Moroccan Wedding Customs
Morocco, one of the gems of the North
Africa, is the country with very rich and active traditions. Like
other cultures of the world, a Moroccan wedding is a great gala
event. It’s celebrated with great fun and festivity.
A typically traditional Moroccan
wedding process can take up to seven days. It begins with several
pre-wedding ceremonies that take place before the actual wedding.
According to the old Moroccan wedding traditions, parents would
choose the bride for their son. The pre-wedding ceremonies include
sending gifts and presents to bride. If the parents of groom are
pretty affluent, they send opulent golden jewelry, clothing, and
perfumes for the bride.
It is important to note that
some of the customs followed in Moroccan weddings have no
foundation in Islam. However, the Moroccan culture has adopted
those ceremonies and traditions from various cultures including the
French.
Furnishing Party is an important
pre-wedding ceremony that takes place five days before the fixed
wedding date. The “Furnishing Party” focuses on preparation of the
bride’s new home. The party that is primarily a women's party
delivers household belongings such as handmade blanket, mattress,
bedding, carpet, frash, Moroccan couch etc., to the couple's new
apartment.
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In another traditional
pre-wedding ceremony, women
and female friends of bride have a party where the
bride performs a sort of a “milk bath” to "purify" her. Bride’s
negaffa or negassa (female attendants) usually supervise the event.
The female attendants, who are usually older married woman, female
friends and relatives, help to beautify the bride. They help her
dress in a richly decorated wedding kaftan (usually white), adorn
her with heavy jewelry, and beautify and darken her eyes with kohl.
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According to the
Moroccan wedding tradition,
Henna Party
or Beberiska ceremony takes place a night before the wedding.
Henna Party
is typically for the women of the family, relatives and female
friends. Henna artists paint the hands and feet of the bride and her
party with Henna. Bride’s hands are painted with intricate designs,
which are usually floral and geometrical designs that are meant to
ward off evil spirits, bring good luck and increase fertility. The
grooms name is often hidden in the henna designs. The party enjoys
tea & cookies, dances on Moroccan music and make merry. Later in the
party, the older, married women discuss the 'secrets' of marriage
with the young virgin bride-to-be. In some ceremonies, the bride is
placed behind a curtain to symbolize her change of lifestyle.
On the wedding day, sumptuous
delicious food is prepared for the guests. The food is prepared in
plenty to cater the unexpected guests. Wedding ceremony takes place
in great gaieties and celebrations. In old times, at some point in
the evening, the groom accompanied by his family members, relatives,
and friends, would move towards the bridal party. They would go
singing, beating drums, and dancing. The groom and the bride are
then lead to the bridal chamber. According to another Moroccan
wedding custom, the bride would circle her new home three times
before becoming the keeper of her new hearth.
In the modern times things have
changed a lot. In old Moroccan culture parents would choose a bride
for a groom, but the things aren’t the same in the recent times.
Young people choose their own marriage partners now. Some of these
old Moroccan wedding cultures and traditions have either vanished
away or exist only in the rural areas.
Modern Moroccan
weddings usually take place at night at big villas that are solely
rented out for weddings. The men usually wear suits, and the women
don their best caftans made out of delicate laces, and often
intricately beaded. The ceremony is full of singing, drumming,
dancing, and merrymaking. |
