Hello. I am a country with nine world heritage sites. I am the Kingdom of Morocco. Do you know where I am? I am at the northwestern part of the African continent. I am a little bigger than Japan. My people are made up of about 65 percent Arabs and 30 percent Berbers. The population is around 35 million, and I am an Islamic country.
My capital city is called Rabat. Did you think it was Casablanca? Wrong. Casablanca is more famous, and it is the largest city in Morocco, but it is not my capital.
Let me tell you about a festival near a place called Imilchil. Imilchil is a small Berber town in the middle of my country. It is high up in the Atlas mountains.
Every September, there is a big festival for three days. Can you guess what kind of festival it is? It is a marriage festival. Berbers used to be nomads, so they didn’t live in the same place all the time. They moved a lot with their animals. But every year, many Berbers tribes come together near Imilchil, so their young people can find someone special. The women wear their beautiful traditional dresses, and men bring all their valuable things including their animals.
When a women chooses a man, she will say a special phrase.
You have caught my liver.
In many countries, people talk about their hearts when they are in love. You see, in Morocco, people think that the liver is the key to a healthy body, and health is very important. It is said that more than 30000 people come to this marriage festival.
The festival has a long history. A legend says that a long time ago, a woman and a man were in love. But their tribes were enemies, and they had to break up. It made the two very sad. They cried until two lakes were made. In the end, they through themselves into the lakes and kill themselves.
Then, an important man heard of this sad story and decided to hold a festival. At the festival, people from different tribes could meet with each other and get married. We still have the festival today.
The marriage festival is not just for women and men to meet. It is one big market. People can buy and sell many different things there. If you have a chance to visit my country, I hope you will enjoy my culture.