Mawsim

This article is about the annual regional festival in the Maghreb. For a definition of the term "موسم", see the Wiktionary entryموسم.

Mawsimormoussem(Arabic:موسم),waada,orraqb,is the term used in theMaghrebto designate an annual regional festival in which worshippers usually combine the religious celebration of localMaraboutsorSufiTariqas,with various festivities and commercial activities. These are very popular events, often attended by people from very distant places.

Etymology

Mawsim, moussem

Mawsim is an Arabic word whose first meaning is 'season'.

Waada

The origin of the namewaadacomes from the wordwaadmeaning "meeting" and "gathering".

Raqb

The nameraqbindicatesthe pedestrian and equestrian procession of themurids(novices) from all sides towards the place of the customary or ritual festival.

Religious and secular origin

FantasiainAlgeria

Themawsimfestivities are for the most part cultural events linked to the harvest, to Muslim saints or to nature, so these local festivals are mainly religious but also secular. ThePalestinianmawsimatNabi Musatook place in spring, a season used for popular holidays sincepaganantiquity.

Themawsimis an originally religiously motivated festival pilgrimage in theMaghrebin honor of asaint(sheikh,sidior Moulay.

Religious and social practices

MausoleumofSidi Lakhdar Ben Khlouf

In theBerberareas of theMaghreb,almost every village hadits saint or marabout and a small domed tomb ormausoleum(qubba) of the same name.This feast or ritual of the marabout is celebrated once a year and worshipers come to it from places far away.Some marabout buildings are still being maintained and whitewashed with white paint every few years.

Many do not really have a link to a saint or founder, but are annual regional meetings designated for a social or economic purpose.

The religious practices relating to themawsimare based on thetilawa(ritual recitation) of the complete and integral sixtyhizbsof theQuran,the Sufisalka.

A collective recitation of theal-Burdapoem adorns the festivities to praise ProphetMuhammadbefore the start of theMawlid(Prophet's birthday) celebration and before visiting his tomb in theProphet's MosqueinMedina.

Collective catering around largecouscousdishes is a central quality of these festivities in order to socialize people attending themawsimaround traditional culinary foods in addition to the recitation of theQuran,DhikrandQasidas.

The annual gathering of the descendants of the marabout in this festivity is an opportunity to strengthen family and tribal ties between these cousins, and also to establish family alliances with other siblings and tribes.

These religious, sociological and gastronomic aspects make it possible to weld the cultural and existential breaches of patriarchal societies and to preserve the intangible heritage of populations, especially rural ones.

Groupsalah(prayer), collectivetarteel,team tasting of dishes andcouscous,choral singing of Al-Burda, appreciation of the artistic performances of fantasia, humming of poems andqasidas,as well as other activities, makemawsima proven factor of social cohesion and individual appeasement.

Date

The religiously related festivals are often based on the Islamic calendar and thus take place in different hijri months each year changing.

Equestrian games; prominentmoussems

FantasiainAlgeria

Themawsimis sometimes accompanied by the equestrian games calledfantasiasand other cultural peculiarities.Mawsimsorfantasiasinclude equestrian games as a tradition of regional pilgrimages linked to one another in Islamic times.

Many of the Algerian fantasia troupes perform horse exhibition shown several times a year in different cultural events ormawsims,such as theCelebration of Sidi Ahmed al-MajzoobinNaâma,theHorse celebrationinTiaret,or theCelebration of Sidi Yahia BensafiainTlemcen.

The most important Algerianmoussemof the territory is that of the oasis ofBéni Abbèsin the region ofBechar.

Tan-Tan Moussemis a traditional annual gathering ofBerbertribes from southernMoroccoand the widerNorthwest Africain the southwest Moroccan town ofTan-Tan.In culture, amoussemis "a type of annual fair with economic, cultural and social functions."

See also

• Hajj,annual Islamic pilgrimage to Mecca
• Islamic saintorwali
• Sebiba,Ashura Festival event and dance of the Algerian Tuaregs with black African roots
• Tweeza,Algerian Sufi term for voluntary cooperation in doing a good deed for individuals or communities
• Wezeea,Algerian term for a rural Sufi cultural custom
• Zawiyas in Algeria,Sufi religious buildings honouring the memory of patron saints
• Ziyarat,pilgrimage to venerated Islamic sites