Of the many traditional festivals in Morocco, the annual Sheep Sacrifice Festival, held on January 22, is one of the longest and most distinctive.
The most important event of the festival is the sheep-sacrificing ceremony. At the beginning of the ceremony, prayers are held, and then a strong man selected through a competition inserts a sharp knife into the neck of the sheep on the spot, and then carries the bleeding sheep to the mosque in a hurry. A large number of strong men, wielding sticks and clubs, shouted and chased after the strong man. Because the mosque was not far away, the stabbed sheep was still struggling desperately when it was brought to the temple. At this time, the strong man that is to the people waiting in the square to fire a cannon to announce: the good news of the harvest is coming! Immediately people celebrated with each other, and every family had a big sheep feast. It is their traditional custom to have a sheep feast.
A few days before the festival, every family will make preparations to buy sheep, and there will be temporary sheep markets in towns and villages. The feast is very lively. Hospitable Moroccans compete to invite friends and neighbors to their homes to the feast, even for people who have never met, but also warm hospitality. Interestingly, this festival is also the traditional Moroccan peace festival. During the festival, not only the family neighbors are not allowed to occur and disputes, even if the usual hostile tribes and villages, are not allowed to fight each other and conflict. Therefore, the Sheep Sacrifice Festival is also known as the "Peace Festival".
Moroccan Bride Festival
Moroccan Ait-Hadi Berber tribes have a characteristic bride festival, also known as the Festival of Moussem, held in September each year, lasting three days.
Dressed in white with a latticed woolen cloak embroidered with the clan's symbols, young girls waiting to be married, accompanied by their relatives, sit in rows in front of the bazaar's shrine, waiting for the arrival of the man of their choice. The young men who propose marriage wrap their heads in neat white towels and, accompanied by their friends and confidants, walk among the girls waiting to be married, and when they find the girl of their choice, they extend their right hand in courtship. If the girl refuses to shake hands, that is to say no, if agreed, then say "you took my liver" (the Berbers believe that a healthy liver can bring happiness and fulfillment to the family), and then that is to agree on the date of marriage. Year after year, this Bride's Day has made a lot of happy marriages.
Moroccan wedding food
Moroccan wedding celebrations, the most important thing is to eat and drink. Parents of both sides of the son or daughter to complete the marriage, are to be rich in the characteristics of the banquet, widely invited friends and relatives, with the celebration.
At the banquet, a band plays Moroccan folk music and sings beautiful folk songs. A round table is filled with sumptuous food. Wine dinner on the three plates of food is indispensable: they are "Boutilier" lasagna, a large plate of chicken or beef and mutton, another large plate is called "Cascades", a famous Moroccan folk food. After the food and wine, the guests also sit around the round table, while enjoying the music and eating sweets. To the end of eating and drinking, the women shouted "Huluulu" pleasant call, the two sides of the relatives and friends will be surrounded by the bride and groom, through the streets and alleys, sent to the bridal chamber.
Moroccan wedding ceremonies are celebrated for days on end, and many feasts are held. Weddings usually begin on Thursdays. The bride has to dye the palms of her hands and the soles of her feet red with a special dye. On the second day, the bride hosts a big party just to entertain her female relatives and friends, and on the third day the groom hosts another big feast for his male relatives and friends.
The cost of the wedding is enormous. It usually costs 40,000 liras. The engagement gifts given by the man to the bride are also very expensive. There is an ornament called a "madhur", an expensive, finely crafted gold sash that is tied around the traditional dress or wedding gown. The bride's wedding dress is also extremely ornate, usually a long-sleeved gown of bright colors, embroidered in gold and silver. A soft, polished silk blouse, a noble sash and a beautiful headscarf, and a pair of glittering shoes, also embroidered with gold and silver.
But the living room of the newlyweds, but the bride is responsible for the decoration, such a favorite of the Moroccan "Andalusian" living room set up costs, often more than the bridegroom to the bride's bride price.