I’m going to talk here about a traditional Moroccan wedding, where all ancestral customs are applied. In the past, all marriages were arranged and some families still respect this tradition. Usually the bride brought a dowry. The groom’s family must for its part pay the future bride’s family a large sum which will be used for the purchase of furniture for the bride and for household needs.
The wedding ceremonies, which usually take place in the summer, give rise to great celebrations. It is common for a married woman to keep her maiden name. The payment of the dowry marked the end of the engagement and the beginning of the wedding celebrations.
It was accompanied by the drafting of the contract. The date was fixed by the two fathers two or three weeks in advance, because invitations and preparations had to be made. There was a large lunch at both houses with a traditional menu: stuffed chickens, mutton with almonds and briwat.
Two notaries had been invited to the groom’s father, at the end of the meal; their host made them count in hard cash the agreed sum. They put her in bags to transport her to the girl’s father, escorted by two notaries and four or five trusted friends.
The father of the young girl is bound by custom, unless otherwise expressly stated in the contract, to spend for the establishment of the young household an amount at least equal (mithl) to that which he received as a dowry.
This not only constitutes the young girl’s trousseau itself, but also the furniture deemed necessary, given the social background of the young spouses. The payment of the dowry marked the end of the engagement and the beginning of the wedding celebrations.
It was accompanied by the drafting of the contract. The date was fixed by the two fathers two or three weeks in advance, because invitations and preparations had to be made. There was a large lunch at both houses with a traditional menu: stuffed chickens, mutton with almonds and briwat.
Two notaries had been invited to the groom’s father, at the end of the meal, their host made them count in hard cash the agreed sum. They put her in bags to transport her to the girl’s father, escorted by two notaries and four or five trusted friends. The father of the young girl is bound by custom, unless otherwise expressly stated in the contract, to spend for the establishment of the young household an amount at least equal (mithl) to that which he received as a dowry.
This not only constitutes the young girl’s trousseau itself, but also the furniture deemed necessary, given the social background of the young spouses.
Moroccan Wedding Suits
Fifteen days in advance, the young girl went to the bath every two nights for the seven ritual ablutions. The last session, which corresponded to the day before he entered the marital home, was marked by the Takbib ceremony (washing with buckets).
The bride arrived, escorted by relatives and friends. The employees of the bath (tayyabat) waited for her at the door and led her in procession to the most remote room, singing the praises of the Prophet and uttering ululations.
Two relatives were undressing the young girl who kept her eyes closed and her lips closed, for fear of the geniuses of the place. Seven buckets of lukewarm water were stored there.
The employees successively drew from each one by means of a container brought from Mecca (tasa mekkawiya) and poured the water on the head of the bride who, at the end of the ceremony, was now under the protection of the angels.
They dressed her in new clothes, it might include kaftans for women UAE and “they combed her with a sumptuous cloth embroidered in black (mharma).
The employees of the bath resumed their song. After having said the beauty of the young girl and reiterated the praises of the Prophet, they received some money, as well as the clothing worn by the young girl on her arrival and which she did not have to put on any more.
We can see that this was a rite of purification and passage: the young girl had just entered a new phase of her life, breaking completely with the past. The next day, or rather the following evening (because it was at the end of the day and during the night that almost all these ceremonies took place), was called kwaleb sghar. From five o’clock the patio was filled with elegant women who came to have tea.
The young girl remained behind her curtain with her best friends, her confidants who supported and encouraged her in this great trial. From that day on, and during all the ceremonies, two guests played a special role. They were two close relatives of the husband, recently married, who, unvarnished, but dressed like the bride, stood on either side of the door, inside the bridal room.
Each of them had at her disposal a matchmaker who helped her to dress.
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