موضوع عن العادات والتقاليد
بالانجليزي
برجراف عن العادات والتقاليد
في
عادات بالانجليزي
برزنتيشن عن العادات والتقاليد
customs and traditions
عادات وتقاليد بالانجليزي
CULTURE AND CUSTOMS OF MOROCCO
Culture
usages
The majority of Moroccan customs have a
religious origin. When a child is born, the first words spoken to him are those
of the call to prayer. A week later, a ceremony is held during which the baby's
head is shaved and an animal is sacrificed. The most important moment of boys'
childhood is circumcision, practiced between 7 and 12 years old.
The five daily prayers give rise to a ritual
during which the faithful must first perform ablutions (or mimic their actions
if there is no water available nearby), before turning to Mecca to prostrate
and pray.
Consumption of alcohol and pork (considered
impure) is prohibited by Islam. Muslims must also avoid fraud, usury, slander
and gambling.
According to tradition, the dead are still
planted with their feet turned towards Mecca.
Language
Arabic is the official language in Morocco,
but French and - to a lesser extent - Spanish remain practiced. The three main
Berber dialects are spoken in the Rif and the Atlas Mountains.
Moroccan Arabic (darija) derives from
classical Arabic. It differs so much from standard modern Arabic that it is
difficult to understand from the rest of the Arab world. The pronunciation of
Arabic is difficult. It is characterized in particular by the use of the
diphthongs aw ("aou"), ai ("ai") and ei ay (as in
"faience"). Three consonants are particularly complex to pronounce
for the layman. This is the dull occlusive ('), and sounds ayn (fricative
sound) and rayn ("gh"). These last two are obtained quite low in the
throat and are vocalized by guttural contraction accompanied by a kind of
grasseyement.
The transcription of the Arabic alphabet in
Latin alphabet does not obey rigorous rules. Here are some useful words and
phrases:
Hello: as-salam 'alay kum Bye: ma'as-salam
Thank you: chukran Yes: iyeh / noam No: Okay: ouakha Excuse me: smeh liya How
are you? : kayf halek? Do you speak French ? : tatkellem faranciya? I
understand: fhemt I do not understand: my fhemtch What is your name? : smitak?
My name is ...: smiti ... Where is the ...? : ayn ...? Bus: tobîs Bus long
distance: kar Bus station: mahatta al-tobîs Railway station: mahatta al-tren
Left: liser Right: limen The police: al-bolîs The hotel: al-otêl The
restaurant: al-mat'am
Food
Moroccan cuisine is one of the richest and
tastiest. The Bedouins introduced dates, milk and bread. The Moors brought the
ingredients of Andalusian cuisine (olives, olive oil, hazelnuts, almonds,
fruits and aromatic herbs), while the Arabs enriched this gastronomy with the flavor
of spices, such as ras el-nahout, subtle mixture used to pick tajines.
The Berber influence is found in the most
popular dishes. The best-known is couscous, which combines the flavors of
steamed semolina, meat, scented vegetables and a spicy condiment, the harissa.
Delicious tajines are meat stews flavored with aromatic herbs and stewed for a
long time in terracotta dishes. There is an infinite variety. Chicken-lemon
confit and lamb-prune-almonds are the most common. M'choui is a whole roast
lamb, traditionally served with liver skewers and lamb hearts. Another Berber
specialty is harira, a thick soup made with mutton, lentils, chickpeas, onions,
garlic, herbs and spices. It is traditionally served to break the fast during
Ramadan. Pastilla is certainly one of the most refined dishes of Moroccan
cuisine. It is a pigeon pie with eggs and lemon, almonds, cinnamon, saffron and
sugar, which is baked in thin sheets of ouarka (brick).
The choice of pastries is very wide: they are
usually made with honey, almonds, cinnamon and orange blossom, and delicious
with a mint tea.
Religion
Of all the sounds that assail the visitor
upon his arrival, it is certainly the call to prayer that leaves the strongest
impression. Born in the seventh century, Islam is the religion of 99% of
Moroccans and draws on the same roots as Christianity and Judaism. The Quran
(Qur'an), a holy book revealed to Muhammad by God, contains many references to
characters in the Bible and Torah.
Islam has 5 principles (the "5
pillars"): the profession of faith: "There is no God but Allah and
Muhammad is his prophet"; the 5 daily prayers towards Mecca; alms to the
poor; the fast of Ramadan; and the pilgrimage to Mecca, or hajj, at least once
in life.
In the early days of Islam, there was a major
schism that divided believers into two streams: Sunnis and Shiites. This
rupture resulted from the power struggle delivered by Ali (cousin and
son-in-law of Muhammad) against the rising dynasty in Damascus, the Umayyads.
The leader of the latter was recognized as a legitimate successor of the
tradition ("sunna"). Sunnis - the most widespread and considered
"orthodox" branch - are largely in the majority in Morocco.
Arts
In addition to classical Arab artistic
traditions, Morocco has developed forms of expression that are unique to it,
particularly in the musical field. The "ala", originally developed in
Muslim Spain, is based on a system of modes and sequels called nouba. The 24
noubas that govern this modal music correspond to the 24 harmonic modes of
Andalusian music, tuned every hour of the day and the night. Sheikh Salah and
the late Hadj Abdelkrim Raïs are among the big names in this musical style.
The Berber tribes developed their own form of
musical expression long before the arrival of the Arabs. To the sounds of
derbouka, tabala, bendir (Arab drums) and amzhad (single stringed violin), they
mix the tale and the transmission of oral culture and are still played during
the moussem (pilgrimage, feast in the honor of a holy man). More modern music,
such as jazz in Algeria, is becoming increasingly popular in Morocco.
The successive Moroccan dynasties
have left the country an exceptional religious architectural heritage. The
splendid Hispano-Moorish prayer hall of the Karaouine mosque in Fez dates from
the Almoravid period (11th-12th century). The Arab-Andalusian style reached its
peak with the Almohads (twelfth-thirteenth century), to whom we owe the famous
Koutoubia mosque in Marrakech. Yacoub al-Mansour eventually completed the
Kasbah of the same city and erect the great wall that surrounds the city of
Rabat. The Marinid era (thirteenth-fifteenth century) saw mosques come out of
the ground in Fez, Marrakech, Meknes and Salé, as well as many madrassas
(Koranic schools). Sultan Moulay Ismaïl was the most prolific of the Alawites,
the dynasty established in 1666 that still reigns. He endowed his empire with
casbahs and built a sumptuous palace at Meknes. The cities of Agadir,
Essaouira, Safi and El-Jadida (the former Mazagan), for their part, have
vestiges of European military architecture. Finally, King Hassan II built
between 1988 and 1993 the great mosque that bears his name in Casablanca.
Designed on the plans of a French architect, it testifies to the persistence of
Moroccan craft traditions, ornamental mosaics (zelliges) in mind.
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