Expanded definition Tadelakt in Riad , Morocco.

Expanded definition

Tadelakt generally refers to any lime plaster applied according to the principles and techniques of Moroccan tadelakt, but using the lime bodies available in places other than Marrakech.


Defining materials
The basic characteristics of a tadelakt plaster are these:
It is a lime plaster. It does not include Portland cement.
It may include fine marble or limestone sand, but not other aggregates.
It has been compressed when plastic, eliminating all voids.
It has been mechanically polished, using stones or abrasives that are harder than the plaster finish, to provide a smooth, sometimes shiny, finish.
It has been treated with a natural soap (often "black" or olive oil soap) to speed carbonation of the surface and render the surface more water-resistant.



Defining techniques
Mixing plaster powder with water and yellow pigment to make Tadelakt in Riad Dar Rita, Ouarzazate, Morocco.
In Morocco the traditional technique for application is as follows;
Tadelakt plaster powder is blended with water for 12 to 15 hours prior of the pigment mix.
Tadelakt is applied in one thick coat to the wall with a wooden float. It is then smoothed with this float.
A flat, smooth and hard stone is then used to compress the Tadelakt, and a plastic trowel used as a final polish.
Finally It is then sealed with an olive oil soap solution.


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Tadelakt , hammams and bathrooms of the riads in Morocco

Tadelakt is a nearly waterproof lime plaster which can be used on the interior and exteriors of buildings. It is the traditional coating of the palaces, hammams and bathrooms of the riads in Morocco. Its traditional application includes being polished with a river stone and treated with a soft soap to acquire its final appearance and water resistance. Tadelakt has a luxurious, soft aspect with undulations due to the work of the artisans who finish it; in certain installations, it is suitable for making bathtubs, showers, and washbasins and confers great decorative capacities. Traditionally, tadelakt is produced with the lime of the area of Marrakech. Tadelakt is a Berber word meaning to rub.

A Tadelakt covered wall

The restoration of the riads of Morocco has focused attention on this ancient technique

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traditional Moroccan house -riad

A riad (Arabic: رياض‎) is a traditional Moroccan house or palace with an interior garden or courtyard. The word riad comes from the Arabian term for garden, "ryad".[1] The ancient Roman city of Volubilis provides a reference for the beginnings of riad architecture during the rule of the Idrisid Dynasty.[2] An important design concern was Islamic notions of privacy for women inside residential gardens.

When the Almoravids conquered Spain in the 11th century they sent Muslim, Christian and Jewish artisans from Spain to Morocco to work on monuments.[3]

The riads were inward focused, which allowed for family privacy and protection from the weather in Morocco. This inward focus was expressed in the central location of most of the interior gardens and courtyards and the lack of large windows on the exterior clay or mud brick walls. This design principle found support in Islamic notions of privacy, and hijab for women. Entrance to these houses is a major transitional experience and encourages reflection because all of the rooms open into the central atrium space. In the central garden of traditional riads there are often four orange or lemon trees and possibly a fountain. The walls of the riads are adorned with tadelakt plaster and zellige tiles, usually with Arabic calligraphy, with quotes from the Quran.

The style of these riads has changed over the years, but the basic form is still used in designs today. Recently there has been a surge in interest in this form of house after a new vogue of renovation in towns such as Marrakech and Essaouira where many of these often-crumbling buildings have been restored to their former glory. Many riads are now used as hotels or restaurants. Pictured below are two examples in Marrakech, one renovated and serving as the Hotel Riad Laksiba and the other as yet unrenovated.

A Riad's cooling water feature, Marrakech

A riad in Marrakech

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Moroccan riad

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Moroccan style

Moroccan style is a new trend in decoration which takes its roots from Moorish architecture, it has been made popular by the vogue of Riads renovation in Marrakech. Its becoming popular in some circles in UK and the USA. Riad Laksiba notably formed part of a reality TV program following a family buying and restoring an ancient Riad in the Medina of Marrakech. It was aired on House Hunters International to an estimated global audience of 97 millions on September 21st 2010. Due to the popularity of this trend the TV show is regularly repeated. Moroccan architecture is beautiful, ranging from royal arches to modern buildings lit up with neon lights at night.

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Kaftan: the pride of Moroccan women

Kaftan: the pride of Moroccan women


By Youssef SourgoMorocco World NrwsCasablanca, April 11, 2013“Many inspiring women have shown me how such a garment is created somewhere between fantasy and reality,” wrote Sonia Maria in an article of hers published on NJAL, an online fashion platform. The “garment” that Maria refers to is the Moroccan majestic dress, the Kaftan. Her description flawlessly matches the proprieties of this charming Moroccan attire. Between “fantasy” and “reality,” the Kaftan stands out as a composite amalgamation of subtle and luxurious fabrics, composite designs and shapes, and an artist’s personal perspective of women’s beauty and femininity.To start, the Kaftan is to be distinguished from the Djellaba. The latter is traditionally recognized for featuring a hood, whereas the former does not. The Kaftan is basically a hoodless Djellaba. For it is commonly worn during special occasions, the Kaftan tends to be more elaborate and intricate in its designs than the Djellaba. This however does not undermine the uniqueness of the Moroccan Djellaba, which has also gained a new air of modernity by contemporary fashion designers. Hence both the Kaftan and the Djellaba are now almost at the same scale of sophistication and modernity.Second, the Kaftan is not to be confounded with Takchita. Even some Moroccans still find it difficult to distinguish between the two. It is agreeable that both Moroccan dresses might sometimes look almost selfsame in terms of form and constituents. However, Takchita distinctively comes in a double-layered design: a dress blanketed by a Kaftan-like robe. Equally, however, both Kaftan and Takchita are worn for special occasions, though Kaftan comes comparatively more composite in its colors, designs and patterns for it is also a traditional wedding dress. Nevertheless, there exist simpler and less elaborate versions of Kaftan.A bridal garment par excellence, the Moroccan Kaftan is traditionally recognized for being a long-sleeved, front-buttoned robe, traditionally opened at the front.  Made up either of silk or cotton, alongside many other newly introduced fabrics, the Kaftan tends to be embroidered with braids at different parts of it. It comes also with detailed and coherent patterns and lustrous colors. This enchanting dress that fascinates all women around the world, as astounding as it may sound, is traditionally hand-made. This reverberates Morocco’s highly professional and unique artisans and designers.Looking in retrospect at Kaftan’s history, we travel back into time to the epoch of the Ottoman Empire. The Kaftan in that era was reflective of the person’s hierarchical rank and position in relation to the Sultan. The Kaftan worn by those women in the entourage of the sultan was unquestionably distinct from that worn by ordinary women. The higher the rank of the wearer was, evidently, the more elaborate and embellished was her Kaftan, and vice versa.When the Kaftan reached Morocco, however, it has gained a different air and signification. Worn both as a casual and formal attire, depending on the complexity of its design, the Moroccan Kaftan has been more symbolic of women’s delicate taste in traditional clothes. Brides have also worn it during their weddings to accentuate their beauty and femininity.The Moroccan artisan and designer has been recognized by his impressive ability to match women’s descriptions and expectations with the final product. He even sometimes stupefies them by his personal perspective, stemming from his know-how and experience of what magnifies women’s beauty and femininity in Moroccan dresses.After Kaftan had reached Morocco, it encapsulated the country’s cultural richness and complexity. Morocco repainted the originally Ottoman attire with colors from its mosaic of identities and cultural particularities.





The Moroccan Kaftan speaks different languages and is representative of a plethora of Moroccan sub-identities, which in turn form its one and monolithic identity.The love relationship between the Moroccan Kaftan and its wearer is beyond the banalities of price and occasion. The relationship starts at first sight, when the woman sees the design/tissue, and endures until her body meets the Kaftan’s fabric. At that very instant, the Kaftan remolds to match its wearer’s sense of femininity and beauty. It accentuates the woman’s outer beautiful traits and discloses her inner delicateness and fineness. Basically, it matches her personality and speaks her mind.As when the Moroccan  Kaftan is worn by a non-Moroccan woman, it discovers her own femininity and adds a Moroccan breath to it. I would dare to say that it unveils the ‘Moroccan dimension’ of every non-Moroccan woman’s body. What else, then, could be more enchanting than rediscovering a new facet of what makes a woman distinctively beautiful?When it comes to modernity, and just as I exemplified in a previous article (Salma Kaftan design), the traditional Moroccan Kaftan captivatingly immixes in the chemistry of the traditional and the modern. Salma has been one example of how only Moroccan designers have this idiosyncratic ability to preserve the traditional Kaftan’s majesty while injecting a breath of modernity and occidental topicalities.The Moroccan Kaftan continues to be an important constituent of Morocco’s cultural identity. Kaftan is the pride of every Moroccan woman. It symbolizes her simplicity and her sophistication; her femininity and beauty; her cheeriness and delicacy; and her mesmerizingly colorful and open mind.

Women around the world are now considering the Moroccan dress more of a universal attire that matches all and every distinctive criteria of beauty and high quality worldwide. The Moroccan Kaftan stands up as sempiternal dress that gains more sumptuousity with time to endure and compete even in an age of revolutionary fashion and design.



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The scourge of green card marriages Morocco

 The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect Morocco World News’ editorial policy

He came from Morocco to the USA on the Lottery in 2011. He had only been here three months and was looking for every opportunity to find work. Khalid and I met on Facebook. He had seen that I visited Morocco several times and he needed a friend that he could relate to.  He was in California and I was in Portland Oregon.  He couldn’t wait to come and visit me. I welcomed him on an October day in 2011. It was his first trip anywhere else besides California in the USA. I showed him many tourist areas in Oregon and he loved it.

The day before he went back to California he shared his life with me in Morocco about how hard it was for him and his family to make a living there. He stood across my kitchen counter and said “If I hadn’t of gotten the lottery I would have married and old women to get to the USA” and he was serious. That was a year and a half ago, since then Khalid has a better job and attends college in California. He also makes enough money to live on his own and send money back to his family in Morocco. Not everyone is as fortunate as Khalid.

Before I met Khalid I thought it was horrible that so many Moroccan men used older women by marrying them to get to the USA and soon after they got their green card or citizenship they divorced. I have seen marry heartaches and devastated lives. But that day in my kitchen with Khalid changed my perspective a little. I understand how desperate people can do practically anything to better their lives and the lives of their family.

I personally know many older women who are engaged, married and in the petition process or divorced from Moroccan men, and to be honest the divorce rate is at least 90%. Most of the women are overweight and some have disabilities and most of them are 40-70 years old. And the Moroccan men are 19-30 years old. I have even seen a case where the woman was 45 and the guy was only 17. A Moroccan man chooses an older woman because she is financially stable and makes enough money to file for him and also take care of all his needs for the first 2 years after he arrives to the USA until he gets his green card.

The process to file for a petition is long, emotionally draining and expensive and most of the time the American woman pays for all the expenses because the man comes from a poor family. She flies to Morocco and has a beautiful traditional Moroccan wedding with the traditional wedding dress and henna.

She is a princess for the day. All the pictures look the same with the traditional marriage kiss on the forehead. She comes back to the USA and files for the petition for her new husband to come, which she pays for. Then in addition she begins to send him and his family money and gifts. The whole process takes 1-2 years and once they begin the petition there is no backing out. She joins support groups with other women who are married to Moroccans who are also waiting for their husband to come. She needs all the support she can get because her family most likely does not support her decision to marry a much younger man and bring him to the USA. 

When he finally arrives in the USA he will have a lot of needs since he is young and has never been away from his country or his family. Many of these older wives will put their young husbands in school, buy him clothes and cars and even put his name on the bank accounts and the house. She will be responsible to take care of him legally for the first 2 years after he arrives in the USA. This contract is between the couple and United States Immigration. It is a totally different than the traditional Moroccan marriage.

I would like to share the typical stereo types and characteristics of a man looking to marry for the green card. 

·         He finds her on Facebook, Myspace, Tagged, chartrooms or other single sites.

·         He may also find her in tourist areas in his country. 

·         The woman in 40-70 years old

·         Most are overweight

·         She may have a disability

·         She has low self-esteem, due to a bad marriage

·         He says he is not attracted to younger women.

·         He promises to treat her like a queen

·         He quickly directs her to skype or yahoo soon after the first chat.

·         He begins talking about marriage after a few weeks.

·         He tells her religion is not a problem.

·         Most of these guys are sitting in cyber cafés and chatting with many American women and other women from European countries and is looking for the highest bidder.

·         The green-card hopeful knows she is too old to have children, so he says he doesn’t want children, but if Allah provides that is fine.

·         He says he doesn’t want to live in the USA and soon invites her to his country. 

·         Later he will ask about her finances and request she send money, gifts and clothing.

 I am aware there are many of these marriages that do workout but the percentage rate is very low. I can also understand the desperation of many people needing to seek a better life. But I don’t agree with deception, lies and using people to get it. There are many people involved, not only the man coming to the USA but the family he is marring into, and since she is an older woman she most likely has children and those children will have a relationship with him also.

Nothing is guaranteed in this life but a lot of heartache can be prevented if you take your time in any relationship before marrying anyone. I am aware that is also happens to men. There is a saying “desperate situations require desperate actions” so, proceed with caution.

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