Moussems: Moroccan Urban Festivals

• Authors: Půtová Barbora

Title variants

CS

Marocké městské festivaly moussems

• Languages of publication: CS

Abstracts

EN

The subject of the paper is a description and analysis of the phenomenon called moussems – urban festivals that take place in Morocco from April to August. The current moussems, in comparison to their traditional sacral form, represent an international, secular and institutionalized festivity that is systematically modified and supported by the Moroccan king in order to develop tourism and to preserve local cultural traditions. The objective of the paper is to describe the creation of moussems, which originally celebrated the birth or death of saints in the rural environment and which offered an opportunity for nomadic tribes from the mountains to meet. Most importantly, it describes the transformation of moussems into an urban festivity whose current form and functions serve to enhance the national identity, the legitimacy and the power of the monarchy as well as to emphasize the diversity of Morocco’s tangible and intangible heritage. At the end of the paper, the transformation of moussems and the possibilities of how they could be used are exemplified by the Festival des Musiques Sacrées du Monde in Fez.

Keywords

EN

Morocco; Fez; urban festivals; national identity; cultural traditions; tourism

Discipline

• ETHNOLOGY: ETHNOLOGY

• Publisher: The National Institute of Folk Culture
• Journal: Národopisná revue (Journal of Ethnology)
• Year: 2018
• Volume: 28
• Issue: 1
• Pages: 41 - 50

Contributors

author

Půtová Barbora