Achoura in Morocco

About Achoura in Morocco

In Morocco and elsewhere in the Maghreb, the tenth of Muharram is not primarily a day of mourning but a family holiday with its own customs, many with roots older than Islam. Children receive toys and small gifts, drums and tambourines are played, and families eat a dish of dried fruit and couscous, with nuts, with the meat from the sheep kept from the Eid al-Adha. In Berber areas, bonfires, shaâla, are lit and people jump over them, and in some villages, children throw water at one another. Women make dolls and play with them, and girls are given small gifts. Charity, called zakat al-achoura, is given to the poor. Some families keep a fast. The same day is observed by Shia Muslims elsewhere in a different way.

Achoura in Morocco dates: 2026, 2027, 2028

This date follows the moon or a local calendar and can move by a day, so check with a local source nearer the time.

What is eaten

• couscous
• dried fruits
• nuts
• sweets

More marked on Achoura in Morocco

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