Lou's Musings

Tripping out in Morocco

Susan and I have had a hiatus from farming... during April and May we went on a guided walking trek in Morocco ranging from the souks of Fez to mule paths of the Atlas Mountains.

I'm handing over this portion of LousMusings to Susan to share with you her artists eye and alert you to the Evil Eye that lurks in that enchanting and enchanted country. It's not farming but it fits right in.

Lou

Evil Eye Talk

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.

Allah is Mystery

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.

Two Wives One Restaurant

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.

Smelly Woman

”Have you ever smelled a geranium?”

”We call our geraniums Khadoug Kanza. That means ‘smelly woman.’ When you meet a woman and she is dressed beautifully, neat and clean and all made up and then you visit her in her home and it is a terrible mess... Well then we call her Khadoug Kanza.”

“It was the French, you know, who brought the geranium to our country - definitely not my favorite flower.”

Musings from Saida

The New King

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."