Where is berber located

From then on the families decided that one day a year would be set aside when young men and women from different tribes could meet and marry one another.

The men and woman dress in their finest, men in white with large shiny daggers hanging at their sides to demonstrate their affluence. Women will adorn themselves with jewels and put on their best dresses to enhance their beauty. It is the women who choose on this day and the men stand on display as the women look for their soul mate.

Once a woman has made her choice she will take the hands of her man and walk with him. The festival stretches over 3 days giving the women plenty of time to choose. The Betrothal festival is not only a match making event but also a fair where goods are traded, land disputes are settled and old friends meet.

Everyone will participate, even those who did not find the right partner this time round. The Betrothal Festival is an enormous attraction and highlight for any cultural trip to Morocco but visitors are urged to stay as observers only and not to join the festivities. This way the authenticity of the event is protected and secured. Culture and traditions within each Berber community is very tribal and will differ from region to region.

Day to day life is nomadic with men taking care of the livestock and women taking care of the family and handicrafts. The community will move to ensure that the livestock has ample grazing, water and shelter.

This allows the women to continually collect different plants that they will use to dye wool and cotton. Their livestock provide them with wool which they use to weave kilims, a tapestry like woven carpet. These are sometimes made for personal use but are also often sold at local souks markets.

The patterns woven into the kilims are distinctive and characteristic of the tribe and region. The Moroccan Berber women like to embellish their kilims with fringes and sequins whereas other Berber weavers from different regions will simply use geometric designs such as diamonds and triangles. Berber art is predominantly crafted and expressed as wearable or useable pieces such as in pottery, furniture, fabrics, jewelry or carpets.

Artistic design is also represented in their architecture. Village music is performed using flutes and drums; the rhythmic beat is often accompanied by groups of dancers. Men and women take part although in some regions only men are allowed to dance.

This music is rarely heard in the cities. Ritual music is played at ceremonies such as weddings. It is also played to ward off evil spirits.

As with everything Berber, the style of cooking and range of food differs from tribe to tribe. Inevitably the various cultural invasions throughout the generations have influenced and evolved the Berber cuisine. Some of the staple ingredients such as couscous still remain though.

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A Travel Guide to the countries of Africa compiled by local destination specialists. Berbers of Morocco. Travel Guide The Berbers. Travel Guide Books. Berber Social Structure There is a very definite hierarchy within each tribe but how the chain of command is regulated depends on the region. Imilchil Marriage Festival, Morocco [Attribution: AtlantiConnection ] The Betrothal Festival is an enormous attraction and highlight for any cultural trip to Morocco but visitors are urged to stay as observers only and not to join the festivities.

All Rights Reserved. February 28 Berber associations called on Morocco to recognize their language and make its teaching obligatory in schools. In January, a Berber cultural week was banned in Rabat. September 30 The Berber Cultural Society denounced the harassment they are subject to. November 15 The pro-government blocks nearly tied in the legislative elections held for the two-chamber legislature.

The opposition attributed their lack of a clear victory to government election fraud. Politically, the Berbers in Morocco seem to have and exercise the same rights as other Moroccans and are well represented in the government. Their major grievances are over the official predominance of the Arab culture and language.

Despite some concessions on the issue, this is unlikely to change. Protests over this issue have been limited to demands for recognition, no demands for autonomy have been made by any important Berber leaders. Their grievances over economic deprivation can be traced to historical rather than policy sources. In fact, the Moroccan policy seems to be to try to improve their economic well being.

For the most part, there have been few organized protests or violence over these grievances in the past two decades and it is unlikely that this will change. Likewise, it is unlikely that the government's position will change either for the better or for the worse June In a press release published on 22 November , the Amazigh World Congress AWC mentions the fact that in September , a group of 20 Berber associations in Morocco made a public statement related to the implementation of the new Moroccan Constitution.

According to the AWC, these associations expressed their "dismay This discriminatory act is undoubtedly a violation of the rights of the Amazigh populations to take possession and enjoy their history, language, culture, and civilazation -rights based by international laws and charters of which Morocco is supposedly a signatory According to Country Reports for , "Amazighs Berbers face cultural marginalization, and continue to press the Government to preserve their language and culture" In Morocco, Berber nationalist feelings were embodied in by a large populist party, the Movement Populaire Popular Movement and its charismatic leader, Mahjoubi Aherdane.

In , Aherdane's party was reformulated as the National Popular Movement. Berbers in Morocco perceive their identity to be threatened primarily by marginalization and exclusion from access to education and media exposure in the country. The Institute they proposed would provide the impetus and the framework necessary for any project aiming to promote the Tamazight language and to perform the preliminary tasks of: 1 elaborating a unified alphabetical system to make possible the accurate transcription of the Tamazight language; 2 standardization of the Tamazight grammar; and 3 development of appropriate pedagogical tools for teaching the Tamazight language.

The Institute would serve to assist integrating the Tamazight language and culture into various cultural and educational activities, through the insertion of Tamazight language programs at an early stage in the public educational system, and at a later stage, the creation of a department of Tamazight language and culture in every Moroccan university.

At the time of the Agadir Conference, , a spate of social turmoil was unfolding throughout Morocco.

The issues at stake, besides the Berber question, included the violent invasion and annexation of the Western Sahara, the corruption of the monarchic dictatorship of King Hassan, and the dubious possibility that Morocco might ever become any kind of democracy.

After a series of revolts against the regime and several attempts on King Hassan's life, the Moroccan government promised to promulgate a new constitution that would permit a more liberal political process, allow opposition political parties to organize, and remove obstacles to the exercise of fundamental civil and political rights of individuals.

The Moroccan regime managed to placate most of the pressure groups confronting it, including Berber nationalists, through these promises. Despite these changes in the Moroccan constitution that were in fact institutionalized, the government continues to suppress the Tamazight language as a symbol of Berber identity and cultural rights. Although the publication of some newspapers in the Berber language is allowed, editors are often subjected to interrogation by state officials.

In March , the Ilmas Cultural Association was prevented from holding a conference on Berber language and writing.

Similarly, in April , the Moroccan Association for Research and Cultural Exchange was refused permission to organize a special day for Berber theater in the city of Rabat. Some Berber activists have been arrested, as well, in a policy that is blatantly discriminatory.

Four members from the New Association for Culture and Popular Arts, in Agadir, were put in prison because they published a calendar in the Berber language.

Even though the demonstrations had been authorized by the appropriate officials, and the slogans were familiar to the government, the Berbers were charged with inciting actions threatening law and order and internal state security, chanting slogans attacking the principles of the constitution, and calling for the recognition of the Berber language as an official language.

Amnesty International AI urged the Moroccan authorities to ensure that the activists' trial would be carried out in full accordance with international standards for fairness. Due in part to AI's involvement, the Berber issue has acquired recognition as a topic of discussion within the international human rights community. On 3 May , seven secondary school teachers were arrested because they participated in a Mayday demonstration organized by the Democratic Confederation of Workers.

They were accused of holding banners in the Berber language and shouting slogans for the recognition of Tamazight in the constitution.

It should be no surprise that the campaign to revitalize Berber language and culture has begun to assume stronger forms of resistance. This Response was prepared after researching publicly accessible information currently available to the Research Directorate within time constraints.