By Stephen Jain
May 5, 2012
The beautiful country of Morocco is located in the extreme north western region in Africa. It lies in the great Sahara desert and is a region where the climate is usually very hot. Moroccan climate is Mediterranean type of climate which goes extreme towards the interior region. The climate is very humid and place to place it varies also. Even in some places it is very dry especially where the region faces Sahara desert. The summer lasts here for very long time.
Morocco has got a very rich culture and civilization. Since Morocco had welcomed many civilization from past to help building up their history such as Arabs Romans Jews , present Morocco is a vast ethnic mixture of all these culture. These cultures have influenced its way of living life, its mannerism, its clothing, food, in short almost everything. The population is dominated by Arab ethnic groups by heritage so the clothing mostly goes according to their own style and custom.
The traditional Moroccan clothing for both men and women is called djellaba, a long loose outfit with long sleeves and hood. On special occasions they also wear a red cap which is locally called fez. Women wear kaftans dazzled by ornaments. There is a difference between djellaba and kaftans. A djellaba has hood while a kaftans does not.
Djellabas for women are generally very much decorated sometimes with beads or ornaments and are always very bright in color.Mens djellaba or kaftans are always plain in color. They look very simple. Women are very loyal to their own ethnic wear despite its high cost. Kaftans are always hand made because of their delicacy. Still most women love to wear their national dress. Every year they must buy at least one if not more either for wedding or their religious festival. Keeping in mind the warmer weather and hot dry climate the kaftans are made either of cotton or silk. As these dresses are exclusively worn in ceremony or festivals the outfits are quite expensive. Clothing is a part of the social status so the lower groups of people try to wear neatly pressed dress so as to avoid their own shabby condition if they cannot afford to buy costly kaftans or Djellabas.
Morocco is a highly progressing country. Though Muslim culture dominates still along with western higher education western culture started prevailing its influence. Since woman’s dress is a major issue in Islamic culture it is always observed that nobody violates the unwritten law of exposing any part of the body. Modern Moroccan youth have nicely combined western design with the traditional one. Moroccan Kaftans have been reduced in length and have become tight in fittings with modern jeans.
Over the past years, Moroccan dressing has improved a lot and in a way that made it more popular. Rich works on Djellabas are not just a favorite amongst all women, but they show the richness of Morocco and the North African countries. Visiting these places, you can surely catch a glimpse of these great hand works.
Source : blogs.siliconindia.com
Picture credit: arabiczeal.com
