Moroccans wear the Hand of Fatima around their necks.
They hang the Hand of Fatima inside their house or at the entrance. For all I
know they hang the Hand of Fatima in their cars and on their camels.
Continue reading "Evil Eye Talk" »
Midday we were drinking mint tea at a nearly empty coffee
house in the Middle Atlas when we heard the call of the Imam to pray. A boy who
worked there, he must have been about fifteen, immediately pulled out his rug,
placed it in front of the bar facing North and bent down to pray. In another
corner of the cafe, a Moroccan man in his twenties sat at a table with his
expresso smoking a cigarette and watching an MTV show of a nearly naked woman
gyrating to hard rock. There is a naturalness to this scene that is hard to
explain. How can a culture whose words and daily actions are so threaded with
Islamic belief also be so tolerant of other ways of being.
Continue reading "Allah is Mystery" »
Although I was often told that men did not generally take
extra wives any longer because of the expense and emotional conflict, I did see
an example of a husband and two wives in the souk in Fez.
Continue reading "Two Wives One Restaurant" »
Our guide, Saida, says:
"Our young King, he's so handsome isn't he!... So
energetic! He's always on the go. From town to town, from city to city. He
wants the people to see him, to know he cares about them. Last week he went to
the town of Meknes, a very very holy place. People make pilgimages to this town
every year. The town's only income now is through tourism and so some families
have been opening their homes to rent during the holy season. But because of
much much paperwork to gain approval to do this, not so many families have done
it. So the King came to Meknes and he said. 'I want you all to open up your
homes during the holy season. I will do away with this bureaucratic paperwork.' And so, I think the people of Meknes are blessed."
Continue reading "The New King" »
Recent Comments