Moroccan culture is all about sharing. #MoroccanFridays

The original photo above is by my dearest friend (and – very objectively – amazing photographer) Lina. Please do check out her work on Flickr here.

In Morocco, Fridays are known by many names. Holy day. Prayer day. Couscous day… So it only seems natural to start this new, weekly feature centred around Morocco, on a Friday.

What is #MoroccanFridays?

Moroccan culture is all about sharing and that is what I want to do. Every Friday, I will share some of the things I have learned with you. Whether it be myths, legends and folk-tales, geographical wonders, curious customs and traditions or – you never know – delicious couscous recipes… I am making Fridays all about Morocco.

Morocco? Why Morocco?

I have been working on my novel for (well over) a year. That is (well over) a year’s worth of research, reading and taking notes. Of course, my main source of inspiration has been my memory. My childhood in Morocco lies behind every word and every silence. It is the reason why I started this project in the first place.

But the more I write (and edit), the more I realise my memories aren’t enough.

They are tainted by nostalgia and the naivety of a child. Tainted by the distance and my eagerness to return to my “second roots”. I don’t condemn those memories, they are a powerful tool and an uplifting muse, but as I have said before, I read because I want the unvarnished truth and this also applies to my writing.

In order to be honest with you and with myself, I have had to climb off of my little cloud of melancholia, dive into the real world and look at Morocco through a wider-angle lens. I spent all of this week buried in books and this sparked the idea behind #MoroccanFridays.

 

Can’t I go to Wikipedia for that?

No, this will not be a copy & paste from the internet. It will not be your standard history class and it certainly will not be a series of 5,000 word anthropological essays. I can’t guarantee some of my posts won’t have been covered before and I can’t guarantee you will be as fascinated by, say, Berber culture as much as I am but I can guarantee you passion. (if you don’t believe me, know that I just spent half an hour drawing and perfecting the calligraphy on the picture above…)

And in the words of Wanda Skyes, “If you feel like there’s something out there that you’re supposed to be doing, if you have a passion for it, then stop wishing and just do it.”

See you next Friday for the first of many Moroccan Fridays!

I’m off to make couscous.

(I wish)

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Thanks for reading.
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