Monday, October 31, 2011

Sound of a Moroccan Wedding

Ramadan came to an end as did the 2.45am wake-up drums and call to prayer, which you got to hear for yourselves in my last post.

Finally, back to a normal sleep routine...or so I thought! 

Wedding season started in June and came to a halt during Ramadan.  I thought that meant the weddings were through until next summer, but apparently there were still weddings to be had.

I enjoyed one night of silence after the last day of Ramadan and then the weddings resumed.

This started around 12.30am and carried on until well past 3am :)


Miriam x





Sunday, October 30, 2011

Sound of Ramadan


This is really a video post...but, to help you understand, I've included an short excerpt from my previous entry 'Ramadan Report: The Late Edition'.

'...As soon as Lftar is over the women get back to business in the kitchen preparing dinner which is eaten anywhere from 9pm-12pm depending whose house you are visiting...Most people then have a short sleep until 2.45am, when they wake up for suoar, the last meal before the next day of fasting begins. Suoar is another hearty meal of tagine or duez.  


In larger towns and cities suoar is signaled by the early morning call to prayer. In my site, it was also signaled by drums! Imagine every morning, for one month being woken up by a parade of drums at 2.45am...'

Okay, so now you don't have to imagine anymore. Be sure to listen all the way through. 


Click HERE, close your eyes, pretend you have been dreaming away...


Miriam x


P.S. Smooches to Francesca (the best friend a girl could ask for), who sent me the amazing Flip used to make this...sound capture :)  

Sunday, October 16, 2011

Ramadan Report (The late edition)

Fes Medina
In Islam, there are five things (known as the five pillars of faith) that one must do in order to be a good Muslim. One of those is fasting during the month of Ramadan. 

From sunrise, until sundown (which is signaled by the ability to look at a thread from a short distance and tell if it is black or white)  Muslims are prohibited from eating, drinking, smoking, and sex. There are exceptions for pregnant women, the ill, the elderly, women on their periods and those that are traveling. For some, mainly those with the ability to adapt their schedule, Ramadan isn’t too difficult, it simply means sleeping all day and being awake all night. For those with day jobs however, the month is much more trying.  I felt most for those in the South as the temperature during the day was well above 30-40 Celsius. Can you imagine working in a field under the beating sun and not being able to have even a sip of water?? 

The Islamic calendar is a lunar one, so each year Ramadan moves forward a little bit. This year, in Morocco, it started on the 1st of August and ended on the 31st.

Around 7pm, after a day of fasting and working, families and friends gather for the most anticipated meal of the day, ‘Lftar’ (Break-Fast). Preparation for Lftar, begins once the late afternoon call to prayer is called, which was around 4pm. Men go to the mosque to pray and the women get busy in the kitchen in order to have everything ready in time. The food is generally the same in every household. Three dates and a sip of water is the correct way to break the fast, followed by a table full of chebakia (Moroccan sesame cookie which is shaped into a flower, fried and then coated with honey), dates, olives, cookies, cake and of course sweet mint tea. 

Fat bread is the main attraction at the table and is only eaten during Ramadan. It is basically a flatbread which has been stuffed with a variation of sautéed onions, peppers, small amount of sheep fat, parsley, cumin, paprika and red pepper. Trust me, it may not sound fabulous, and while it is quite greasy and most certainly not healthy for you, it was absolutely delicious and after all, one month a year can’t hurt, right? The finale of lftar is Harira, which is a Moroccan tomato, lentil and chickpea soup-one of my favorites.



As soon as Lftar is over the women get back to business in the kitchen preparing dinner which is eaten anywhere from 9pm-12pm depending whose house you are visiting. This is typically either duez (pressure cooked meat and vegetables) or tagine. Most people then have a short sleep until 2.45am, when they wake up for suoar, the last meal before the next day of fasting begins. Suoar is another hearty meal of tagine or duez. In larger towns and cities suoar is signaled by the early morning call to prayer. In my site, it was also signaled by drums! Imagine every morning, for one month being woken up by a parade of drums at 2.45am

While many volunteers choose to fast, I didn’t. I was honest with my family and friends who continually asked if I was fasting. Some volunteers told little white lies and when asked, said that they were fasting, in order to score brownie points with community members. There were also a few volunteers who were asked to open their mouths and stick their tongues out so that it could be determined whether or not they had cheated and had a sneaky glass of water or snack. 

Life in general comes to a slow churn during the month of Ramadan. With most shops only open a couple hours a day, or very late at night and not as frequent options for transportation. With everyone trying to keep cool and rest inside their homes during the day, the streets of my site were pretty much like a ghost town. Work in the fields was either completed in the early hours of the morning after suoar, or in the late afternoon. I broke-fast (okay, I technically wasn't breaking-fast) with my Moroccan friends and family regularly, and developed quite a craving for fat bread and harira. I only experienced suoar once and that was while visiting my host family in Ait Hamza, with my brother Carl.


Carl, came to visit me during the first week of August. While Ramadan isn’t the most ideal time to visit Morocco it was an adventure and a first for both of us and I’m pretty sure he enjoyed it! He was able to see Fes, my site and surrounding villages and my training site, Ait Hamza.

While in Fes, we went to the ‘Ramadan carnival’, which took place in the large square next to Bab Boujloud. Think of the most gypsy-ish carnival you can imagine and you will be on the right path to imagining what this was like. The main attraction was the ferris wheel, which as you know normally crawls around at a very slow speed allowing you to see the views from the top of the wheel. Apparently, Moroccan ferris wheels are different. This one flew around at light speed, which was funny until we all looked up at what was holding our carriage onto the wheel-a large rusty nail bent in half hooking us on! Not to mention that when we went to enter the carriage, the floor was covered in vomit. When I told the gypsy (who refused to give me his tears…) carnival man that there was vomit and asked him to please give us the next carriage, he simply threw some cardboard over the vomit and told us to get in! Haha, sigh, oh Morocco.

Carl and I spent the next night with my host family in Ait Hamza. We arrived in time to break-fast, spent some time chatting with the family and then went to bed around 12pm. Hafida woke us up at 2.45am for suoar. I’m sure if you ask Carl, he will tell you this was his favorite hour of the trip…right Carl? Carl is a vegetarian and while he was prepared to eat a little meat in order not to offend anyone, I don’t think he was prepared to be woken up at 2.45am and have a giant (and I mean Giant) platter of meat put in front of him! He was a trooper though and nonchalantly dipped his bread in the sauce avoiding any masses of meat. Banana flan was served for dessert and back to bed we went.

After that he got to spend a couple days with me here in site, experiencing the wonders of public transport in order to get here. He met all my friends and family here and everyone was so happy to have him, including me. While he was here, we hiked out into the mountains surrounding Tounfite and visited some of the tiny dwars (villages) scattered throughout the mountains. We accompanied Moses, who was recruiting women for this Fall's Maternal Health and Childcare training, which takes place next week. It was my first time in the mountains and it was especially nice to have Carl there to witness the simplistic way of life (most of the dwars are without running water or electricity) and of course the culture. The dwars reminded me of the grandfather's house in the classic film Heidi with Shirley Temple.

After Carl’s visit I had a short getaway to Budapest and Hedervar in Hungary for a good friends wedding. Despite a momentary hiccup in happiness, I managed to have a fantastic time in Hungary. I not only met some really great people and made new friends, but I also got to be a part of Barbara and Attila’s most special day, which was fairy-tale beautiful.

Speaking of weddings, wedding season here in Morocco is almost over with. It began in mid-June, stopped for Ramadan and will be complete in the next couple weeks. Last night my neighbors had a wedding. It was quite possibly the town’s largest wedding of the season and it took place right next to my house-lucky me! It started with a parade of cars honking their horns through town for about an hour at 4pm yesterday. Then came the drums. I could hear them getting closer and closer and they took stage pretty much outside my front door. The drumming went on for a few hours and then came the band. I’m telling you I hit the jackpot :P Music shook my house until 5.30am this morning!!! L’Humdullah (thanks be to God) it will all be over soon…that is until next year. 


I had dinner with my landlords family last night, and they explained to me that the Caid (Mayor) of Tounfite came to the wedding house earlier and smeared oodi (rancid butter) over the front door and left a glass of milk for the bride to drink. Apparently, the oodi is for luck and the milk is so that the bride will be as white as the milk and will either lose existing freckles or prevent her from ever getting any...in case any one was wondering how to get rid of their freckles...you are welcome. :P

Fall has arrived and with it comes the cold. The smell of woodstoves has returned, bringing back that smoky-lumberjack smell to all my washing as it dries on the roof. The sound of women chopping wood is constant throughout the day, as are the repetitive conversations about the cold, such as “illa asmid” “illa iqrf” “mani furnonm” “is ghorm isherdin” “is ghorm lmonta” (there is cold, there is cold, where is your woodsotve, do you have firewood, do you have blankets?) Along with chopping firewood and all their other daily tasks, the women can also be found on the roof sorting through the recent harvest of corn and grains, leaving it on the roof for the sun to dry out.

I’m looking forward to winter here. For me, it is the most beautiful time in my site. Waking up to a view of snow capped mountains everyday, cozy in my room with my little woodstove keeping me toasty. While most certainly not a lazy or easy one, the simplicity of life here is what I relish the most.
Heading into the mountains
Walking to an outer dwar of Ait Hamza
Typical Lftar Spread
Ferris Wheel of Death 
Aith Hamza
Moroccan Car Wash in Ait Hamza
Camel anyone? 
Overlooking the Tanneries 


Brunch at Cafe Clock
My Henna'd Hands & Feet