Answer to Question of Berber Project

Why do you think that this tale means a lot to how the lakes were created?

I don't know if the tale means a lot to how the lakes were created. When I told the tale I didn't mean that it is the tale that explains how the lakes were created, that is only the tale to explain how the Festival got some of its features. After the tale spread the parents let the children chose there own partners which is a big difference then to letting the parenst chose the partners for there children. I think that the lakes are now known more as Isli and Tislet because a lot of people married at that festival and kept telling the story on and on until lot of people knew about it.

Answer to Question of Berber Project

Did everyone have to get married in that place or can they get married where they want because they have to pay and what if they don't have enough money to pay for the marriage?

No you didn't have to get married there you could get married where ever you wanted. The Berber Bride Festival was just an opportunity to get married but not mandatory. The Berber Bride festival though gives the opportunity to get to know someone knew and marry them right away and then go and live with the new husband. Because Berber women and men are very busy it is good that the marrying is taken care of fast and then they can go back to there jobs. I suppose that you have to pay if you want to marry at the Berber Bride Festival and if you don't have enough money then you can't marry there.

Answer to Question of Berber Project

But I don't get what you mean by berber festival is part of their culture. Well the berbers can live without that festival perfectly right?

You could say that for almost any thing in the Berber Culture and if you keep saying it then someday that part will be taken away from the Berber Culture. Yes, Berber culture has a lot of different aspects but all of them are important. If one of them is gone then the Berber Culture is one step closer to fading away. If people say that for every part then very fast we will end up with only 3 aspects or maybe less, faster then we can think because we didn't notice how big each aspect has a role in the Berber Culture.

Answer to Question of Berber Project

Why did the berbers need a festival for a marriage why not just find a women from nearby places?

The Berbers don't have to go to a festival to marry but they chose to. As many people have said in their presentations the main part in a Berber women's' life is the marriage. The festival gives the opportunity to marry in a very nice way and making it an event which to remember. Also maybe the people in nearby places don't appeal to each other. During the festival people from different villages come together. That gives many people the chance to meet with different people instead of marrying somebody they are always around.

Answer to Questions of Berber Project

They notice that during marriages, an amount of tourists are watching them for their entertainment. Why don't they then find a more private place to do their festivals?

I think that they intended the marriage festival only to be for the Berbers who wanted to marry. After a while though people from other countries found out about the festival. Naturally the tourists wanted to see it themselves. I don't think the organizers of the festival could do anything against it because the government made it open to all people. Also the festival is near the grave of a saint and when you get married there you will be blessed. So if they move the marriage to a different place were there isn't the grave of a saint the marrying couples wouldn't be blessed anymore. Thats why I think the marriage is still at the same place.

Why should we preserve Berber Festivals?

The Berber Bride Festival is a festival where people can find a person to marry. It is held in the High Atlas Mountains in a village called Imilchil every September. The festival is important because the local people don’t have time to marry during their daily lives. They can go to this festival and all matters are taken care off in one week and when they leave the two people are married.

The Berber Bride Festival also has a story behind it. Two lovers Isli and Tislet wanted to marry but were from enemy tribes. So their parents disapproved marriage. The two lovers were so sad that they filled up tow lakes on either side of their mountain. When they were full both of them committed suicide in each of their lakes. They thought that this would reunite their souls after death.

A big problem about this festival is tourism. Tourists heard about this festival and wanted to come. In 1965 the government opened the festival to all people. This had an negative effect on the festival. Marrying couples were nervous and scared because of such a big audience. The amount of people marrying decreased fast. In 2002 only 6 pairs married while in past years around 30 pairs married each year. The organizers are worried that the festival will lose its attraction and will have to stop happening.

I think we should preserve Berber Festivals because it is part of Berber Culture. All the things like tradition, food, life style and etc make up Berber Culture. If we just take out one part of these things then Berber Culture will be weakened and slowly fall apart. Then the Berber Culture will be forgotten with the Berber themselves. Every piece that makes up Berber culture is important. It is important to keep and develop Berber Culture because if everybody would have the same culture then every person on the world would be the same.

The Berber Culture is part of an even bigger culture, the Moroccan Culture. If the Berbers stop believing in their Culture it will be soon lost in the Moroccan one. The Berbers are part of Moroccan society. To have a part in this society you have to play a role in culture and be part of a Culture. The people in the society all contribute something of their own which makes the whole society even more unique. That’ why it is important the Berbers keep their culture.

WWW Poster Project

For this years Week Without Walls we went to the high Atlas mountains. We did fun activities like riding mules, an all day hike and experiencing the daily chores of men ad women. We rode the mules for three hours with a few pauses in between.After that we experienced how the Berbers felt like when they have to ride the mules all day long. The all day hike was also very interesting. We mostly walked on dirt roads or small paths leading to the mountain. We ate lunch in a small village. When we started walking again it started raining an didn't stop until we arrived at the village were we were going to stay in. For dinner we mostly had tagines but also spaghetti's, brochettes and couscous. The point of these trips is to learn more about Berber life.