What’s a Moroccan Wedding Like?
In the spring and summer there is a kind of celebration that increases considerably: weddings. A whole wedding protocol and ritual is maintained from generation to generation although in each family it is personalized and celebrated according to tastes and lifestyles. In this post we will get to know more about the Moroccan wedding traditions.
The marriage ritual has changed over the years, going from 7 to 3 days of celebration. In areas where customs are more ingrained like in Fez, the wedding lasts 5 days. During these days activities are carried out in family, with friends or individually. Each day of the celebration of marriage has its unique symbolic meaning.
Moroccan wedding celebration:
The first day corresponds to the beginning of a new stage in the life of the bride. On a symbolic level it is a process of purification, celebrated with a visit to the Hammam, known as a Turkish or Arabic bath. The visit lasts all day and the bride is accompanied with friends and family to a ritual of cleanliness and preparation for married life.
The second day a family meal takes place. During that day a protection ritual takes place for the bride as she is being daubed with natural products. What is more, traditionally this day a woman specialized in Arabic calligraphy writes parts of the Koran (sacred book of Muslims) throughout the body of the bride. The purpose of this ritual is to avoid and eliminate the evil eye so that the couple can live happily ever after.
Finally, the third day is the moment of the wedding celebration. The bride enters the room accompanied by music and transferred in a float that is carried by friends and family while the guests wait for her drinking milk and eating dates, which remain a warm welcome to the ritual of marriage. During the ceremony, the couple is seated in a central armchair and once this is finished, the party and the feast begin. It is usual to change the dress of the bride which demonstrates the economic power of her family.
In the middle of the celebration, friends transfer the bride to the house of the in-laws, where the groom is waiting for her and where the wedding night is. It must be borne in mind that when a Moroccan wedding takes place, the bride is being welcomed as one more member of the groom’s family. The origin of “the dowry” resides here, in the economic contribution that is made to the groom’s family for “the maintenance of the new woman who will be part of that family unit.