Marrakech – The 13th edition of the orange blossom season, "Zahria Marrakech", kicked off this Friday in the Red City, in the presence of community actors active in the field of heritage preservation, academics, researchers, and figures from the world of culture and art.
"Zahria Marrakech", organised by the Mounia Association for the preservation and safeguarding of Morocco's heritage in partnership, in particular, with the Ministry of Youth, Culture and Communication, the Marrakech Communal Council, the Wilaya of the region, the Regional Council, and the Moroccan National Tourism Office, aims to safeguard this ancient tradition and inform the public about the techniques of orange blossom distillation.
In a speech during the opening ceremony of this event, the president of the Mounia Association, Jaafar Kansoussi, praised the women who have ensured the transmission of this ancient tradition and its secrets to their daughters, recalling that the distillation of orange blossom returns every year to celebrate the spring season (March 21) by Marrakech families.
He noted that the association works to involve educational and university institutions, cultural institutions, tourism actors, and civil society in reviving this season, explaining that "Zahria Marrakech" is also celebrated in a special edition on the initiative of women members of the association.
He continued that the association has developed an innovative cultural engineering to transform this private family celebration into a major public, cultural, and festive event in the city, while seeking to establish a season or festival dedicated to celebrating spring.
For his part, the president of the Regional Tourism Council of Marrakech-Safi, Hamid Bentahar, highlighted the importance and role of this season in valuing one of the components of heritage carried by women, who have been able to pass this tradition on to their daughters from generation to generation, noting that this legacy makes it possible to further strengthen social ties around the distillation of orange blossom with the arrival of spring.
Mr. Bentahar explained, in this regard, that the season represents a favourable opportunity to highlight the innovative traditional cultural offerings of the Marrakech destination.
For her part, the Secretary General of the Mounia Association, Thoraya Arbane, explained that the credit for the inheritance of the tradition of orange blossom water distillation for centuries goes to women, noting that the Zahria ceremony constitutes a favourable occasion to consolidate the social bond between people of the same family and renew the sense of belonging to the community.
The opening ceremony of this cultural event was marked by the organisation of an introductory workshop on this ancient tradition, led by Saadia Boufous, who oversaw the presentation of the ancient Moroccan orange blossom distillation method, its various stages, and the tools used, in addition to a storytelling session by the artist Souad Mediani, about the history of orange blossom distillation in Marrakech.
The programme of this cultural event, which continues until April 14, includes introductory workshops on the seasonality of orange blossom distillation, an art exhibition, an exhibition highlighting the artisanal products of cooperatives, a procession to offer orange blossom water to the mausoleum of Moulay Abdellah El Ghazouani, the planting of bitter orange saplings, and seminars on "The present and future of the Medina" and "The art of Mahloun and fragrant gardens".
A number of personalities will also be honoured, including Lalla Aicha Noufel, an expert in the field of traditional embroidery, the writer Raja Ben Chamsi, and the esteemed calligrapher Mohamed Badie Boussoni.
It should be noted that "Zahria Marrakech" has been included, since 2022, on the lists of the Islamic World Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (ICESCO) as cultural heritage of the Islamic world.
The post Orange blossom season "Zahria Marrakech" celebrates its 13th anniversary appeared first on MAP Express.
