The Other Face of Morocco
The Berber people are a community that is often overlooked when talking about Morocco. Also known as the Amazir or the Moors, these people were essential to the creation of the country we now know as Morocco. Their history dates all the way back to 300 BC, when they were first mentioned by the Egyptians. Throughout the years they have encountered the Romans, the Greeks, and various others. But somehow their civilization is still alive and well today. I recently got the opportunity to sit down with Mohammed, a Berber university student, to talk about what it means to be Berber in today’s world.
Traditions
The Berber people have a very specific way of life. As Mohammed puts it, “being Berber is not about the language, it is about our traditions, our customs, our origin. I am one hundred percent Berber and I am proud of it.”
Berber traditions can vary depending on the region. In the southern part of Morocco it is a wedding tradition to wear black charcoal on the woman’s eyebrows and red make up on her cheeks. According to Mohammed, “It is common for the bride to change clothes three to four times during the wedding.” In the olden days the women would be tattooed on their chin, nose, and forehead once they hit puberty, this marked the girl’s transition into womanhood. Today these practices have stopped as it is against the Islamic law to have a permanent tattoo. This is not the only tradition that has changed over time. Many of the marriages used to be arranged by the parents. This has evolved, and today young Berbers are allowed to choose their significant other, although depending on their family some may not be allowed to marry a non-Berber.
Due to the Islamic influence in the Berber culture, they also celebrate the Muslim religious festivals such as Ashura, which is celebrated during the first ten days of the first month. During that time kids in Morocco are given toys and other other presents. The Berber people also participate in the month long Ramadan, which is then followed by Ayd al-Saghir. Ayd-al Kabir takes place during the last month of the year. This is when every householder must sacrifice a sheep. The timing coincides with the hajj, the pilgrimage to Mecca.
On another note, Beber funerals are also very alike to Arab ones. After the death of a member of the community the body is washed and the funeral takes place in the following hours. The direction of the grave grave is extremely important, it should always be facing in the direction of Mecca. Only men attend the funerals, it is a custom for the family members of the deceased to organise a feast for the following week and to invite those who mourned at the funeral. Forty days after the death of her husband the widow is to give a feast to mark the end of the mourning period.
“My grandmother used to tell me about when she was a child - what they were doing and we don’t do anymore, and actually I miss that and I say: ‘why don’t we have that anymore?’ There are a lot of things that we lost.” Said Mohammed. Over the years, many traditions have changed, a lot of them are being lost through the generations. This is nothing new though: after the Arabs took over and spread the Islamic religion across the country, many typical Berber customs changed to resemble the Muslim ones.
Berbers Today
Today Berbers make up around forty percent of the Moroccan population.
Over the course of the past couple decades Berber activism groups have emerged. Most of the demands that they made were focused towards the recognition of Tamazight (Berber language). It was a huge win for the community when in 2009 the Moroccan government recognised Tamazight as an official language of Morocco along with Arabic and French.
This is also an important step towards the conservation of the Berber culture. As Mohammed explained, many people of the new generation do not want to pass on the Berber culture to their kids as they see it as ‘old fashioned’,’outdated’ and ‘a waste of time’. Others, like Mohammed, want to teach their kids about their origin but have no interest of going back to live in their home village, ‘I’m going to be sincere with you, I am not aiming to go back there. Because when I go there, I get bored, there is nothing to do.” Most of the people who do go back are teachers or doctors, other than that the majority of jobs available are farming jobs. Nonetheless, Mohammed says that, “you have to know your origins and be proud of it, be proud of who you are. [...] I am proud of being Berber, when I dress with our clothing or speak our language, when I talk to another Berber person they understand me, we can understand each other, we can help each other, we can rely on one another, we are a community, one family.”
This community is a beautiful one, and it would be a great loss to Morocco if it were so disappear. Sadly, like so many other indigenous societies, today’s world is taking over and offering higher living standards, better education, and more accessibility of the rest of the world. Globalisation has brought the world together but in the process is destroying some of the oldest civilizations. This issue is one that many countries are facing and will continue to face in the coming years.
