Casablanca festival helps poor Moroccan couples get married

12/05/2009

Casablanca is preparing to welcome one million celebrants for the second edition of its popular group wedding festival, Zawaj Derb Soltane. Ten lucky couples will have all their expenses paid by a community association.

By Imane Belhaj for Magharebia in Casablanca – 12/05/09

[File] Preparations are under way In Casablanca for the Zawaj Derb Soltane community wedding party.

Hassna Arouch never expected to be selected, together with her young future husband, as one of ten lucky Moroccan couples whose wedding expenses would all be paid as a gift from Zawaj Derb Soltane Association.

The unique group wedding party will run from July 2nd to July 5th, as part of a big festival hosted by Casablanca's Derb Soltane Al Fedaa neighborhood.

"It’s the dream of my life," the 21-year-old tells Magharebia. Hassna and her fiancé Abderrehman were planning just a simple family wedding party. Their guests would have been limited to close relatives because they lacked the financial means to invite anyone else.

Thanks to the Zawaj Derb Soltane Association, now preparing to host its second wedding festival, Hassna needs to expand her list.

"The success of the first Zawaj festival last year was a big motive to repeat it," renowned Moroccan comedian and association president Said Nassiri told Magharebia. "It was made to bring happiness to the hearts of couples from poor social classes."

The main goal of that event was to re-evaluate the values of solidarity and brotherhood which characterised the Casablanca neighborhood in the past, he said. "Today", he continued, "we want to re-establish [those values] through the noblest relation in the world, which is the relation between husband and wife".

On Thursday (May 7th), the organisers held a special tea party for the ten surprised winning couples. Five live in El Fida and five come from the Derb Soltane district.

"The Association relied on objective criteria, which were supervised by a committee of representatives from the Ministry of Endowments and Islamic Affairs, city council, Derb Soltane El Fida prefecture council and notaries," Zawaj Derb Soltane Association General Secretary Ahmed Sedjari added.

These criteria include age, residence in neighbourhoods targeted by the National Initiative for Human Resources and family income.

The four-day festival will begin with the recitation of the fatiha celebrating the engagement and wrap up with festivities of the wedding night. Neighbourhood contests will be organised to select the cleanest alley, the best balcony decorated with flowers, as well as contests in haircuts, cosmetics, neggafas, and cooking, children's contests in Qur'an recitation, and open air art activities in which a number of Moroccan artists will take part.

Organisers hope to attract one million visitors, more than doubling the 400 thousand who came to the wedding party last year. The cost for this year's event is expected to be 9m dirhams.

"The Association's activities will not be restricted to these festivals," Nassiri noted. He promised to stay in regular contact with the wedding couples in order to help them deal with other burdens of life.