Today, one of my friends from Tangier Morocco send me a email with some beautiful photos about Tangier Morocco, share with friends.
and thanks for  Hafsa ZERIOUH

_______

 

,best regards                                                                                                                Hafsa ZERIOUH           

ALLAH is my all, he's enough

*************************  

National School of Management-Tangier

Today, I read an article about Moroccan Hammam in the washingtonpost, In fact , the hamman is a arabic word, it means Sauna or Bath. In arab country, especially in Morocco, there are many traditional bath Hammam in the street, and there is more modern Sauna in Morocco too, like in Marrakech, Casablanca, Agdir...... Bathing usually is a simple operation, but in a Moroccan hammam, it's not your typical rub-a-dub-dub.
First, there's no tub, just a honeycomb of tiled rooms with streaming faucets and perspiring walls. The multi-step cleansing technique requires a chemist's brew of hot and cold water, olive oil soap and a mud-like paste. You need to know when to douse and when to drench, when to scrub and when to soak. If you do it right, you'll walk out of the sweat chamber relaxed and glowing. Do it wrong and, well, you should've just stayed in your own bathroom.

Most Moroccans know the drill, since they've been visiting hammams since they could fit inside a bucket -- a common sight at the facility. On any day, from early morning to late evening, you can see men in traditional jallabas, women trailing children and best girlfriends dragging their toiletry-filled buckets to the ubiquitous hammams.
To be sure, the popular outposts are more than just a place to get "a good soak, steam and scrub, and to exfoliate your skin like a snake," explained Latif, my Marrakech guide. Descended from Roman baths and modeled after Turkish baths, the hammams were originally patronized by Moroccans whose homes lacked indoor plumbing. The baths also are rooted in the Islamic ritual of ablution: Muslims wash distinct parts of their body before their daily prayers. With modernization, though, the hammams have morphed into soak-and-socialize centers; indeed, at Majorelle, the chatter flowed like tap water.
Each hammam's appeal (read: sanitary factor) varies immensely. Some are undeniably dirty, with dank surroundings and hairballs. Others are hospital-clean and modern, such as Majorelle, which shares the name of the nearby Oriental gardens that were planted during the French protectorate and are now owned by fashion designer Yves Saint-Laurent. High-end hotels also have hammams, but many are often solitary and silent. That sounded like my boring-old bathroom at home; I wanted company in the shower.
"Here you are with Moroccans," said Latif, as he led me to the women's entrance at Majorelle. "It is traditional. I go at least once a week."
For the uninitiated, hammams can befuddle: Do you soap first or use the mask? Cold water, then hot, or vice versa? And the biggest question: naked or beach attire? And if the latter, European or American?
Fortunately, the all-inclusive package (cost: about $9) includes a fairy godmother with a magic bucket. Mine was Rabia, a doughy Mother Earth type in droopy white bikini bottoms. Taking my hand, Rabia led me to the largest room in the back, where half-naked women sat behind a fortress of buckets, scrubbing their bellies, brushing their wet hair, shaving their legs.
Rabia filled a scoop with the henna-clay mixture and mimed for me to paint myself cocoa brown. Covered in the sludge, I waited for her return. And waited. I wrote "HELP" on my muddy leg, but the woman next to me spoke only Arabic.
Eventually Rabia returned, drowned me under a waterfall, then escorted me to the middle chamber. She then busied herself with filling buckets (my cache had grown from one to three). I was then slowly spun around as she scrubbed all of my angles with a Brillo-like mitt; I could feel my snake skin shedding. More rinsing and lathering followed, this time with a supple olive oil soap that oozed like warm caramel. Then, a massage.
After nearly an hour of cleansing, scrubbing and kneading, all that remained was the finale: the ceremonious dumping of the bucket over my head.
Rosy red, I was ready to plunge back into the grit of Marrakech. As I gathered my belongings, Rabia handed me a parting gift: my mitt scraper. Now all I needed was a bucket.
the experience of using red flower hammam for
seven days offers such deep detoxification that it leaves
the body feeling as light and euphoric as a three day fast.
hammam means spreader of warmth. it is the word given to a sensual bathing retreat that evolved over a period of history spanning nearly one thousand
years and traces its roots back to the roman thermae. circling time and place, the traditions found steeped in a present day hammam can be found in as far-reaching regions as andalusia, spain to the natural hot springs of turkey, tunisia and morocco. the inspiration for hammam
draws from the words, ingredients, bathing philosophies and exceptional body and skin treatments found through all.


--
Posted By Moroccan Beauty to Morocco Travel Information at 4/12/2008 07:59:00 PM

Find Moroccan friends!

THE ARGAN TREE or Argania Spinosa is truly fascinating and unique, believed to date back to the Tertiary period, it once covered North Africa and parts of Southern Europe. It was first reported by the explore Leo Africanus in 1510. An early specimen was taken to Amsterdam and then cultivated by Lady Beaufort at Badminton c1711.
Now only 860,000 hectares remain in S.W. Morocco and these are declining at a rate of 50,000h per year. Measures are being put in place to protect this rare and endangered species and in 1999 the argan was listed as a UNESCO Biosphere Heritage.

We believe that providing a fair income from producing argan oil from the seeds encourages protection of the tree which has been used in the past for building purposes or as charcoal. For this reason our logo has been designed using the argan tree as its central focus and our hope is that future generations will be able to support themselves from their unique heritage.
Known as the Tree of Life this tree can support the local population and its livestock during drought periods.

The fruit sustains goats, the leaves provide forage for camels and sheep, whilst cattle live off the press cake that remains after the oil is made.

The Argan grows wild in arid semi-desert conditions. It plays an essential ecological function in that it protects the soil against heavy rain and wind induced erosion. It provides shade while its roots bind the soil helping to protect against further desertification and the northern advance of the Sahara, It can absorb carbon dioxide and protect the environment.
During times of very low rainfall it has the ability to lie dormant, and to regenerate when the rains come also surviving temperatures of up to 50C.

Argan trees can have a single trunk, or a number of twisted, thickened stems and can grow up to a height of 10 metres. They yield the most fruit after 50-60 years surviving for 200-250 years, making the Argan Groves a valuable inheritance for future generations.

The Argan flowers in the spring producing green olive sized fruits that ripen to yellow. When they have dried in late summer they fall to the ground and are hand gathered. Argan trees are generally found on common land and belong to the Moroccan Forestry Commission. Families have hereditary gathering rights for specific areas close to where they live. Animals are forbidden to graze in the Argan Groves for 3 months before the harvest.



The sharp spiny thorns prevent the fruit being picked by hand, but in the past this did not stop large number of goats clambering to the topmost branches to devour them, so much so, that the Argan Groves were known as tree meadows.

However, nowadays the goats are kept out by forestry wardens and their owners are fined if they stray!
The seeds are in very hard casings inside the fruit layer. These are cracked open by hand by Berber women between a stone and a stone anvil.

It takes 10-12 hours to crack enough nuts to obtain sufficient seeds to yield 1 litre of oil. The fruit pulp can then be fed to goats, the 2nd grade oil used for burning in lamps and finally the remaining seed pulp fed to cattle. Nothing is wasted, the casings are used as kindling or as fuel in clay bread ovens, as they can burn for 30 minutes.

There is an argan tree in the temperate house at Kew,

The Marinid Sultans were prolific patrons of madrasas, which served to promote Sunni teachings during their reign, perhaps meant to counterbalance thriving local Sufi practices. The al-Attarine madrasa, like the other Marinid madrasas of Fez, is celebrated for its rich decorative programme, concentrated in the rectangular arcaded courtyard. The courtyard opens onto a square prayer hall, and is luxuriously ornamented with glazed tile (zellij) dados and pavement, intricate carved stucco ornament on walls and piers, carved and painted wooden arches and cornices, and marble columns. The al-Attarin Madrasa, and the other Marinid madrasas, illustrate the translation of a palatial language of materials and decorations into a religious setting. Though the carved stucco and glazed tile revetment clearly evoke the Nasrid palace of Alhambra in Spain, their highly delicate, almost lace-like, treatment and tendency to ever smaller scale is unique to the Marinid foundations in Morocco. The contrast between sumptuous ornament in the courtyard and the spartan accommodations for the students at the al-Attarin and the other Marinid madrasas may reflect the multiple functions of these buildings. The madrasas often served as mosques for their respective quarters and as settings for official ceremonies. With the addition of associated charitable functions like guesthouses and waqfs, or endowed properties which supported the madrasa's upkeep, to their primary role as religious schools, the madrasas functioned as important centers of community life. The courtyard, as the most public of the spaces within the madrasa, was therefore the focus of the ornament that would highlight the generous image of the madrasa's founder.

The imposing silhouette of the Dar el Makhzen dominates the Tangier kasbah.

Formerly the governor's palace, it was built in the XVIIth century and is laid out around a splendid patio decorated with enamelled faience.
The Museum of Moroccan Arts is housed in the prince's apartments which are indeed princely: painted wooden ceilings, sculpted plaster work and mosaics, all of them exquisite.
A worthy setting for works of art from all over Morocco, which are honoured as prestigious ambassadors of their regions.

The north is represented by firearms decorated with marquetry and its pottery bearing subtle motifs of flowers or feathers, while from Rabat come the shimmering carpets with their characteristic central medallion...
the Fez room is quite dazzling... silks with their subtly shifting highlights, superbly bound illuminated manuscripts with the finest calligraphy, centuries-old dishes decorated in the most brilliant colours, from golden yellow right through the famous "Fez blue".
From the miniscule to the monumental, the Moroccan Museum of Arts is an entire universe of beauty.

LOCATION

Dar el Makhzen, Place de la Kasbah
Tangier
Tel. (212 9) 93 20 97

--
Posted By Moroccan Beauty to Morocco Travel Information at 3/20/2008 09:07:00 AM