The moussem of wedding engagements at Imilchil is one of the finest popular gatherings in Morocco, at 2500 metres altitude, in a high valley of the Atlas mountains. It is in this region of wild and tranquil beauty, a few kilometres from the village of Imilchil, a name that rings like three notes of music, that takes place each year in the middle of September, the great festival that gathers’ together the peoples of the province of Errachidia, and in particular the Ait Haddidou tribe.
Access to the moussem is not easy, along a dirt-track, but the beauty of the scenery with autumnal shades of beige and green melding together, the feeling of having reached the end of the world in this valley cradled by legends, the very theme of the fes¬tival, are enough to make this moussem an important event.
The Imilchil engagements festivities bear witness to Morocco’s intense and living folklore which has been passed on from genera¬tion to generation and which is one of the nanon’s finest riches. Indeed, what can be more authentic than this survivor of a culture over a thousand years old, where people sing about love and the end of the summer, as if celebrating an ancient pagan feast ?However, the great festival takes place in a holy place, around the marabout (shrine) to Sidi Ahmed Quld Mrhani.
Young men and women are free to mix here with a view to getting engaged: this is the whole point of the festival. It is important to know that matrimonial laws are not strict in this region, and that a woman can get divorced several times and’ remarry. Divorcees or widows, free of wear a conical hair-style which distinguishe~ them from young girls.
The men wear wool « burno” and the women the « handira » sort of rectangular cape, with wide stripes, worn over a lighter tu Right It the beginning of festivities,the young women colourfully made up like flow with beautiful stylized drawings their cheeks or forehead. special art is carried out natural colours. The result unusual and oerfectly lovely .
During the moussem it surprising to see men and women mixing together freely, yet with certain reserve as they get to know each other in public, before going to seal their union before « adoul (notary) which will lead to marriage. The couples hold hands and the looks they exchange the discussions they have both lively and langorous, are full hope for their future together ..
The Agdoul is the special place for future fiancés to meet. For young girls, the procedure is a little different: Contacts have been made between families long before. indeed, all sorts of things have to be organised, in particular the dowry {between 1500 and 3000 dirhams) which firms up the alliance between the families. The i signing of the contract will take plaçe at the Agdoul where the notary sits throughout the moussem.
Seated at a table in the open air, he writes the names on a register wile the fiancés show their agreement by placing their right hand one on top of the other. In this way, couples who are ready to become engaged or who have decided to do so may sign their ,marriage contract on the spot at the moussem : this is the peculiarity of is great gathering.
. Besides, the moussem at Imilchil is also a mountain fair where people living in the surrounding area come it to sell or buy. A whole village of tents neatly lined up is formed for a few days. Each street, thus demarcated, has its own particular function just as in the ‘medinas’ : here the restaurants, there sellers of carpets and material.further on the barbers. elsewhere the handicraftsmen.
Around the moussem lies the cattle souk where people come to look at the animals before buying. There are endless comings and goings between the moussem and neighbouring villages. Lorries comme all the way down the deep-rutted dirt-track , spilling out men and goods. Thus, for several days a roaring trade is carried on during the festival of engagements.
For the tourist. both Moroccan or foreign, this is a chance to collect unforgettable memories of one of the finest mousse ms in the Atlas. It is also the time to buy beautiful Moroccan handicrafts, made by the Aït Haddidou tribe. lndeed, the finly embroidered woof-blankets or the carpets offer an extremely interesting variety of colours and designs and it is unusual to see such a varied market, as the mountain- dwellers have come from afar to sell their handiwork.
For the past ten years or excursions ta the moussem ha’ been organised by tour-operators but the moussem has maintained authenticity even if, here and there a few cameras are pointed at tl fiancés.
Each year. the Imilchil moussem concluded with an official event assembling men and women who perform the famous Aït Haddidl dance. First the men beat their drums in. rhythm, raising their voices in a song which is both wail and a call resounding right from the cradle of time. This is t prelude to a « Ahldous », the dance everyone has been waiting for close the festival in• this late summer. The dancers, men al women huddled together shoulders to shoulder, gradually come to life swaying tneir whole bodies then bending their knees in rhythm, their heads held solmnly high. The rhythm finally ends. to be taken up again by another troupe.
The dances and songs are thus repeated for hours on end, but it the final show that is certainly the finnest, for it assembles the young men and women who have just become engaged and they sing together a grand jubilant hymn to life.
Soon, all that will remain of t moussem in the mountains will remain of the moussem in the mountains the memory. Nevertheless, up above, a few kilometres away, two lakes bear witness to the ancient legend which so they say changed two fiancés into the large stretches of water that a beautiful as love and which bear the name of Tislit an Isli ..