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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Price Of Beauty: Jessica Wears Short-Shorts To Meet Veiled Women

Jessica Wears Short-Shorts To Meet Veiled Women

Last night's episode of The Price Of Beauty focused on Morocco, and Jessica found herself being criticized for showing off her legs.First Jessica, CaCee and Ken met their Moroccan beauty ambassador, a singer named Khansa Batma. In photographs, Khansa was wearing non-traditional, Western clothing— like many people in Morocco — and yet when she met with Jess and her friends, Khansa wore a djellaba. The show tries to celebrate the culture of each country, but sometimes it feels like exoticism, emphasizing how "different" the non-American women are.

Khansa took Jess, CaCee and Ken shopping for djellabas and caftans, and Jessica said: "The essence of the Moroccan beauty that mystery — what's under the veil, what's behind the hidden door." UGH.

Perhaps it's naive of me to believe that this show would attempt to present a non-stereotypical view of veiled women. Still: The "vixen behind the veil" and the "exotic hottie" is such a dated, problematic way of looking at women who cover their bodies for religious or traditional reasons. Back when I wrote about a lingerie commercial in which a sexy woman puts on lacy undies and then throws a burqa over herself as she heads out, one commenter made an excellent point, which stood out in my mind and seems applicable here:

Orientalism in art is most closely associated French painters of the 18th century, which was just a colonization of the Arab world was expanding. In Orientalist paintings (see Ingres, "The Turkish Bath" or Delacroix "Women of Algiers"), women are often hypersexualized. This "heathen society" supported imperialism for moral reasons.

I have to wonder, give westerners history of sexualizing "foreign" women... is this just a continuation of Orientalist thought? What does this say about the West's need to "liberate" the Muslim world?

It's as though Jessica can't comprehend the thought that covering everything but the eyes could be oppressive, religious, neutering, misogynistic or just a tradition — she has to make it "sexy."

Anwyay. After shopping for outfits, the group headed to the night market to get "a taste of Moroccan culture and find out some beauty secrets." What actually happened was that Jessica had a monkey sit on her head and then Jess and CaCee gagged as they tried to eat sheep brains.

The good news is that Jessica and CaCee "loved" the veil after wearing it for a couple of hours.

The drama of the episode occurred when Jessica & Co. met some women who wear the veil, and one woman, Layla, who does not wear the veil — but thought that what Jessica wore to come see them was "inappropriate."

On the one hand, Jessica standing up for herself was admirable. On the other hand, I think it's important to be respectful when you're experiencing other countries and cultures. I've been to Morocco, and since so many Western tourists visit, you will see people wearing shorts and tank tops. But shorts and uncovered shoulders are not allowed in mosques, and I'd think that if you were going to someone's home, or to a meeting with conservative women, it would seem obvious to wear something with a little more coverage.

Jessica's shorts were really pretty short. But since Ken and CaCee were both covered, I suspect the whole "you are inappropriate" bit was a set-up by producers. Also, Layla and Jessica hugged and made up later in the episode.

Then Jessica learned the tea tray dance; what it had to do with the price of beauty, she didn't say.

Still, Cacee and Jessica learned lessons from Morocco: Sexy isn't just about boobs and butt! Imagine that! "The heart of a woman" makes her beautiful! Next week: Japan. And yes, Jessica dresses up like a geisha.

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Morocco Slow to Enforce Laws on Women’s Rights

Morocco Slow to Enforce Laws on Women’s Rights

She gave conflicting statements and when she was finished speaking with two male police officers, no one was clear on what had really happened. There were only two consistent elements in her testimony: that her first name was Amal and that she was pregnant.

Like many unmarried girls in Morocco, she would be afraid to admit to having had a sexual relationship because of the social stigma but also because it is illegal to have sex outside of marriage.

Last year, 16-year-old Amina Filali committed suicide after a judge and her parents forced her to marry her alleged rapist, causing a national and international uproar.

In 2004, Morocco changed its code of family law, shifting away from Islamic principles by giving more rights to women regarding divorce and polygamy, and raising the minimum marriage age for women to 18 from 15.

But conservative judges have been finding ways around the law. Courts have granted special dispensation for minors to marry in 90 percent of the cases that have appeared before them, according to 2010 data reported by the Justice Ministry.

And while human rights groups are urging Moroccan leaders to further reinforce women’s rights, amending the penal code remains a sensitive issue. While the government has ratified international treaties on human rights, its own laws do not yet conform, a situation that has led to protests, human rights groups say.

In Amal’s case, the police officers who questioned her late last month were extremely gentle. The presence of Najat Oulami, a member of the women’s advocacy group Al Amane, seemed to help.

“We help women navigate the system and make sure that every woman that comes to our offices asking for our help is treated well by the authorities,” Ms. Oulami said. “We took Amal to our shelter, we gave her clothes and fed her. But she is a minor, we cannot take on the responsibility and the authorities need to deal with her case.”

Because Al Amane cannot shelter minors, Amal was sent to a different shelter, and her whereabouts are now unclear.

To avoid more tragedies like the Filali suicide, rights groups say that Morocco must change Article 475 in its penal code, which allows for a charge to be dropped in cases of statutory rape if the two parties get married. One interpretation of this provision has allowed rapists to swap the charges against them for a wedding ring and a child bride.

“The problem is, many judges are very conservative,” Ms. Oulami said, “and they believe that it is better to save the girl’s honor by giving their permission to let minors get married.”

Al Amane is one of several groups throughout Morocco working with Global Rights, a nongovernmental organization that aims to help women get more access to the justice system.

A grant from the Netherlands has led to the creation of a Web site called Marsadnissa, or Women’s Observatory, where judicial decisions are listed as a sort of database to help women’s rights lawyers across Morocco argue the law more effectively.

This kind of tracking mechanism is crucial, rights advocates say.

“Judges don’t know how cases are being decided across the country — there is no systematic collection and publication of court decisions at the local level,” said Stephanie Willman Bordat, an American who is the Global Rights director for the Maghreb region of North Africa. “We’d like to see greater consistency in court decisions and greater protection of women’s rights by the judiciary.”

In January, the Justice Ministry issued a statement saying it was in favor of abrogating Article 475 and human rights groups are confident it will be struck down by Parliament. The Islamist-led government, however, is not showing much impetus to act.

“The pressure of civil society has already created an impact: It has become impossible now to marry a girl under the age of 16,” Kachane Belcaide, a lawyer in the northeastern city of Khemisset, said last month. Still, “the current government seems to be divided,” he added. “There is no sign that a special law on violence against women will be put forward.”

Observers say that any changes undertaken by Morocco will not mean much as long as there is not a strong and independent judiciary to apply the law. In fact, Moroccan judges themselves are demanding changes to the family code. In August 2011, judges formed the association of Moroccan judges, which now has 3,700 members, to protest judicial corruption and interference by the executive branch, which they say undermines their independence.

Aziz Nizar, a judge and former president of the association, said initiatives like Marsadnissa would help change the system. “There are many ways to interpret a law,” he said. “I frequently go on the Web site, read the decisions and am inspired by them. Sometimes I even enter comments and give my opinion on some cases.”

Despite the various initiatives, the biggest obstacle to advancing protections for girls seems to be the prevailing mentality in Morocco about women and their place in society. A recent online documentaryabout the rape law, “475: Trêve de Silence,” in which Moroccans of all ages and from different parts of society were interviewed on pre-marital sex and rape, showed a clear consensus that a girl who had lost her virginity had lost her value.

“A woman should stay at home and only go out to run errands,” one man said in the documentary, suggesting that a rape victim was responsible because she put herself in danger. “She shouldn’t be wandering around the streets.”

Even some women in the film said they believed that was normal for men to desire women. As one teenager put it: “The man is never guilty.”

Alice Urban contributed reporting from Rabat.

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