Culture & Etiquette
678 questions · page 14 of 19
What is Mawlid (the Prophet's birthday) in Morocco?
Mawlid (Eid al-Mawlid, or 'Mouloud') celebrates the birth of the Prophet Muhammad on the twelfth of Rabi al-Awwal. In Morocco it is marked by religious devotion — Quran and praise-poetry recitations, processions, charity, and special sweets — and is especially vibrant in cities like Salé, Fes and Meknes with candlelit gatherings.
Read the answerWhat are common Moroccan superstitions?
Common Moroccan superstitions include guarding against the evil eye with the khamsa and 'mashallah', belief in jinn (spirits) lurking in dark or watery places, avoiding sweeping or handing over salt at night, the protective power of the number five and the colour blue, and reading omens into spilled couscous, sneezes or itching palms.
Read the answerWhat is the henna night before a Moroccan wedding?
The henna night (Laylat al-Henna) is a women-centred pre-wedding celebration where a henna artist (neqacha) paints intricate symbolic designs on the bride's hands and feet. The patterns are believed to bring good luck, fertility and protection from the evil eye, accompanied by music, gifts, sweets and the bride's first ceremonial outfits.
Read the answerWhat is the role of saints and shrines in Morocco?
Saints (marabouts) and their shrines (zaouias and koubbas) are spiritual anchors across Morocco. Linked to the country's strong Sufi tradition, they serve as places of pilgrimage, blessing (baraka), healing, learning and community, hosting annual moussem festivals. Non-Muslims can usually admire them from outside but not enter the sacred core.
Read the answerWhat is a medina in Morocco?
A medina is the old, walled historic city at the heart of a Moroccan town — a dense maze of narrow lanes, souks, mosques and courtyard houses, usually closed to cars. The newer French-built districts outside the walls are the ville nouvelle.
Read the answerWhat is a souk vs a kissaria in Morocco?
A souk is a market or bazaar — often a whole quarter of trade streets, traditionally grouped by craft. A kissaria (qaysariyya) is a smaller, enclosed, often roofed market within the souk, historically lockable and used for higher-value goods like textiles, jewellery and fine fabrics.
Read the answerWhat is a fondouk / funduq (caravanserai) in Morocco?
A fondouk (funduq) is a historic merchants’ inn built around a central courtyard: ground-floor stables and storerooms for goods and pack animals, upper-floor rooms where traders slept. The North African version of the caravanserai, many now house artisan workshops.
Read the answerWhat is a mellah (Jewish quarter) in Morocco?
A mellah is the historic Jewish quarter of a Moroccan city, traditionally a walled neighbourhood near the royal palace. The first was created in Fes in 1438. Mellahs have distinctive architecture — balconies facing the street — and remain key to understanding Morocco’s long Jewish heritage.
Read the answerWhat is a ksar / ksour in Morocco?
A ksar (plural ksour) is a fortified mud-brick village, typically found along southern Morocco’s desert valleys and oasis routes. Built of rammed earth with high defensive walls and towers, a ksar houses a whole community. Ait Benhaddou is the most famous example.
Read the answerWhat is a zaouia (Sufi lodge) in Morocco?
A zaouia (zawiya) is a Sufi religious complex built around the tomb of a revered saint or scholar. It typically combines a shrine, a mosque, a school and lodgings, serving as a centre of worship, learning, charity and pilgrimage. Many give their names to whole neighbourhoods.
Read the answerWhat is a derb (alley) in Morocco?
A derb is a small residential alley or lane within a Moroccan medina, often a quiet cul-de-sac shared by a cluster of homes. Derbs branch off the main souk streets into private neighbourhoods, and the word appears constantly in riad addresses — “Derb” followed by the lane’s name.
Read the answerWhat is a riad vs a dar in Morocco?
Both are traditional Moroccan courtyard houses that turn inward, with rooms arranged around a central patio. The difference is the patio: a riad has a planted interior garden (the word means “garden”), usually with a fountain and citrus trees, while a dar has a paved or tiled courtyard without a garden.
Read the answerWhat is an agadir (fortified granary) in Morocco?
An agadir is a collective fortified granary, built by Amazigh (Berber) communities mainly in the Anti-Atlas and Souss regions to store grain, oil, documents and valuables securely. Honeycombed with small storage cells around a courtyard, it served as a communal strongroom and bank.
Read the answerWhat is a borj / bab (tower / gate) in Morocco?
A bab is a city gate — a monumental gateway through a medina’s defensive walls, often richly decorated. A borj (burj) is a tower or bastion, usually a fortified strongpoint along or at the corners of the ramparts. Both words appear constantly in Moroccan place names.
Read the answerWhat is a kasbah (the fortress) in Morocco?
A kasbah is a fortified citadel or stronghold — historically the walled fortress of a ruler, governor or powerful family, often containing a residence, garrison and granary. In the cities it is the walled royal quarter; in the south it is a fortified earthen castle commanding a valley.
Read the answerWhat is a medersa / madrasa in Morocco?
A medersa (madrasa) is a traditional Islamic college — a residential school for studying the Quran, religious law and the sciences. Morocco’s historic medersas, attached to great mosques, are dazzling works of architecture with carved cedar, plaster and zellij, and student cells around a courtyard.
Read the answerWhat is a qubba / koubba (domed shrine) in Morocco?
A qubba (koubba) is a small domed structure, most often the whitewashed tomb-shrine of a local saint or holy figure (a marabout). Dotted across the Moroccan countryside and inside towns, these little domed buildings are places of veneration, prayer and pilgrimage.
Read the answerWhat is a djellaba?
A djellaba is the long, loose, full-length robe worn by Moroccan men and women, instantly recognisable by its pointed hood (the "qob"). It has long sleeves, falls to the ankles, and comes in plain wool for winter warmth or light cotton and linen for summer. It is everyday wear, not a costume.
Read the answerWhat is a kaftan / takchita?
A kaftan is a woman's long, elegant gown — usually a single flowing layer, often richly embroidered. A takchita is its grander, formal cousin: two layers, an under-dress and an embellished open over-dress, cinched with a wide ornamental belt. Both are women's dress-up wear for weddings and celebrations, not everyday clothing.
Read the answerWhat are babouches (slippers)?
Babouches are the traditional Moroccan leather slippers — soft, flat, backless, with a pointed or rounded toe. Hand-stitched from goat or sheep leather and dyed every colour imaginable, they're worn indoors and out across the country. They're one of the most popular, packable and genuinely useful souvenirs you can buy in the souks.
Read the answerWhat is a chèche (desert scarf / turban)?
A chèche is the long cotton scarf — often several metres of it — that desert and rural Moroccans wrap around the head and face as a turban. It shields against sun, wind and blowing sand, can be pulled across the face in a sandstorm, and is traditionally indigo or white. On a Sahara trip, your guide will wrap one for you.
Read the answerWhat is a tarbouche (fez hat)?
A tarbouche is the round, brimless red felt hat with a black tassel — known in English as a "fez," after the Moroccan city of Fes where it was historically made. It's a formal, traditional men's hat worn for ceremonies, weddings and by some officials, not everyday street wear today. It's a classic symbol of Moroccan and North African heritage.
Read the answerWhat is a selham / burnous (cape)?
A selham (also called a burnous) is a long, sleeveless, hooded cape made of wool, draped over the shoulders and fastened at the neck. Worn over a djellaba for warmth and gravitas, it's traditional men's outerwear — plain undyed wool in the countryside, fine white wool for dignitaries and grooms. Think dignified hooded cloak, not everyday coat.
Read the answerWhat is a negafa (wedding attendant)?
A negafa is the professional Moroccan wedding mistress of ceremonies — part stylist, part stage manager, part keeper of tradition. She dresses and adorns the bride, supplies the lavish kaftans and jewellery, choreographs the rituals (including the amaria, the carried throne), and orchestrates the bride's many costume changes through the night. A great negafa makes the wedding.
Read the answerWho are the Gnaoua people?
The Gnaoua (Gnawa) are an Afro-Moroccan community descended from sub-Saharan peoples, known above all for their spiritual music — hypnotic, trance-inducing songs blending African rhythms with Islamic Sufi devotion. Their instruments are the bass-string guembri, iron qraqeb castanets and big drums. Essaouira hosts a world-famous Gnaoua festival each year.
Read the answerWho are the Amazigh / Berbers?
The Amazigh — commonly called Berbers — are the indigenous people of Morocco and wider North Africa, here long before the Arab arrival. "Amazigh" (plural Imazighen) means "free people"; "Berber" is the older outside term. They have their own language (Tamazight, now official in Morocco), script (Tifinagh) and rich traditions in music, weaving and architecture.
Read the answerWho are the Tuareg ("blue people")?
The Tuareg are a nomadic Amazigh (Berber) people of the deep Sahara, spread across southern Algeria, Niger, Mali and the desert fringes near Morocco. They're nicknamed the "blue people" because the indigo dye of their traditional robes and turbans rubs onto the skin. Famous for caravans and crafts, true Tuareg homelands lie largely south of Morocco proper.
Read the answerWhat is a haik (women's wrap)?
A haik is the traditional large, white (or cream) full-body wrap once worn by Moroccan women, draped over the head and around the entire body and held closed by hand. It predates the modern djellaba-and-hijab style and is now rarely seen in daily life, surviving mostly among older women in some towns and as a symbol of heritage.
Read the answerWhat is a tagine (the pot vs the dish)?
A tagine is two things at once: the distinctive cooking vessel — a round earthenware base with a tall conical lid — and the slow-cooked stew made in it. The cone traps and recycles steam, gently braising meat, vegetables and fruit with spices in their own juices. So "having a tagine" means eating the dish; the pot it's cooked and served in is also a tagine.
Read the answerWhat is chaabi (popular music)?
Chaabi (meaning "popular" or "of the people") is Morocco's everyday folk-pop music — the upbeat, danceable sound of weddings, festivals, cafés and taxi radios. It blends Arabic and Amazigh rhythms, call-and-response vocals, and instruments like the oud, violin, banjo and hand drums, usually building to a fast, hand-clapping, foot-stamping finale.
Read the answerWhat is a palmeraie (palm grove / oasis) in Morocco?
A palmeraie is a date-palm grove — the green, irrigated heart of a desert oasis. Beneath the palms grow figs, olives, and vegetables in shaded "three-tier" gardens fed by ancient channels. The Skoura, Drâa valley, and Tinghir palmeraies are among Morocco’s most beautiful.
Read the answerWhat is a khettara (underground irrigation) in Morocco?
A khettara is an ancient underground irrigation tunnel that carries water by gravity from a mountain aquifer to an oasis, minimising evaporation in the desert heat. You can see the line of access-well mounds marching across the plains near Erfoud and Merzouga.
Read the answerWhat is a jbel (mountain) in Morocco?
Jbel (also spelled djebel) is the Arabic word for "mountain" — you see it on maps in front of peak names. Jbel Toubkal (4,167m) in the High Atlas is North Africa’s highest summit; Jbel Saghro, Jbel Sirwa, and others name peaks and whole massifs across the country.
Read the answerWhat is a tizi (mountain pass) in Morocco?
Tizi is the Berber word for a mountain pass — the high saddle a road crosses to get over a range. The Tizi n’Tichka (2,260m) is the famous Atlas pass between Marrakech and the desert; the Tizi n’Test is its steeper, wilder neighbour. The view from the top is always the reward.
Read the answerWhat is a foum (gorge mouth) in Morocco?
Foum is the Arabic word for "mouth" — in the landscape it marks where a gorge or valley opens out, usually where a river escapes the mountains onto the plain. Foum Zguid, the gateway town toward Erg Chigaga, is the best-known example travellers pass through.
Read the answerWhat is a dayet / aguelmam (mountain lake) in Morocco?
A dayet (Arabic) or aguelmam (Berber) is a natural mountain lake — mostly found in the cedar-forested Middle Atlas. Dayet Aoua near Ifrane and Aguelmam Azigza are the best-known, ringed by woods and farmland, and a surprising contrast to Morocco’s desert image.
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