Rabat – The Moroccan Jewish community in the city of Essaouira celebrated the Mimouna festival on Saturday, gathering Jews and Muslims for the post-Passover feast and highlighting the centuries-long coexistence and friendship between the two communities.
Mimouna is a traditionally North African Jewish celebratory dinner typically held the day after Passover. It celebrates Jews’ ability to begin eating food that is forbidden during Passover.
In Judaism, Passover is the celebration of the liberation of the Jewish people from slavery in ancient Egypt. This year, over 15,000 Israeli tourists visited Morocco to celebrate the week-long event that took place between April 15 and 23.
Mimouna celebration took place in the evening of Saturday in a festive atmosphere during which Jews and Muslims gathered in the enclosure of the emblematic space of Bayt Dakira.
Bayt Dakira or the House of Memory is a Jewish museum in the Jewish quarter “Mellah” of Essaouira’s old medina. It features several rare objects, texts, and photographs aimed at showing the historical coexistence between Muslims and Jews in the Moroccan city.
The museum has a role of preserving the Moroccan Jewish shared history and heritage.
The ceremony was also an opportunity to celebrate the Judeo-Moroccan culture with music and songs performed by groups of Jewish and Muslim musicians.
Abdellah Ninou, the Secretary General of the Mimouna Association, said in a statement to Moroccan state media that the organization of an inclusive Mimouna feast is part of the association’s goal of preserving the diversity of heritage and the Judeo-Moroccan identity.
Meanwhile, musician Hicham Dinar highlighted the feast’s uniqueness by noting that it reflects the spirit of the long-standing values of tolerance and coexistence between the different components of Moroccan society and monotheistic religions.
The celebration program also included a guided tour of the Jewish sites in the old medina of Essaouira, including Haim Pinto Synagogue, Slat Lkahal Synagogue, and the Jewish cemetery.
The organizers also held a collective Iftar, sharing some dishes of the Mimouna festival.
The ceremony was initiated by the Mimouna Association, the American Sephardi Federation, the Essaouira-Mogador Association and the Zaouia Kadiriya in Essaouira, with the support of USAID.
