Moroccan Wedding Traditions
The Moroccan wedding is a celebration of the union between two people. It is a social event where friends and family are invited. The event is usually planned by the bride’s family, who take care of all the arrangements.
The bride wears a traditional dress and is adorned with jewellery, henna, and makeup. The groom wears a suit or tuxedo with a turban. The groom’s mother may also wear traditional dress and jewellery to show her support for her son’s marriage.
Before the ceremony, there are many rituals to be performed by both families that include traditional games like “el-kawla” (a game of chance) and “el-goum” (a game of skill).
These activities take place in order to bring luck to both families as well as in the Moroccan wedding traditions.
Moroccan Bath
The bath is one of the main ceremonies for the bride, where the bride goes two days before the Moroccan wedding with her companions to the bathroom, to enjoy the steam bath, in addition to massage, and bathing with perfumed soap.
The celebration ceremony usually extends for 3 days and rarely lasts a whole week, as was the custom in the old days in Morocco.
Henna
The henna ceremony is held before the Moroccan wedding, and it is one of the rituals in force in Morocco for decades.
When the bride attends, her friends engrave henna in different and unique forms on her hands and feet, as these inscriptions and decorations have deep meanings in Moroccan culture, It is believed to ward off evil spirits, bring good luck, and increase a girl’s ability to have children.
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Wedding Day
The young man’s family sends a bundle of gifts to the bride on the Moroccan wedding day, Such as traditional dresses, jewels, sugar, dates, and others, and people begin to sing while going to the bride’s house.
This ritual aims to announce the marriage and inform the beginning of a new life for the newlyweds. At noon, the bride goes with a group of her close friends to style her hair and prepare for the wedding, where the celebration begins.
Usually, at nine in the evening, a large house is rented for the Moroccan wedding.
Hospitality is provided to the attendees, including delicious sweets, fruit juice, mint tea, and coffee, and the groom and his family welcome the guests, in the meantime the bride is busy preparing herself, as the girl treats her wedding night as a princess, and 4 maids are assigned to help her wear traditional dresses.
Some of which reflect the region The original family of the bride, and then the moment comes for the newlyweds to appear together in front of the audience, and sit on luxurious seats with distinctive decorations allocated to them.
Dinner is served to the audience during the party, and the guests are divided into two parts, A section for men where they sit and eat dinner first, and after they finish it is the women’s turn, and when they finish eating and dessert, Guests head outside to celebrate and dance to traditional songs, and several dances are performed by the audience before the party concludes and back home.
Clothes and Fashion in the Moroccan wedding
On the wedding night, each of the newlyweds wears traditional Moroccan costumes that reflect the history of Morocco.
No matter how different the social class, town, or city, it is common for the bride to wear the caftan at her wedding, which needs the most skilled seamstresses to master its embroidery and sewing. It also requires high skill in weaving.
Asking for the bride’s hand and engagement
The bride’s hand and engagement in Morocco are requested through 3 main rituals that need several months to complete, beginning with the young man’s requesting the girl’s hand from her family in her home.
Where the young man must bring many valuable gifts to the bride’s house, and the two families eat dinner together, and exchange parties to determine how Compatibility between them, and in the event of acceptance between them, they move to the stage of the marriage or engagement, where a big celebration is held and the relatives of the newlyweds are invited.
Strange rituals in the Moroccan wedding
A number of strange rituals are practised during the Moroccan wedding, including the following:
The engagement season in Imlchiel: It is considered one of the most famous seasons of courtship and marriage, and the season begins in the shrine of the righteous governor known as Sidi Ahmed, where families come every year after the marriage is agreed upon, they conclude the marriage and sign the marriage contracts.
The key to goodness and blessing: This ritual dates back to the city of Asilah in northern Morocco, where the groom’s family gives the bride a sifter full of flour with a key on top of it as a symbol of goodness and blessing, and the bride must take it to indicate that she assumes the responsibilities of her home.
