Preserving the tradition

Tan-Tan / DPA

Abdallah has been sitting drinking tea since dawn; the wind blows unrelentingly against his Bedouin tent, a protective layer between him and the vast, inhospitable Sahara Desert.
He and his camel caravan have travelled from the Atlas Mountains to do business in Tan-Tan, a desert city in southern Morocco. By selling a small camel, he can make up to 800 euros (908 dollars).
Abdallah rearranges his djellaba or robe and takes another sip of sweet tea. “Those who want to understand the nomads and their business have to take time for a cup of tea,” he says.
Once a year there’s a particular sight to be seen in Tan-Tan: the nomadic tribes of the Sahara all come together in an enormous city of tents for the Moussem festival.
Just west of Tan-Tan 800 tents can be seen shimmering into the distance, their owners having travelled from Morocco, Algeria, Burkina Faso, Mali, Mauritius, Niger and Saudi Arabia.
UNESCO is a supporter of the festival, which it hopes will help the nomads preserve their threatened culture. In the middle of an enormous square in the middle of the desert camp, Berbers ride on horses; a row of 10 riders gather close together, gain speed and give a terrifying war cry before firing their weapons into the ground in a deafening volley.
The choreographed jousting, which shows off the traditional Berber methods of warfare, is called “Fantasia.” The Moussem takes place near the grave of Sheikh Mohamed Laghdaf, a desert hero who fought for the independence of Morocco from France and Spain until his death in 1960. The nomads revere the sheikh because he fought for freedom.
In the following years, Tan-Tan became a religious place, with nomads coming to his grave to sing, play, tell stories and trade camels. But the “Green March” mass protest of 1975 ended the festival abruptly; 350,000 Moroccans marched from Tan-Tan across the border into the territory of Western Sahara to demand Spain hand over the territory to Morocco.
The Spanish departed, but the conflict in Western Sahara continues to this day, the border still disputed. After a break of nearly three decades, the Moussem was revived in 2004 with the help of UNESCO and is now held every May or June.
“The Moussem of today is chiefly an event staged by the king,” says 29-year-old Ibrahim from Tan-Tan. “Culture is made into folklore here.” Comments like this can be heard frequently at the festival.
Ibrahim, who’s now trying to make a living from selling knives, is one of Morocco’s chronically unemployed academics. “The Moussem is like a tasty meal that you can smell, but that the people can’t eat,” says Ibrahim. There’s not much culturally on offer for Tan-Tan’s 60,000-strong population; no library, theatre or cinema.
“Communal tea-drinking is the soul of Moroccan culture and the nomads,” says Abdallah, the camel trader, as he sits cross-legged in front of a silver tray. He pours tea from a pot into the glasses, then slowly returns it to the pot before repeating the exercise several times more slowly. Only Abdullah knows how many times; he’s the keeper of the tea.
He says there are three things needed for a good ceremony; good conversation, a blazing fire and stories or poetry. “Some tribes waged war for 40 years and then made peace over a cup of tea,” he says.
The tent is gradually filling with men and everyone greets everyone – it would be impolite to simply enter and say a general “hello.”
Their voices are soft, but cheerful and lively. Eventually everyone is sitting cross-legged around the silver tray, waiting patiently until the last glass is filled with tea.
Abdullah says he wants more young nomads, but he knows that for that to happen lots of problems have to be solved; grazing land, access to water, education – simple things.
As the sun sets the colours of the desert pale; the saffron-red, date-brown, couscous-yellow become alike. The tea tent is empty.
Only Abdullah kneels before the pot and glass cups, listening to the chorus of the camels.