Clothing in Morocco

Are you gonna have to wear a burka? Are you gonna have to wear a head scarf? Do they wear normal clothes there like jeans? What are you gonna do when it gets hot?

These are all questions I received before coming to Morocco along with questions about the actual location of Morocco and general safety. Just to clear the air once and for all, the answer to the first two questions is no and no. There are only a very few Middle Eastern countries that require the wearing of the hijab or the burka. The two main examples are Saudi Arabia(burka/abaya) and Iran(hijab).

I know I was entirely ignorant of the many different styles of veiling before I came to Morocco. I thought there were two kinds; a full head to toe burka with a mesh screen over the eyes and just the head scarf. I was wrong, way wrong.

First, there is the khimar. A khimar is a long head scarf that wraps around the head, covers the neck, shoulders, and chest to just above the waist, but leaves the face uncovered. Khimar is also one of the two words used in the Quran to describe the practice of veiling by the Prophet Mohammed's wives, the word literally means to cover something, there is much debate about what the Quran is referring to when this word is used. Some say it is the literal covering or veiling of women, others say it is a metaphor.

The chador is a large semi circle piece of fabric that is thrown over top a woman's clothing. It is worn over the head and it drops down to her feet. There are no ties, buttons, or arm holes so the woman must hold it closed the entire time while wearing it. Traditionally, this would be accompanied by a long white face veil that was tied over the nose and mouth and would go down to the waist. This style, without the face veil, is most popular in Iran.

Two Meknessi women wearing the Hijab

The al-amira style is a two piece set. The first piece is a very tight fitting under scarf.The second is a scarf that already has the head hole sewn in and it is slipped over the under scarf. Because the under scarf is tight fitting and the over scarf is sewn together, this model is the easiest to slip on and keep on. It requires very little adjusting through out the day.

The shayla is your basic Hollywood style head scarf. The ends are either left loose down the back or if it is a shorter scarf they are tied. In the US, this would be called the Grace Kelly style. Some people do not believe this counts as veiling because the hair is still visible and they refer to this as the non-Muslim hijab. I can somewhat attest to this, as this is my favorite style and I have worn it many times and plan to continue this in the United States. It makes me feel all "old Hollywood glamour." But I have also seen many Muslim women wear this style, because the verses in the Quran are very vague, they have been interpreted many ways and it comes down to each woman's (or husband's, father's, brother's) interpretation of the text.

The woman in the middle is wearing a Moroccan Djellaba

The niqab and the burka are the most controversial of the styles and are wrongly assumed to be the most common style by people in Europe and the United States. There is some debate about what style a niqab actually is, but from what I have seen it most often refers to a style very similar to the khimar. The difference is in the length and in the face. The niqab goes all the way to the thigh or even to the knees and a long voluminous skirt or dress is worn underneath. The niqab also has a face veil that is tied, or has an elastic band, underneath and covers the nose and mouth. "Half-niqab" is a term used to describe just the face veil which can be worn separately with a regular head scarf.

The burka is the full lentgh cloak that covers the body from head to toe and has a mesh screen over the eyes. The term burka is sometimes used to refer to just the eye screen and face scarf, as this can be worn separately with a niqab or other covering. The full cloak with the eye covering is also referred to as an abaya. Abayas are the dress code in Saudi Arabia.

The hijab is the most common style. It wraps around the head and tucks up under the chin, covering the head, neck, and chest. Girls wear this style with everything; sweatshirts, sweaters, traditional garments, modern styles, everything.

Two girls wearing hijabs that match their modern outfits

Women in Morocco wear a mixture of modern and traditional clothing. Most do not wear the full burka, niqab, or chador. Some do, but its mostly older, rural, underprivileged or uneducated women. There is no legal mandate for women in Morocco to veil or to not veil, but there are many social implications. A woman who veils is seen as traditional, modest, marriage material, and religious. She is also old-fashioned and less likely to get a job. Women who do not veil are modern, empowered, and more likely to get hired for a job. They are also considered to be sexually promiscuous, not suitable for marriage, and have no morals. All these things impact a girl's decision to veil or to not veil, as well as her family and her own religious views. While there is no legal enforcement of veiling, often women still do not have a choice because of social and familial pressures.

Tiffany and Alyssa in takshitas for the Amerocco fashion show

The traditional Moroccan clothing is beautiful. The two main styles for women are djellabas and caftans. The djellaba is a long cloak with a hood. It usually has decorative buttons down the front, but doesn't have to. A caftan is similar to a djellaba, the main difference being that it does not have a hood. Caftans and djellabas come in every possible color and pattern combinations you could think of. Most women have two djellabas that they wear over their regular clothes. It acts as a quick modesty fix when you need to run out to the grocery store or anywhere else. Caftans come in many styles and there is a recent trend in designers to make modern versions of the caftan. One version of the caftan, called a takshita, is what women wear to weddings and other big celebrations. A takshita usually has two layers, a wide belt, and maybe a pair of pants, all very ornate and beautiful.

Hannah, in her takshita for her host-brother's wedding

Clothing styles for men also vary from traditional to modern, but from my experience, the differences seem to come with age. The trend for young guys seems to be jeans, a t-shirt, and a fake leather jacket. Middle aged men wear nice suits, or slacks with a button down. Older men wear the traditional men's djellaba which is long and white or cream with vertical stripes.

P.S. my apologies, the original post was much better, blogger has some issues and somehow the post got deleted. 

A Moroccan Wedding

A few weeks ago on a Saturday night, Tiffany, Alaina, and I attempted to go see Harry Potter at the French movie theater. When we got there, we discovered that the posted times were not correct and that we were over an hour late. We returned to the apartment, resigned to spending the night in. Tiffany and I were just surfing the internet when, an hour later, we got a phone call. "you have been invited to a Moroccan wedding, you have 10 minutes to get ready, tell your roommates." We stared at each other for about a second and then it was like a gun when off at the beginning of a race; we were running around, deciding what to wear, putting on make up and getting dressed. I ran into Alaina's room and informed her of the evening's event. She was engrossed in a Jane Austen novel and wasn't sure if she wanted to come. All I had to say was this may never happen again in her lifetime and she was off the bed and ready to go.

Alaina and I are wearing Djellabas, Tiffany hadn't bought one yet so she's in an American dress.

We met up with the group outside our apartment less than 10 minutes later. We were a site to see; around 15 white people all dressed up in our interpretations of Moroccan traditional clothing walking down the street in one big group. We were all very excited and we all had no idea what was going to happen.

Bride and Groom

The marriage was in the host family of two of our group members. They had been preparing for it pretty much since we arrived. Both of them actually went and bought takshitas, the formal caftan worn to celebrations. They are absolutely beautiful. Somewhere along the line, probably the day of, the host parents decided that the whole group could attend. So we all wore the nicest things we had in Morocco, although we didn't come close to the finery of these Moroccan women, for only having 10 minutes to get ready we looked pretty good.

Hannah, in her takshita

A Moroccan wedding lasts all day and is usually held in a rented riad. The bride has any where from 4 to 7 outfits changes, this bride only had 4. The entire time the bride and groom sit above the guests on a white throne. The entire family and all their friends sit around tables in the main courtyard of the riad. We missed part when the couple was actually proclaimed to be married, but I was told that they left the throne, went to a corner table, and quietly signed the paper work. Then an announcement was made to the whole room that they were married. We got there at about 10pm and dinner had not yet been served. There is normally 3 to 5 courses so you learn quickly to not eat everything put in front of you.

Bride in outfit 4, we missed 1 and 2

 The whole event lasted until about 3:30am. My roommates and I left around 2am. There was live musics, some of the women danced, everyone talked and ate, and the happy couple looked on from their thrown. In my opinion, the outfits and the venue might be different, but in the grand scheme of things it was very similar to a wedding anywhere else in the world.

The throne

Jazz singer

The big differences between a typical American wedding and a Moroccan wedding are the outfit changes, alcohol(there is none in an Islamic wedding) and the tea man.

I still do not have an explanation for this man. Whenever anyone asked the only response they got was "Oh, that's the tea man." He was dressed similarly to a traditional St. Nickolaus and he sat on this big plush red cushion in the corner in front of a tea set. He was smiling the entire time and in the 4 hours that I was there, he did not get up from his seat. This might just be one of the many mysteries of Morocco that I cannot figure out.

These two were very entertaining

They ran around the whole time. Her caftan was just a little too big so she tripped on it quite a bit

This little bungalow with some strange new friends

I have met many people since coming to Meknes and I will never forget them. Many of the fantastic people I have met are the other ISA students, there were 22 of us and I have fond memories of everyone. There are also the people who are from here who have become almost my support system. The little things they do, that I can depend on and they really brighten my day. I don't even know all their names.

Fatima is one the most amazing cooks I have ever met, and I come from a family of pretty amazing cooks. She comes to our apartment everyday, cooks our lunch, which is usually on the table and waiting for us when we get back from class. She also leaves us something small to heat up for dinner. She orders all our groceries and once a week she cleans up the apartment. She is super nice and friendly. I love coming home at lunch and having our language limited conversation everyday.

 Iman is one of the ISA Morocco directors. She is from Meknes and is a great help when we have questions about where to go or who to talk to. She is also a very good listener. She has this amazing quality, all she has to do is walk in the room and I feel comforted. She is like the mother of the group, she cares about us, she checks up on us, and genuinely wants to know how we are doing. I love getting a hug from Iman.

I call him "my Coca Cola guy." He runs this little news stand and at least once a week, I buy a coke from him. At some point, he started saving them for me in his special fridge behind the counter. Our conversations generally go like this:

Coca Cola guy: Coka? (derija for Coca Cola)
Me: Nam, shukran! (yes, thank you!)
Coca Cola guy: ala wajib (short form of no thanks necessary)
me: b'slama! (see you later!)

The simple fact that he already knows what I want when I walk up and has one waiting for me in the fridge makes me happy beyond belief.

Professor Bouzekri is one of the most powerful and inspiring women I have ever met. She is currently fighting in the beginning of Morocco's women's lib movement. She teaches my Three Religions, Three Peoples class about Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. She helped organized the women's poetry slam( Moroccan Feminist Poetry Slam) and the Amerocco event that I recently stage-managed. I would love to have the opportunity to get to know her on a more personal level. I want to know her life story, how she became this woman in a society that represses anything that doesn't conform.

Professor Zakaryae Arsalane is the best language instructor I have ever had and I have taken alot of language classes. He is an expert in applied linguistics, modern standard Arabic, French, and Derija( Moroccan dialect). He wrote a dictionary in Arabic for Arab medicine students who wish to learn medicine in Arabic instead of French of English. He recently visited the United States to speak at three different universities about his method of teaching Arabic. Two of them offered him jobs after hearing him speak. Qualifications aside, he is also very fatherly and protective of us. He really cares about how much we are learning and answers any question in complete detail until we fully understand. We all leave class with our heads swimming with Arabic knowledge. He's had us to his house for dinner and he frequently drives us home at lunch time. He's gotten to know all of us by asking us about our families, what do our parents do for a living, how many siblings do you have, where in the US do you live.

Zineb is on the left in the light pink shirt, Maroua is on the far right in all black

Along with Zakaryae, I have to talk about Maroua and Zineb. Maroua is Zakaryae's daughter and she is hilarious. She is maybe 13 years old and I met her when Zakaryae had us over to his house for dinner along with her best friend Zineb. They have both, since, friended me on Facebook and we chat frequently. Maroua found out that I had studied abroad in Germany in highschool and is now determined to visit me in the United States (hint hint Mom and Dad). She wants to go to highschool for a semester or a year, but so far we have been unsuccessful in finding an organization that offers programs to Moroccan students so she may just come for a summer vacation.

This is Mohammed, the guy who runs the teacher's cafe on campus. He chats with us all in Derija, French, or Arabic, making sure that we don't resort to English when we order coffee, orange juice, or snacks. He also generally knows what we each want when we walk in. He is also the reason behind my recent hard boiled egg addiction. He makes them every morning and they only cost one dirham each. One day, he made Meredith and I this sandwich that consisted of hard boiled eggs, laughing cow cheese, salt and cumin. It was amazing and I have repeated it at home several times now.

Professor Hamid is our adorable Derija Professor. He can remember exact days and dates when he met people over thirty years ago. He keeps every letter that has ever been sent to him. His wife is Russian, he met her when he was in college studying in the USSR. He has three sons, one of which is currently living in Germany. He recently had us over to his apartment for dinner and his wife made us a fantastic Russian/Moroccan meal. Hamid is also a very big germaphobe. Way back when we first got here, he warned me about drinking the fresh squeezed orange juice because it may not be clean. He also asked us not to sit on the ground because people often spit on the ground. He is constantly giving us compliments and telling us how much we mean to him. I am determined to write him a letter as soon as I get home.

This is our waiter at the Marilyn Cafe. Tiffany and I would go here, whenever our internet was down, to use the free wifi. After we came in every night for three nights, he knew us and what we each ordered. After about two weeks we had a friendly little routine. We don't go in as often now that we have bought wifi sticks, but when we do, he is still happy to see us.

Alaina Schultz is one of my three housemate. She lives on an island in Washington. She has this amazing head of long blond hair and a huge smile. She is fully entertained by nature and animals, especially owls. She writes a fantastically touching blog (Alaina's Blog). We have had a great many wonderful conversations and I look forward to keeping in touch with her. We have already established that we will be invited to each others' weddings in the distant future and gone further to decide what we each will be wearing.

Tiffany is my roommate whom you have all already heard a lot about(check out her blog too! Tiffany's Blog). We were friends almost instantly way back in Granada when we first arrived. She is from a farm in South Dakota, one of the few Midwesterners on the trip. From our long list of conversations, it is clear that we have had very similar upbringings(midwestern values don't ya know) and that our parents would get along smashingly well. She has two brothers, who both want her to bring them monkeys and camels home. We went to Ireland together for Spring break and it was a hilarious time. This summer she has an internship in DC and I hope to see her on her way home to South Dakota at the end. Both Alaina and Tiffany have made this trip. I do not think it would have been the same without them and I do not think I would have enjoyed it as much.

Our Lady of the Olives

Entrance to the church compound

Our Lady of the Olives is the one and only Catholic church in Meknes. It was built back during the time of the French occupation, but the French left before construction was finished.

Entrance to the main church

The congregation is mostly sub-Saharan African students who are also studying at the university in Meknes. There are a few French families as well, but not many. Mass is entirely in French, although sometimes they have the readings printed out in English for us. There is one priest, who is actually from Italy, that knows English. We talked a little bit after mass. The other priests are African and French.

the main church

The small chapel, the flags represent all the countries that the students are from

The Tabernacle in the chapel

  I have gone to mass a couple times now and for the most part, there is about 60 people attending, 25-30 of which are the choir. The choir is the most amazing church choir I have ever heard. It is made up of all sub-Saharan African students and the songs are a mixture of English, French, and African languages.

The Arabic script above the tabernacle used to read God is the place of love, but many years ago someone broke in and stole the word God (Allah) so now it just reads his place of love.

The main church is a little sparse in decorations because it was never completed. The one really beautiful piece of artwork they have is the Our Lady of the Olives statue that is above the alter. The story goes that it was carved by a Christian prisoner in an Arab king's dungeon. 

This depiction of the Virgin is the Mary standing on a dragon and giving birth to  the baby Jesus  from Revelations

 Although it is a Catholic church and a Catholic mass, the congregation is pretty mixed between Catholic and Protestant. There is not enough population of either to constitute a separate space so many Protestants attend the Catholic mass. There is also a separate Protestant service in another room in the compound. Even the combined services can be to small to justify being in the big church so they have a smaller chapel near the Priests' house. 

The priests' house. Originally the whole building was intended for their use, but because of money issues, they second floor and half of the first floor are being rented out to Moroccan families.

Travels Within Morocco: Merzouga

This is it guys! The post I've been waiting for this whole trip. I have finally ridden a camel in the desert. Not just any desert either, but the Sahara Desert. It was absolutely fantastic.

Look at that! That is me on a camel at the edge of the Sahara Desert!

We left Friday morning at 8 am for the all day drive to Merzouga, the very small town on the edge of Erg Chebbi. An erg is an area of desert that is covered with wind-swept sand(sand dunes) and has no vegetation. I know what you're thinking, isn't that what a desert is? False, a desert is an area with extremely low amounts of precipitation. They can be sandy or not sandy, have some vegetation and animal life or have none. To be considered an erg, an area of sand dunes must be at least 125 square kilometers. Anything smaller is just a dune field.

Storm in the distance

The bus ride to the desert was filled with stormy weather. So when we finally got to Merzouga we had to change out plans a bit. Originally, we were going to spend Friday night camping in Berber tents out in the sand and Saturday night at Hotel Riad Nezha but because of the storms, the tents had blown away. So we spent Friday night at the hotel, which was amazing to say the least. It had a very nice pool, a roof top terrace, lavish rooms, and (maybe most importantly) fabulously hot showers. 

Rooftop Terrace

Tiffany, Alaina, and my room, we each had a very big bed with lots of pillows.

The shower! In Morocco most of the hotels that we have been to do not have a bathroom for every room, let alone a shower. The shower was big, the tile was beautiful, and there was plenty of hot water to go around.

That balcony above the entry way belonged to our room.

The pool! They had just put chlorine in so we had to wait until the next day to swim.

We had some free time Friday evening so we all made our way to the shopping area of Merzouga in search of turbans. By shopping area, I mean one street with 5 or 6 small touristy shops, out of which only 2 were open. Everything, of course, was covered in dirt and sand. Turbans are basically really long scarves or sheets of fabric that are then wrapped around the head in varying styles in order to protect your head and neck from the heat and sun in the desert. Almost everyone bought a turban, they cost anywhere from 30 Ds ($4) to 50Ds($6.50) depending on your bargaining skills. Tiffany and I bought shorter turbans,about half the length of  the rest. They can be wrapped just like a long turban, they are just shorter in length and so do not provide as much protection, and they can also be worn like regular scarves because they are not as long and bulky.

Blue is the most common color of the turban in Morocco so many of the ISA students opted for that color

Mine is purple, and I chose to wear it in a head scarf style, I wasn't a big fan of the turban style. It felt a little suffocating to me. 

Saturday morning we got going around 9:30. We all piled into 4X4s that were going to trek us around the desert for a mini tour. Alaina, Tiffany, Hannah, Kahn, Kamel and I all ended up in a white Land Rover which sped through the desert on a barely visible path. At some points we had to drive through or over sand. Driving through sand feels extremely similar to driving through snow. You kind of sink in a little bit and slide around. At one point, one of the other 4X4s got stuck in a sand dune and everybody had to get out to help push it loose.

We drove around in the sand for awhile and at good picture taking places we stopped and walked around for a bit. At one point, we were all allowed to climb on top of the 4X4s and sit up there for a short distance. That was soo much fun. My car sang songs from Disney movies during our rooftop tour. 

We took a break from the 4X4s and Daniel, our director, led us off into the desert. We climbed a few sand dunes and then just laid back and enjoyed the heat. 

The 4X4 trek ended at about 2:30, we then went back to the hotel for lunch and about a 3 hour period of free time. I swam and laid by the pool and showered before getting ready for our camel ride and camping in the desert. We got on the camels at 5:30 on Saturday and didn't return to civilization until Sunday morning.

  
Camel riding through sand dunes is exactly as fantastic as it sounds. My roommates and I meticulously picked out our outfits for the occasion so that we could take fabulous pictures. Alaina went for the imperial European look with a sun hat and white flowing skirt while I went for the Arabian princess look complete with a small sword and head scarf. The camels took us to the second largest sand dune in the world, which we then climbed.

World's 2nd largest sand dune

 We stayed at the top of the sand dune for a good two hours. Some members of our group had rented sand boards and were experimenting with riding the dunes. Everyone looked like they loved it until they had to carry the board back up the dune so someone else could have a turn. I don't know how they did it. I was struggling to get up the dune the first time around without carrying a sand board.  I didn't get too many pictures from the top of the sand dune because the wind was very strong. Strong wind plus sand does not equal good things for a camera, one grain of sand getting inside can destroy the whole thing. We all had our cameras wrapped in plastic bags or in scarves. Sadly, quite a few people's cameras are no longer working because of this trip. I did manage to get a few good sunset pictures before I ziplocked my camera away.

 Exhausted, we climbed down the giant sand dune, got back on our camels, and took about an hours ride under the stars to our campsite. We all wanted to eat and go straight to bed, we were so tired. But in true Moroccan fashion, the food was not ready and our bags had not yet been delivered. The tents that we were in were basically a lot of blankets sewn together and held up by wooden beams.

Meal tent

Dinner was served after about a half an hour. It was delicious and we were starving so there wasn't much food left. After dinner, the hotel guys who had been escorting us this entire trip brought out drums and began to play tribal music. We listened for awhile, and a few ISA students were given drums so they could participate. At about 11:30, my roommates and I were ready for bed. Only problem was our bags were still not there, it was cold, and I needed somewhere to put my contacts. Tiffany lent me her water bottle and I dropped my contacts in. We crawled into bed and quickly fell asleep. I woke up again at about 12:30, everybody was up and about making noise, our bags had just got there. I ran out into the cold, got my bags, put on about three more layers, and went back to sleep. The sleeping mats, the sheets, the pillows, every inch of the tent was covered in sand, but it didn't matter. Everyone was too exhausted to care and the place was silent within 15 minutes. 

The outhouse, which was surprisingly nice because it had a normal toilet instead of the Moroccan style hole in the ground.

We woke up bright and early on Sunday, packed up our bags, and walked back to the hotel. We had about an hour and a half for breakfast and showers and then we were back on the bus. The bus ride home took a ridiculously long amount of time. We stopped for bathrooms, tourist sites, and lunch that altogether probably added about 4 hours to the trip. My dad and his minimal stops policy would not have handled this well. In fact, I did not handle this well. To make matters worse, the weather got very bad on the drive home. It was very cold and the bus does not have any sort of climate control. Rain was streaming in through cracks in the windows and it was very very cold. At one point it even started snowing! We were amazed that we could experience the Sahara Desert and a snow storm all in one day. 

snow!