TV becomes the world center and the citizen remains a passive viewer and loses his abilities to criticize and take positions toward the one-way information flow received. At last, we may lose the local image inside all the images received and thus dissociate the viewer from the real environment. Nevertheless, and paradoxically it may increase the need of local channels treating local problems and having more chances to succeed. Apart from these drawbacks, satellite reception will make us know other cultures and understand them better. It will contribute to make of us "universal" citizens who will easily integrate the third age world. On the other hand, the Moroccan attitude proves that to have information money doesn't matter since prices are affordable. Satellite reception is somewhat similar to the Internet, specially in being an uncontrolled massive information flow. But on the contrary, Internet is an interactive two-way communication. However the conclusions drawn above can be applied to the Internet case. But first, let us see what it is.
What's the Internet?

The Internet is the most famous computer network that's ever been built. It's a network of networks : it counts millions of computers connected in a web and talking to one other through a common communication protocol which is Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP).The concept of Internet appears in 1969 in the United States of America. The Pentagon wanted to get computers communicating around the world without risk of wars and confrontation between the east and the west. In that way, a destruction of a site can not damage or harm the communication between two other sites. To get this transmission secure, the messages are cut into independent packets of information capable to transit by any available way.As consequence, the USA equipped gradually itself with a fast and reliable data transmission network. American universities found this conception very interesting to get researchers communicating their research. The National Science Foundation (NSF) planned to build a network which is going to cover all the American territory and connect all the universities : It was the born of NFSnet, a fast network, heterogeneous and free of charge for universities.Internet was mostly limited to the US government and American universities until 1993 when the American vice-president Al GORE announced the beginning of the generalization of the Internet. In 1994, the American president Bill CLINTON ordered to take away the administration of the net from the NSF. It was the first explosion of Internet.
Description of the network

Presently, the Internet is an interconnection of thousands different networks. These networks are heterogeneous but they use the same protocol (TCP/IP). The main task of the network is to transport data and not to perform computation with them. Machines connected to the Internet are identified by their IP address. These machines can also be known by a name which is given by a name server. This name server contains a corresponding table between names and addresses. We can say that there are no physical boundaries in the Internet. It works in the cyberspace.There are four major services offered by the Internet:
E-Mail
This service is the most popular. It allows people to exchange mail. We can say that it is similar to the telephone and the traditional post-mail but they are quite different from each other. The price is the same, whether you send a mail to Casablanca or Tokyo. It's cheaper than traditional services. Moreover, messages sent by an e-mail can be either a text, binary file or pictures. We can imagine a lot of situation where sending an e-mail is very useful. A student could get his papers corrected by a professor from another countries just by sending them as e-mail. An other good example is that the survey done in the frame of this study was put in the net and the answers was sent in e-mails, so we were able to do study on a sample of Internet users from around the world as well as a sample of non Internet users. More than that, each one can check his mail from any computer connected to the net. He doesn't have to check his mailbox at home or stay at home to receive his telephone calls.
News
Sometimes you want to ask a question concerning a particular subject and there no special person who can answer you. In the Internet you can just ask it in a newsgroup and many of the subscribers can give you a beneficial answer. There are also discussions you can take part in for work, enjoyment or exchanging points of view. You can initiate a newsgroup discussing a certain subject you are interested in.The newsgroups are well organized : each newsgroup deals with a particular subject. All the discussions are going on simultaneously. The Internet presently offers more than ten thousand discussion groups, comprising many millions of words per day.
The World Wide Web (WWW)
The World Wide Web made the real explosion of the Internet. It was a revolution in the cyberspace. The WWW is a distributed multimedia network. It allows distribution of text, sounds and pictures. All this information is interlinked and relocated : while consulting a web page, you don't have to know where the information site is. What makes it more interesting is that each user can put his own pages in the Internet and make them known to millions of other users. WWW servers use hypertext links to join pieces of information in separate HTML-based (HyperText Markup Language) documents located either at the same or at disparate sites. The links are maintained using URLs (uniform Resource Locators), a standard way of coding the locations of HTML documents. Web pages are loosely analogous to chapters in a book. Just by pointing and clicking a highlighted item, you can establish an automatic link to another site. Each page can contain links to several other places not necessarily located in the place. The WWW includes now the File Transfer Protocol service which lets you download files to your computer if you don't have enough time to consult them on a remote system. It allows you to save connection time and make a copy of these files for yourself. You can also find free software that might be useful for you.
Some cyber behaviors

As described the internet is a great medium for gathering and spreading information. Nevertheless, an estimated 80% of all users are looking for social interaction rather than information. Thus besides its technical facets, the Internet has become a new kind of social space where naturally, new behaviors dawn. Through E-mail and newsgroups "Internet brings together people with mutual interest who for reasons ranging from geography to social and income disparity would otherwise never had met" says C. YBARRA, an anthropologist Ph.D. candidate at Stanford university. Furthermore, as experienced many people have found they can confess to each other things they never told to anyone. These virtual friendships can lead to strong lifelong relationships and even marriage. In this quest for companionship and communality, most net users introduce themselves as the person they wish they could be. The author of Love over the wires, P. Borsook calls this "selective lying by omission". In several cases, net users radically change their personality and take an invented one. That might be interesting in the way of experiencing and understanding personalities and life-styles that we could never try in real life. On the other hand it becomes dangerous in the case of a cyberholic that really likes his brand new personality and takes out his mask only for having lunch. In general, cyberholics are persons addicted to cyberspace, who spend most their time surfing the net, chatting, posting at newsgroups and once tired, playing computer games. The most famous cyberholics are geeks who form their own society of "gamers, ravers ,science fiction fans, punks, perverts, programmers, nerds, subgenie and trekkies". They are a literate, hyperinformed underground and rather open-minded with regards to queer life-styles.
Advantages of the Internet

Since it was created, Internet has become a fast and reliable data transmission network. The World Wide Web, which is one of the main services offered by Internet, is a real information system.. What's very important is that there are more than 4 million sites connected through the world and you can imagine the abundance and diversity of information in these machines. Since you are connected to the net, you can consider that all this information is put at your disposal. You can either read your favorite magazine or read the latest news about your favorite star in the cinema. With Internet, information is everywhere. Moreover, Moroccan students, the future decision-makers of the country, need to have the best formation during their studies. Morocco is still a developing country. So, we must take advantage from developed countries teachers. Nevertheless, eminent professors are usually busy and it's very difficult to call them. With the Internet, it's possible to attend their classes by distant-teaching wherever they are. If we look at the history of the Internet, the second step of its development was its migration to universities. The researchers find it very useful to exchange their research results. Nowadays and after the generalization of the Internet, this network is still the efficient way to communicate information in order to develop scientific research. Moroccan researchers might take advantage from this possibility to deal with their colleagues inside and outside the country, exchange points of view, participate to common projects and be up-to-date with the latest research results. The Internet is the only way to be at the same level as developed countries at least informationwise. And it would maybe limit the brain exude.Another interesting application for us might be publication. Indeed, the major problem of publication in Morocco is the high cost of printing and distributing and the high risk of financial failure specially for specialized ones. The Internet make it possible to create a magazine (a simple web page ) with few means and having a high presentation quality equal to great magazine one. Besides, with the newsgroups everyone can participate to "international" discussions where he will learn from others and propose his points of view, make known and defend his culture, and thus enrich the universal culture. Also, we can (should ) animate thematic discussions concerning our local problems. Such debates between persons sharing the same interests can only be serious and thus beneficial for everyone. The points named above are not exhaustive and we can find a great number of applications limited only by our imagination. And one can hardly deny how much these applications would be positive for our culture and would enhance our intellectual level. More communication means more information exchange between people, more creative ideas and more added value to our culture. Furthermore, as K. HASSAN said "... greater communication between people always leads to a probability of greater economic interaction...". Indeed, through communication we discover new ideas and new needs of the market that can be exploited. Besides, with more than 45 millions of subscribers, the Internet constitute an important potential market that we should grab. What makes it more interesting is the quasi-charge-free advertisement possibilities (Arabia server proposes advertisement possibilities for $100/page/year) and the reduction of distribution charges. So, companies can take a big benefits from using the Internet. For example, their competitivity in the market can really be increased by building virtual shops and profiting from the low cost production in our country. The Internet can be used as medium to sell and buy several kinds of products. A virtual shop in an interactive area where you do your shopping. You don't need any longer to go to shops and check for new arrivals to choose what you need. From any machine connected to the net you can buy or order what you see just by filling an order form which contains your name, address and credit card number. This initiative can be very interesting for Moroccan handicraft tradesmen. They can sell their products which are relatively cheap to foreign countries and improve their trade.In general, any kind of production that doesn't need big means as for services or software production -or that is specific to Morocco can be a successful business for us on the Internet. Here is another application. The Moroccan economy counts heavily on its tourist activity. Morocco is in competition with other countries in this fields, specially by Mediterranean countries. Advertising can be a solution to improve tourism in Morocco, but it costs too much and it is not sufficient. It is difficult and expensive to make an advertisement and to spread it through the world. With the Internet, this task seems to be easy and free of charges. Since the infrastructure exists, we can just develop special web pages showing beautiful landscapes and the Moroccan hospitality and put them into a server. In that way, we can make money with a minimum of investment. However, we should be conscious of the Internet specificities and not do advertisement as we used to for traditional mass-media. In fact, the interaction in Internet makes it possible to the user to control and choose what he is watching :by one click of the mouse, and the ad message is gone. Thus, it implies new marketing techniques for this new medium. In the US, as J. CASTRO mentions it "...advertisers are developing interactive advertising that delivers the message in successive layers as part of a dialogue with the consumer. Once the individual shows interest in the initial pitch, the interactive advertiser moves to the next stage, which delivers a message designed specifically for that customer."
The other side of the coin

Unfortunately, as for most of the inventions the Internet may also be used for bad purposes, and on the other hand we do not have direct means to verify the truthfulness of the available information. If we take the example of virtual shops, each person can make his own virtual shop - which has never existed - and sell products. It's a very easy way to collect great number of credit card numbers. This is an example of a bad use of the Internet. There are also terrorism and money laundering networks developed in it. The telephone network is not safe so the Internet is used as reliable and secure support of communication since messages can be encrypted. It can not be controlled by government unless the correspondence confidentiality will be infringed.The Internet can also have a bad influence on youth and culture. there are a lot of webservers and newsgroups dealing with sexuality, pornography and violence. " How can we prevent our children from connecting to these kind of sites? " is now a frequent question in the US that sustains debates and fears among the citizens.
A survey of attitudes about the Internet

To identify more precisely the benefits and the problems that can occur the coming of Internet to Morocco, a survey was done and distributed to two samples : a sample of Internet users and another of non Internet users.The survey (only questions 10,11 and 13 )was put into Moroccan web pages so that Moroccan netsurfers could answer it. Other questions don't need to be asked for this sample because all Internet users are familiar with the Internet and they all use computers.
Some statistics about the whole sample:


morocco culture,moroccan food,morocco food,moroccan cuisine,morocco beaches,moroccan meal,beaches in morocco,moroccan culture,hercules cave,hercules cave morocco

Romance in Morocco

The position of Islam on love and sexuality, at least in the western part of the Arab world, is convincingly summarized by a Tunisian author, Bouhdiba (1975/1985). Bouhdiba argues that Islam is pro-love and tolerant of sexuality when sanctioned by marriage:

Unity is attained by the affirmation of Eros. ... God himself is a being in love with his own creatures. From the thing to the Supreme Being, love exists as a guarantee of unity (Bouhdiba 1975/1985, p. 212).

Sexual pleasure in marriage is thought of as both a privilege and a duty. Congugal bliss is described as a foretaste of paradise and a proof of God’s love. On the other hand, Islamic accounts of love and sexuality often conclude that this divine model is seldom attained by human beings, and Bouhdiba suggests that "one must probably be a prophet oneself ... if one is to grasp, conceive of and above all achieve this essential unity" (ibid.). The rhetoric of love and erotic passion sanctioned by the religion has often led, according to Bouhdiba, to the unleashing of excessive libidinal force, and to the subjugation of women as the objects of male lust:

By confining woman to pleasure, one turns her into a plaything, a doll. By doing so one limits love to the ludic and one reduces the wife to the rank of woman-object, whose sole function is the satisfaction of her husband's sexual pleasure. Marital affection is reduced to mere pleasure, whereas in principle pleasure is only one element of it among others. But by stressing the child-bearing role of women, one valorizes the mother (Bouhdiba 1975/1985, p. 214).

Bouhdiba contends that the privileged yet closely circumscribed role of the mother in the Arab Muslim household, as well as the sharply gendered roles prescribed for adults, have created a cult of the mother that is the central dynamic in Muslim child-rearing and a cause of modal personality styles in "Arabo-Muslim" societies (ibid.). The corollaries of this basic personality structure include: unequal responsibility for control of one's passions, with the male allowed freer rein even as the female is blamed in instances of fornication; a mother-child bond that is the strongest tie in the society; and sharply contradictory expectations by the males reared in such households of women as both idealized nurturers and sex-objects. The mother-centered Arab household confronts the male child with a world of women he must eventually renounce, and many of the connotations of this early immersion in a society of mother, aunts, and sisters have erotic implications. The boy is taken to the hammam (public steam bath) by his mother, and Bouhdiba asserts that this and other experiences of physical intimacy with women leave a legacy of charged images that are evoked in the context of adult sexual activity, so that "the Arab woman is the queen of the unconscious even more than she is queen of the home or of night" (Bouhdiba 1975/1985, pp. 220-221). It is this primal, ambivalent, femaleness, we believe, that the adult male faces in the jinniya, `Aisha Qandisha, who possesses men and makes them her sexual slaves. Behind the idealized image of the pious and pure mother/sister is an antithetical fantasy of a fallen woman--lustful, seductive, and dangerous:

Arab man is still obsessed by the anti-wife whom he seeks in every possible form: dancer, film star, singer, prostitute, passing tourist, neighbour, etc. The dissociation of the ludic and the serious examined above still continues, then, and acts as a stumbling block to the sexual emancipation not only of women but also of men (Bouhdiba 1975/1985, p. 243).

The contemporary societies of North Africa, in Bouhdiba's view, are experiencing a sexual and religious crisis, as women seek to move beyond the traditional roles assigned them, and men resist this change:

Today Arab woman is striving to renounce the illusory kingdom of the mothers and is aspiring to an affirmative, positive rule, rather than a mythopoeic one. ... She is determined to affirm her ability to give. ... I give love, therefore I am. ... And yet there is a curious ambiguity inherent in the concept of female emancipation, as if the partners could be dissociated from the question, as if one could emancipate oneself alone! As if Arab man were not alienated by his own masculinity! (Bouhdiba 1975/1985, p. 239)

The Moroccan sociologist Fatima Mernissi has written several important works on gender differences in contemporary Moroccan society and the relation of these to Muslim history and modern political and economic conditions. In an argument similar to Bouhdiba's, she argues that gender politics are rooted in Islam and deeply revealing of the political issues facing North African society today:

The conservative wave against women in the Muslim world, far from being a regressive trend, is on the contrary a defense mechanism against profound changes in both sex roles and the touchy subject of sexual identity. The most accurate interpretation of this relapse into "archaic behaviors," such as conservatism on the part of men and resort to magic and superstitious rituals on the part of women, is as anxiety-reducing mechanisms in a world of shifting, volatile sexual identity (Mernissi, 1975/1987, pp. xxvii-xxviii).

Mernissi argues that, in contrast to Muslim praise of legitimate sexual pleasure, conjugal intimacy threatens the believer's single-minded devotion to God, and hence the loving couple is dangerous to religious society. While Bouhdiba asserted that the true basis of Islam is a unity through love (whether attainable or not), Mernissi concludes that "the entire Muslim social structure can be seen as an attack on, and a defence against, the disruptive power of female sexuality" (1975/1987, p. 44). Mernissi develops this argument from the concept of fitna or "chaos" (lit., temptation, enchantment), frequently applied to fornication, which she contends is embodied in women's erotic potential, so that society maintains its equilibrium only by controlling women's behavior. From the time of the Prophet on, Mernissi argues, males have felt the need to veil and seclude women and to surround sexual activity with rule in order to keep men safe from the seductive potential of women. The emphasis on female sexuality as the force that drives erotic relations for both partners in heterosexual encounters accords well with our reading of the role of magic and possession in love affairs. The male is anxious about his powerful longings for physical intimacy and the loss of autonomy it implies, and he projects desire onto the female, casting her as the agent of unrestrainable lust.

The Arab poetics of love: Layla and Majnun

In an influential work on the origins of Western European romantic discourse, Rougement argued that the seminal tradition of courtly lyrical poetry in 12th century France owed its origins to the confluence of Persian Manicheanism and Middle Eastern Sufi rhetoric transmitted by Muslim Spain (Rougement, 1954, pp. 102-107). These Eastern sources of romantic imagery and practice drew on Arabian models in the qasidas (odes) of Imru' al-Qays and other oral poets of the late pre-Islamic period (Sells, 1989), and this native Arab romanticism is a well-spring of passionate language for modern society, with sources at least as deep as those of Western Europe. A thousand years before Romeo was moved by the radiance from Juliet’s window, the oral poets of Arabia rhapsodized about the qualities of the remembered belovéd.

The most persistent and evocative of the early Arabic romantic stories has probably been that of the star-crossed lovers, Layla and Qays/Majnun, whose unconsummated passion has inspired both the scholarly and the popular imagination of the Arab world for many centuries. The legend of Layla and Majnun probably has pre-Islamic roots. The earliest recorded version is that of Ibn Qutayba (d. 889), and a variety of anecdotes attributed to the love-crazed poet were recorded in the ninth and tenth centuries A.D. (Khairallah, 1980, p. 49). The early sources attribute to Majnun a variety of poetic fragments also credited to other poets, including all those that mention a female beloved named Layla (from the Arabic l-y-l, night) (Khairallah, 1980, p. 53). Arab and Western scholars are divided on whether there was an actual Qays bin al-Mulawwah, of the Beni 'Amir tribe, who lived in the seventh Christian (first Muslim) century. In any case, the verses attributed to him passed from the oral tradition to a more or less stabile text when they were compiled a century later (Khairallah, 1980, pp. 60-61). By 1245 A.D. a written corpus of Qays/Majnun's poetry existed, and this and other versions are widely read today. In later centuries the story of Majnun and Layla was adopted and expanded by the Persian sufi poets Jami and Nizami; and it has retained a fond place in the popular imagination of both Arab and non-Arab Muslims. The modern Egyptian poet Ahmad Shawqi (d. 1932) wrote a a verse tragedy "Majnun and Layla," and an immensely popular version in song was created by the Egyptian composer/singer Abdel Wahab, and this is still widely played and sung on Arabic radio stations.

The story itself, as recounted by Ibn Qutayba, has two children, Qays and Layla, of neighboring clans, growing up together in the proud herding culture of Arabia. The two meet as children and, each being perfect in beauty and grace, fall immediately in love:

I fell in love with Layla when she was a heedless child,
when no sign of her bosom has yet appeared to playmates.
Two children guarding the flocks. Would that we never
had grown up, nor had the flocks grown old!
(Khairallah, 1980, p. 136)

Qays begins to compose poetry to Layla, but she is unwilling to respond in public to his praise of her beauty, and her family is shamed by this broadcasting of love. Qays becomes as one possessed by jnun, the usually invisible beings who share the earth with humans, and he is thereafter known as "Majnun," possessed. He tears off his clothes and lives alone in the desert with his poetry, and he will converse only with those who ask him of Layla. All attempts to mediate between the two families and arrange a marriage fail, and Qays/Majnun spends his life as a wandering mendicant, communing not with the real, but with the imagined Layla:

You kept me close until you put a spell on me
and with words that bring the mountain-goats down to the plains.
When I had no way out, you shunned me,
But you left what you left within my breast.
(Khairallah, 1980, p. 136)

Majnun's poetry is itself the source of his estrangement from Layla, in the sense that her parents object to the notoriety it brings them through her--and Layla herself is described as complaining of Majnun's poetical divulgence of the secret of their love (Khairallah, 1980, p. 65). Khairallah argues that in the Arabic tradition from which the Majnun corpus springs, "love and madness are pretexts for poetry" (1980, p. 66). Majnun's love-torment may therefore be seen as drawing on his poetic gift, since a talent for poetry is associated with a tendency to powerful cathartic emotion, and with possession by a creative daemon. Madness is also a metaphor for passion, however, and it may be “feigned in order to claim inspiration and total bewitchment by the muse of love and poetry” (ibid.). Not only is the actual Layla of the legend portrayed as the natural stimulus for Majnun's passion, but her name is used in incantatory verses reminiscent of Sufi dikr, in which chanted repetitions of evocative syllables induced a meditative trance analogous to that of the Prophet Mohammed when he received each part of the Quran. The powerful need to divulge the message received in poetic form through such cathartic experience has remained a feature of popular practice in many parts of the Arab world, and a recourse to poetry for expression of the strongest and most personal feelings is characteristic of many traditional Arab men and women (cf. Abu-Lughod).

The love of Majnun for Layla is fated, inexorable, transforming, and undying, and it is compared to a magical spell under which he labors and by which he is inspired:

She's Magic; yet for magic one finds a talisman,
and I can never find someone to break her spell.
(Khairallah, 1980, p. 74)

Majnun’s passion for Layla has been represented in each era of Arab and Persian writing. For the 13th century philosopher Ibn 'Arabi, as for other Sufi writers, Majnun's love is represented as ultimately transcending the real, physical Layla to attain a mystical union with her idealized form (Khairallah, 1980, p. 78). From the earliest of the verses ascribed to him, Khairallah argues, it is "difficult to draw a demarcation line in Majnun's poetry between the erotic and the mystical, or between the profane and the sacred" (ibid, p. 81.). For a thousand years this tragic love story has inspired Arabic-speakers, and millions can quote a stanza or two of Majnun's poetry, such as his reaction to finding himself one night at the camp of Layla's people:

I pass by the house, the dwelling of Layla
and I kiss this wall and that wall.
It's not love of the dwelling that empassions my heart
but of she who dwells in the dwelling.

The examples we present below of love and romantic longing come from a society geographically and temporally distant from the Arabia of Qays and Layla, but one in which romantic love is still extolled, and men are still possessed and obsessed as a consequence of passion.

Zawiya, the community in which we have heard most of the examples of passion and obsessive love that follow, is an Arabic-speaking town of roughly 12000 in the Rharb, an agricultural region of northern Morocco. We have been interested in Zawiya for over 25 years, and one or both of us has visited every year or two. In 1982 we spent a year in Zawiya as part of the Harvard Adolescence Project, conducting fieldwork on adolescence (cf. Davis & Davis, 1989). We observed family dynamics and child-rearing practices and interviewed over 100 young residents of Zawiya about a variety of topics, including love, marriage, and sexuality. In 1984, susan returned and recorded open-ended interviews with twenty adolesents, and in 1989-90 she recorded young adults in Zawiya and in Rabat (the Moroccan capital) their beliefs and experiences concerning love and marriage.

The Demon Lover: `Aisha Qandisha

One sort of love-possession seen in Morocco is of a less poetic sort than experienced by Majnun, but its sufferers are described with the same epithet--"majnun," possessed by jnun. Experience of the jnun, invisible beings with whom humans share the earth, is pervasive in Morocco. Crapanzano, whose work on the ethnopsychiatry of possession in Morocco is the best in English, has presented several examples of possession by the most distinctive of these beings, the jinniya (singular female of jnun) `Aisha Qandisha (Crapanzano 1973, 1975, 1977). Capable of appearing in visible human form, she is the most commonly named of the jnun, who are most often referred to generically. Males are the usual victims of Lalla (Lady) `Aisha, as she will often be called to avoid the risk of explicitly naming her. She dwells near wells and water-courses and may appear either as a seductive and attractive woman or as a hideous hag. If the victim does not notice her cow or goat feet and plunge an iron knife into the ground, he will be struck (mdrub) and inhabited by her (mskun). He is then likely to become impotent or to lose interest in human women, and he may suffer a variety of physical or psychological effects unless and until his possession is brought under control by the intervention of one of the popular Moroccan curing groups. Although there are many of these in all parts of Morocco, the Hamadsha (cf. Crapanzano, 1973) are the group particularly concerned with possession by `Aisha Qandisha. Members of the Hamadsha are found in most neighborhoods of northern Morocco. They are likely to have themselves been possessed by `Aisha Qandisha or other jnun before joining the group, and they have learned to alleviate the effects of possession by means of distinctive trance-inducing musical performances and sacrificial rituals. Several of the accounts we have heard in Zawiya of males overwhelmed by sexual or romantic problems were attributed to possession by `Aisha Qandisha or other of the jnun, and several of these have been successfully treated by Hamadsha performances.

In a detailed account of Hamadsha history and practice recounted for Douglas in 1982, a Hamadsha member from Zawiya attributed the central role of `Aisha Qandisha in Hamadsha belief and curing to the fact that the jinniya had fallen in love with one of the patron saints of the Hamadsha, Sidi (saint) `Ahmed Dhughi, several hundred years ago. Sidi Ahmed was inspired to play the flute and drum of the Hamadsha, and women heard him and fell instantly in love. The attitude of the Hamadsha toward Qandisha is ambivalent. On the one hand she is seen as the source of the suffering they and their clients experience and which draws them to the Hamadsha music and trance. Yet many of the terms used to refer to her connote respect or deference, and this does not in every case seem to be a mere attempt to evade her wrath. And just as the jnun number among themselves Muslims and unbelievers, those influenced by `Aisha Qandisha and other jnun may be seen as good and pious people, spoken of as struck by "clean" `Aisha, or as derelict, violent persons transgressing against Islam, and hence stuck by "dirty" `Aisha (cf. Davis, unpublished).

Crapanzano notes that the language of possession offers the sufferer a collective symbolism for experiences of problems of sexuality, marriage, or family responsibility. Males who are unable to carry out expected roles of suitor, husband, or family provider may undergo an experience of possession by `Aisha Qandisha, whose emotional demands and jealous interference with relations with human women externalize the apparent psychological conflict. Both Crapanzano's published accounts of possession by `Aisha Qandisha and those we have heard frequently involve possession after a failed love affair, an estrangement from a spouse, or the death of a family member.

Tajj: An example of love-obsession

Milder forms of suffering caused by failed or unrequited love are often attributed not to the jnun explicitly but to magical influence, as in a case recounted to Douglas in 1982. The young man described, N., was a friend of our friend and research assistant, Hamid Elasri. The first meeting with him occurred on one of the long night-time walks around Kabar, a small city near Zawiya, during the Ramadan fast--a time when many people stay awake much of the night after breaking the day-long fast with a heavy meal, and walk about town visiting with friends. N. called out to Hamid, and they had a brief conversation on a street-corner, agreeing to meet to talk later in the evening. Hamid gave the following account of N.'s troubles:

N., who was about 24 years old in 1982, had been engaged khotbato a girl for several years. They were both elementary teachers in a nearby large city. He wanted to break the engagement, but he was both worried about the dowry money he would have to repay and afraid of the magic [suhur] he believed her family had put on him. He believed they put something in his food which caused him to be obsessed [tajj] with the girl. He also became impotent, and he found himself giving a lot of money to her family. What money he had left he was increasingly spending for wine to try to forget her. The girl's family were apparently pressing him to turn over his entire salary to them. He told his father about this, who took him to a fqi--a man with Quranic and practical religious training. The latter examined his hand [muhalla] and wrote something there as a means of telling the subject's current situation and future, said N. had indeed been the victim of magic, and performed some counterspells.

Like other accounts of which we heard concerning infatuation, there is an assumption here that the feelings of love are overwhelming and pathological, and that they imply supernatural influence. Blame for the male's inability to deal with his love reasonably, or to put it aside, is laid on the female beloved (and her family). N.'s father intervenes on his behalf, calling on the white magical powers of a fqi to counter the black magic of the girl's family. A few days later, Hamid and Douglas met N. in another town, and he said he was enroute to visit relatives. Hamid assumed, however, that N. was in fact going to visit a nearby beach resort, where we had just seen the brother of his fiancée, but that he had been ashamed to admit this evidence of how obsessed he still was. The following week, near the end of Ramadan Douglas had occasion to talk with N., whom we met on another night-time walk. He asked about Douglas's interest in Moroccan psychology, and pointedly asked what he thought about the problems that arise when a man and woman in the same line of work marry, as is the case with him and his fiancée as newly trained primary teachers. N.’s problem had not resolved itself when we left Morocco at the end of the year.

N.'s inability to reconcile himself to marriage to his fiancée, despite his obsession with her, is a more extreme form of a male love-dilemma of which Douglas heard repeatedly. The male finds a young woman toward whom he is powerfully drawn sexually and emotionally, but either there are powerful obstacles--often in the form of family opposition or limited economic resources--in the way of a marriage. Gradually the man grows suspicious or hostile toward the woman, and he begins to expect or experience physical and emotional symptoms he attributes to magical influence. Moroccan popular culture is permeated with the concepts of magical influence and poisoning, although suspected instances are treated with circumspection by the concerned parties out of fear of the uncanny.

Romance, love, and marriage in Morocco

Many changes are occurring in Morocco today. While the population was mainly rural in the 1960s, it is now about equally rural and urban. Public education barely existed before Morocco became independent from France in 1956, while today all children should attend at least primary school. Although this goal is still being pursued in remote rural areas, in cities nearly all children attend. Many young people attend high school, while few parents did; in the mixed classes, young people have a chance to meet. Marriages in earlier generations were mainly alliances arranged between families, to which the young people were supposed to agree. Today many of the young, especially males, select a potential mate and request their parents' approval. Girls too may have someone in mind, but it is not culturally acceptable for them to make such suggestions.

These trends were apparent in the semi-rural town of Zawiya, where we carried out research on adolescence in 1982 (Davis and Davis 1989). When we asked 100 adolescents who should select a marriage partner, 64% of the girls and 55% of the boys said the parents should choose. Older youth, and those with more years of education, were more likely to want to make the choice themselves. Among a smaller number of their older siblings, about half chose their own spouse, but only one fourth of the adolescents said they wanted to do so (1989:126).

When we pressed him for estimates about the frequency of pure love marriages, Hamid suggested that 5% in his experience marry for love, 30% through family arrangement, and another 20-30% when forced by legal or family pressure after the girl became pregnant.

This conversation grew out of Hamid's recounting of the story of A., a Zawiya friend whom he and Douglas were planning to visit at a beach resort where he was vacationing away from his estranged wife. He had married a beautiful local young woman who had been previously married off by her family to an older Moroccan man in France. The first husband divorced her a year later, when she hadn't produced a child. She became pregnant by A., and her family pressured his family to arrange a wedding. After the marriage, A.'s mother increasingly put down the bride, and she would become angry, catching A. in the middle. A. was in the process of divorcing the wife, because he couldn't fight his mother. He still loved the wife, who bore his child after they separated.

Hamid and Douglas found A. at the beach resort, and spent an evening with him listening to Arabic and Western music and talking about life and love. A. was intensely preoccupied with his wife, and he had spent much of his vacation week at the resort listening to romantic music and dreaming about her. He was fond of Elvis Presley's song, "Buttercup," with its vivid imagery of the palpitations of passion:

When I'm near the girl that I love the best
My heart beats so it scares me to death.
I'm proud to say that she's my buttercup
I'm in love, I'm all shook up.

The Arabic song to which A. was especially devoted at this time was a poignant piece by the popular female singer Fathet Warda. It's refrain, a drawn-out "You have no thought [of me],"ma'andikshshifikara, seemed to A. to capture the feeling his wife must be having for him, and made him realize how he longed for her. A few months later, A. and his wife were reconciled.

Zawiya attitudes toward marriage

To better understand young people's feelings on who should choose a spouse, we devised a marriage dilemma that we discussed late in 1982 with twelve young women and three young men who were especially comfortable talking to us. We said there was a couple who loved each other and wanted to get married, but the parents were opposed. We had to stress that they were really in love, because there is an expectation that a young man may declare his love just to convince a girl to spend time with him; this is a semi-rural setting where dating is disapproved. When we asked what the couple should do, eight people said they should follow the parents’ wishes, and six that they should pursue what the couple wants, but in a way to reach a compromise and make it socially acceptable, including entreating relatives to convince the parents. Only one young man, aged 18 and in high school, said that the couple's wishes were clearly more important than those of the parents.

If that boy gets married to the girl he likes, they will certainly live happily. Because money is not happiness; happiness is something the heart feels. The boy must have the feeling that the girl likes him. This is why I say that if the boy is hooked on a girl and he truly loves her, he should go and propose to marry her no matter what she's like. It is not the father who should choose for the son a girl he doesn't like. It is the son who should decide what he likes. ... It is not the father who is getting married.

A more typical response was that of a young woman of nineteen who had attended primary school.

She should follow her parents' decision. Parents come first. ... If she goes against their wishes it will be her own reponsibility. She'd be ungrateful [literally, cursed by them], very much so. If she marries him against their will, she'll face a catastrophe, an accident or something--or even death, some kind of death. They may have an accident or something--she shouldn't. Her parents told her not to marry him: she shouldn't marry him, period. ... Since she has grown up, [her parents] have taken good care of her: they clothe her, give her money, provide for her needs. Whatever she asks for they provide, and then at the end they give an opinion and she rejects it. This is not possible; it is not admissible that she doesn't accept that advice.

Like many others, she notes the respect due to parents, and fears negative consequences of disobedience. Others said more specifically that if they married against parental wishes, they would have no support in marital disputes, and nowhere to return to in case of divorce.

This young woman's response reflects both a social conformity and a practicality in matters of the heart that we found in most young women, single and married, semi-rural and urban. We have noted elsewhere that young women in Morocco develop a sense of socially responsible behavior (`aql) sooner than their male counterparts (Davis and Davis, 1989, p. 49), and this is reflected in their attitudes toward romance. While Douglas heard several tales of young men's infatuations and longing, Susan heard very little to suggest that young women had similar experiences. They did have romantic encounters, and did care for the young men, but not as totally and intensely as the young men--or it was not apparent in the way they spoke. Furthermore, they nearly always had a practical eye open to the consequences of their relationships, which could be social censure, but that they hoped would be marriage.

Young women's personal experiences of love

When girls discussed magical influences on them related to love, they usually mentioned a spell cast to keep them from marrying, not something done by a male who wanted to possess them. Only a few young women talked about love in a way that approached the kind of intensity described in early and current Arabic songs and poetry, and which Douglas encountered in young men. One case was that of Amina, a Zawiya woman in her twenties with a primary education.

A girl has to go through a period of intense attachment (rabta). The girl feels a great love for a boy. They start talking, kidding around. She starts learning new things [from him]. They exchange thoughts. The girl starts to become aware of things [lit. awakens].

Amina notes that it is all right for couples to have such interactions now, though discreetly, and how things have changed.

In the past it wasn't right. It was shameful for a boy to talk to a girl. A boy would have one week to ask for a girl's hand and marry her ten or fifteen days later. He only gets a good look at her when she moves into his house.

Amina describes her own experience of romance:

A boy will tell you "I trust you. I care for you...If I don't see you for just half a day I go crazy; it seems to me I haven't seen you for a year." And at that time the boy does have feelings. He cares for you. Truly. Powerfully. But he doesn't have any money [to marry], and you just keep sacrificing yourself for him, talking to him, laughing with him. And you lose your value [reputation]--and your family's. Okay, people see you together, but you say, "They don't matter to me. Because even if I'm standing with him, he'll marry me, God willing."

And finally, he doesn't marry you - how do you feel? It feels like a calamity, like a "psychological complex." You feel angry at home, and you're always upset, because you don't trust anyone, even your parents. You sacrificed yourself for that boy, talking to him even in public.... (Davis and Davis 1989, p. 123).

Notice that Amina repeats the boy's intense statements, but not her own. She clearly felt strongly about him, both risking her reputation to be seen with him in public, and evidenced by her condition after they broke off. But is the core of her concern lost love or a lost opportunity for marriage? Which was it that motivated her to take the risks of which she was clearly aware?

Another young woman reports romantic experiences close to what Douglas heard from young men, but still with somewhat less intensity, and, certainly, an awareness of the consequences of her actions. When we spoke Jamila was married and in her twenties. She had grown up in a small town but now lived with her husband in the city where she had attended the university.

Jamila describes a typical way of couples getting together, something she first experienced around fifteen:

There were guys who followed me, but I did not feel anything towards them. Nothing; I had no reaction to them. They were classmates, but I never thought of having a relationship with any of them. And when anyone wrote me a letter telling me about his feelings toward me, I thought it was humiliating; I thought he just wanted to make fun of me and take advantage of me. I got mad at him and wouldn't talk to him anymore.

At sixteen, one young man who had been just a friend became something more. She found herself

wishing to be near Karim. I used to hope to meet him all the time, and I started desiring kissing and hugging him. That was because when I was near him, I used to feel very relaxed; I felt a great pleasure at being near him. Also, when I was going out with him, I tried everything possible to meet him. When he told me to meet him at night, I would go out at night, even when it was dark...I used to tell [my mother] that I was going to study with Naima...

Yes, he taught me a bit of courage. When we were together, he told me about a movie he had seen or a book he had read. Sometimes he kissed me, but when he wanted to sleep with me, I couldn't accept. I wouldn't let him. I never had sex with Karim...I used to tell myself "If I sleep with him, I will stop liking him." That was my idea; I don't know why. ... I used to have worries. I knew there was the possibility of getting pregnant. The other possibility was that he would lose control and then I would lose my virginity.

While she gives practical reasons for avoiding sex, Jamila also describes the ideal of platonic love a bit later.

Emotions are strong in youth. I think that if I had slept with Karim, I wouldn't have remained so attached to him. ... That's called platonic love. In platonic love, however, there are no kisses, no sexual relations, nothing. One loves a girl and they know they love each other, but they don't meet. Our love was in a way ideal. If we had slept together, we probably wouldn't have stayed--I personally still feel attached to him and still think about him. I don't know about his feelings.

The relationship finally ended after about four years. Yet even in its midst, Jamila was not entirely carried away.

I also used to tell myself that because of the problems with Karim and his family, I was certainly not going to remain with him a long time. Despite my love for him, our relationship was doomed to stop. I was always afraid of the future. ... There was no hope.

Partly because of this, and for other practical reasons, in spite of her love she refuses Karim's offer to take things into their own hands and elope.

Once he suggested I run away with him. ... I said no. I didn't want to do that. I told myself that even if I had run away with him, I would have had to go home sometime, and they would have refused to take me. I was worried that it would hurt my father and be embarrassing to him. My family gave me a certan freedom to go wherever I wanted to. They didn't ask me for anything as long as I passed my exams at the end of the year, They also used to buy me whatever I wanted. So in the end, I just couldn't leave. It didn't make sense. ... But any day I wanted to meet [Karim], I did.

Other young women described marrying their husbands because they loved them, but in a matter-of-fact rather than passionate way. Qasmiya is a small-town woman in her twenties, married for three years. She describes the process of her marriage to a husband she cares for. It provides a good example of the results many traditional young women (she has a primary education) hope for when they venture to interact with men in an environment where dating is not accepted.

I met him one day when I went out to the country...he was working. He said "Hey, girl," and I said "Yes." He said "Would you knit me a sweater?" and I replied "When you are ready, I'll knit for you." One day I was passing by, and he was on his way to visit his friend, our neighbor's son. ... He asked his friend, "Does this girl live here" and the other said yes. He asked, "Can I speak with you?" I answered, "If it is something serious, I will speak with you, but if you are going to take advantage of me and then abandon me...." I spoke with him over about fifteen days, and then he came: he brought his family and came to propose officially. He proposed quickly, I mean, we didn't wait long...When I spoke with him, I found what I wanted. I talked with my mother. I told her there is a guy who wants to come and propose to me. I told my mother because it is not proper to tell my father such a thing. I told my sister first. ... and she told my mother.... I said, "I don't speak with him, but they are coming to propose," and his sisters and family came and my parents agreed.... When I spoke with him, I knew that he is good. He has a white heart; he is not nasty. From his warmth, I knew that he is good. He buys me clothes, gets things [presents] for me. ... My husband takes good care of me; I mean, we assist each other. He loves me. ... I mean, I show my pride in him to my girlfriends and he shows his pride in me to his boyfriends.

Another young matron says she married her husband because she loved him, but her description is hardly rhapsodic; her concern with the practical is evident. She was in her twenties and had completed high school, and been married and living in a medium-sized town for about three years when we spoke. She had met her husband in his office.

At the beginning, I was not sure that he was a good man. I married him because I loved him, that's all. You cannot know if he's good. I used to speak with him on the phone. ... because in [a small town] I couldn't meet him--impossible. Someone could see us and tell my father or something or tell my family.... He is serious. Before marriage I wasn't sure about that. I couldn't know, because you have to live with someone; it's life that lets you know if a person is good. I found out that he is serious from what people say and from what I see. Since I don't work, I rely on him for many things.

An urban young woman near thirty said she had been through two "shocks" or crises before she married her current husband at twenty six. Although she didn't go into detail, the crises involved men she didn't marry. She met her husband through relatives, and married him after three months. She was currently working and taking university courses, and had two small children.

I had decided to marry him, and to convince my parents if it was necessary. ... I had experienced a shock in my life, and it affected me. I said "I might find a husband, or I might not;" I got sort of a complex.... [One] was frivolous: he used to date many girls and lie, and my husband was not like that. So I was attracted to him and said, "Anyway, he won't lie to me or take advantage of me."

Marriage for me must be founded on love; one cannot marry someone without love--impossible. Then one has children and they become everything to you; you have to raise them. That is marriage for me, hapiness. There are ups and downs, of course, but with love you can surpass them, you can make sacrifices.

Farida, an urban teacher and graduate student of thirty who is still single discussed her problems in finding the right man, and her family's reactions.

Everybody in my family is upset; my mother wasn't, but now she is. There is a problem: it's really unbelievable. ... I'm a little concerned, but not in the same way as my family. I'm concerned because I cannot find a perfect match. I've been meeting young men, but I haven't been satisfied....

At the beginning I say, "This is the man of my life," but when we talk and become more intimate I get another picture of him. I dislike every one for a different reason. I don't want to marry for marriage's sake, just to have children and a family. I want someone who shares my studies, my interests. I want something besides marriage and home, something that would link us more...I may be wrong, because everybody says that you can't find a perfect match....

They say in my family "You must marry a rich man, someone who has a car".... In my family they don't insist on his youth or good looks. No, what is important is that he has money.

Although Farida disapproves of marriages based on material concerns, she says the family has much influence with such demands. She describes a friend of hers who loved a young man and had a good relationship, but he was not rich. In the end the girl decided she wanted a more comfortable life, and did not marry him.

Susan encountered a similar view in a discussion with a Moroccan social scientist in his early thirties. She said that she thought marriage in Morocco was changing, and that while in the past it was an alliance between families based largely on economic considerations, today romantic love between the partners was more involved. He said no, it was almost the opposite. In the past, money wasn't that important, but today, if a young man didn't wear a suit and have a car, a young woman wouldn't consider him, even if she cared for him.

Conclusion

Thus the experience of romance in Morocco differs for males and females. Both sexes today hope to marry someone with whom they are compatible (mutafehemin; literally, they understand each other). But females rarely seem to experience the same intensity of romantic passion as males. This may be partly because they are less likely to report such feelings to anyone but their best friend, given the still-functioning ideal of female purity. However, their socialization to behave responsibly from an early age, the myraid warnings of sexual dangers, and the practical importance of forming a stable marriage all encourage young women not to rely only on their feelings. Young men as children are more likely to be given whatever they want, and expect similar indulgence in adulthood. The involvement of families in marriage decisions serves to temper some of their impulses, and the objects, the young women themselves are perhaps the best insurance against terrible mistakes.



morocco culture,moroccan food,morocco food,moroccan cuisine,morocco beaches,moroccan meal,beaches in morocco,moroccan culture,hercules cave,hercules cave morocco

How to Shop in a Morocco Souk ?

How to Shop in a Morocco Souk?
Even if shopping isn’t among your favorite activities, browsing in Morocco’s lively souks is a worthwhile cultural experience. And if you happen to enjoy shopping, then you’re really in for a treat—imagine colorful, regional handicrafts from floor to ceiling and artful displays of culinary delights. Either way, it is helpful to know what to expect before joining the clamor.

A souk is an open-air market. Many travelers tend to associate “souk” with the winding alleyways of the expansive and historic medinas in Fes and Marrakesh. While these two UNESCO World Heritage Sites are among Morocco’s iconic attractions, the neighborhood souks in large cities often offer similar goods and better prices. Many big city souks are open seven days a week, though most have limited hours on Fridays and weekends.


morocco culture,moroccan food,morocco food,moroccan cuisine,morocco beaches,moroccan meal,beaches in morocco,moroccan culture,hercules cave,hercules cave morocco

Morocco '10 - Sixth Form Expedition to the High Atlas and Sahara

Morocco '10 - Sixth Form Expedition to the High Atlas and Sahara

During the summer holiday ten members of the Sixth Form, with Mr and Mrs Bacon and Mr Roe, spent a fortnight in the mountains and desert of Morocco. The physical aims of the expedition were to traverse the Central High Atlas range from north to south, climbing Jebel Mgoun (4,068m) and exploring the Tessaout Gorge en route, to continue south to sample the northern Sahara, and to explore Marrakech.

Absolutely nothing but the flights was booked in advance, so the immediate tasks on landing at Marrakech were to find transport from the airport to the centre of town, to establish a base in Marrakech for the first night, to arrange onward transport to the mountains and to buy enough food for thirteen people to remain self-sufficient for a week on trek. This was all achieved with good humour and efficiency despite the 0300 start from school and the oppressive heat of Marrakech in late July.

We secured transport to the hills and a recommendation for accommodation for our first night in the mountains and, better still, a mountain guide and muleteers for our trek. By the time we bedded down for our first night in Morocco under the stars on a roof terrace overlooking the colourful and noisy Djemaa el-Fna, the hub of ancient Marrakech, with its snake charmers, monkey trainers, acrobats, fortune-tellers and so on, the expedition was ready to go.

The journey east from Marrakech via the provincial centre of Azilal to the Ait Bougoummez Valley took six hours.

Good roads to Azilal gave way to an increasingly tortuous and narrow route through the mountains and finally a dirt track to our jumping off point at the remote village of Ikhf-n-Ighir. Worthy of note, given the nature of the road, was the impressive safety and care of our driver.

At Ikhf-n-Ighir we were well fed and comfortable in a mud-brick village house. The following day, having met our guide and seven muleteers and their beasts, we set off on a delightful walk through the lush orchards and fertile fields, set between arid, steep and towering rock walls on either side of the valley.

Leaving the valley, we trekked upwards beyond the villages and into the high summer pastures grazed by large flocks of sheep and goats, passing the seasonal shelters of their Berber shepherds.

After a wild camp overnight, the second day saw us climbing into an increasingly inhospitable, waterless landscape, over two high passes and down onto the Tarkeddit Plateau, a remarkably beautiful grassy plain quite hidden amid the high mountains.

We rose from sleep on the Tarkeddit Plateau at 0300, stiff from cold and not a little intimidated by the task ahead – a nine hour round trip to the summit of Jebel Mgoun and back. But off we set, upwards into a black and freezing night, our way lit by head-torches. The first warming rays of sun welcomed us to the crater rim as we arrived three hours after setting off from camp and from there it was a magnificent walk for two hours along the sharp edges of the two adjoining craters to the summit. The highest point as far as the eye could see, Mgoun afforded fabulous Atlas views as well as a prospect of the beginnings of the Sahara to the south.

The following day we traversed a remarkable landscape of incredible rock formations, passing the Berber summer camps, some of them occupying caves in the rock walls. We descended along a path hanging over a precipitous gorge and camped by a small farmhouse near the entrance to the Tessaout Gorge. We spent a day exploring the gorge with its impressive 2,000ft flanks and multiple river crossings – up via the path and back along the riverbed.

There followed two demanding days following the Tessaout River from village to village to reach the end of the trek. On the final day we visited Megdaz, a Berber village built into the hillside and celebrated for its impressive architecture and ancient buildings, some of them medieval.

When we reached our transport on the road at Ait Alla, we left our excellent guide, Hamid, and our team of muleteers and drove south to Ouazazarte, where we found a half comfortable hotel with a pool – untold luxury after the rigours of the mountains. That night we celebrated our success in the High Atlas with a wonderful poolside team dinner. Pressing on in the morning, we pushed south along the Draa Valley on the ‘route of the Kasbahs’ – the old trade route form Marrakech to Timbuktu - to Zagora in the northern Sahara. Here it was impressively hot and in the relative cool of the evening we hired camels and rode out into the desert to spend the night under the stars, sleeping on top of a sand dune and watching ‘Berber television’, the lively night sky.

Subsequently, on the long journey back to Marrakech we stopped off at the 11^thcentury Kasbah of Ait Benhaddou, now a well-used film set and world heritage site; and from there we crossed the Atlas via the almost impossibly engineered Tizi-n-Tichka road pass. Back in Marrakech we had a day to explore the souks and take in the atmosphere of this colourful and justly legendary ancient capital of Morocco, as well as take the much anticipated team hammam and end of expedition dinner.

This was a diverse and adventurous expedition and it was an outstanding team of sixth-formers who undertook the challenge: their team spirit and resilience were commendable and they were unfailingly good company throughout.

morocco culture,moroccan food,morocco food,moroccan cuisine,morocco beaches,moroccan meal,beaches in morocco,moroccan culture,hercules cave,hercules cave morocco