What are Moroccan birth and naming customs?

The most important moment in a Moroccan birth tradition arrives on the seventh day, in a ceremony called the sebaa (literally 'the seventh'). The first week is treated as fragile and private, the mother resting and recovering, so families deliberately wait before the big celebration. When the seventh day comes, the household fills with relatives, neighbours and the scent of cooking — I have arrived at homes where the courtyard was already loud with women's voices by mid-morning.

The naming is the heart of it. Until the sebaa the baby may not be publicly named, and the announcement is a real event. Names often honour the Prophet Muhammad and his family — Mohammed, Fatima, Ali, Aisha — or a beloved grandparent, weaving the newborn into a lineage. In many families an animal is sacrificed in the baby's honour, the meat shared with guests and the poor, echoing the older Islamic aqiqah tradition.

Around the naming sit protective customs that I find deeply tender. The baby's head is sometimes shaved, a symbolic fresh start. Kohl may be applied around the eyes and henna dotted on the skin, both believed to guard against the evil eye, which newborns are thought especially vulnerable to. You will often see a tiny khamsa (hand of Fatima) pinned to the cradle or a thread of blue beads — small charms wrapped around a very big hope of keeping the child safe.

For a visitor, you are unlikely to attend a sebaa unless you are close to a family, but understanding it helps you read Morocco. If you are invited, bring a gift for the baby and a warm congratulation — 'mabrouk' (blessed/congratulations) is the word. What I always notice is how the whole neighbourhood absorbs a single birth: trays of food sent between houses, sweets pressed into your hands, the sense that this child now belongs to everyone. It is one of the warmest expressions of community I know.