My life has been surrounded by weddings, as of late. Two weeks ago we had a mock wedding at school and I recently found the pictures from them. Darija class keeps finding its way to the conversation of Moroccan weddings, while my French book is currently on the topic of marriage and family. To top it off, my roommate is writing her final paper for Culture class on Moroccan weddings, so there isn't much variation in topic across my life. Needless to say, I am knowledgeable in the subject, and should anyone want to plan a Moroccan wedding soon I have the details.
Moroccan weddings are big and extravagant, and are traditionally the most lavish day of a woman's life, even though they could occur as soon as a woman reached puberty. Nowadays the official age for Moroccan marriage is 18 and a woman can finally sign her own document without a male guardian.
There are six days of ceremony:
Day 1) Bride attends the hammam with her extended female family and friends. This is like the bridal shower or bachelorette party.
Day 2) The female relatives do henna and the bride gets it all over her body. She is treated like a complete princess and she just sits on a couch and is fed all day.
Day 3) First ceremony takes place at the home of the groom, with dancing, singing, and the signing of the marriage document.
Day 4) The same thing happens at the home of the bride. That evening is the first time the bride and groom are allowed to be alone and is considered the "wedding night".
Day 5) There is a large lunch for both families. (This was historically the day where the woman's virginity was confirmed, but is no longer widely practiced.)
Day 6) The bride's family invites everyone to the newlywed's house to display all of the new furniture and gifts the family provided. This is also a large lunch.
My favorite part of the wedding is the exchange of the gifts. The husband's family brings the gifts to the home of the bride's family on the third day of ceremony. On this day the following process occurs:
1) Groom arrives with family and gifts at home of bride.
2) Dancing, music, and passing of treats.
3) Signing of marriage document by bride and groom.
4) Groom and bride feed each other a bowl of milk (representing fertility) and share a date (representing history of the Prophet Muhammed) and l'eau d'orangier (representing paradise and an acclaimed aphrodisiac).
5) The mother of the groom presents the bride with jewels, caftans, and dowry.
The wedding is excessive and in the process of westernization, but it is beautiful, and mostly I want to show off these pictures of us in caftans.
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