Eid al-Fite

Eid al-Fite or Eid is translated, Feast of the Breaking of the Fast. It is the celebration at the end of Ramadan.

After dinner the night of the camel bite and the cooking class in Marrakech, we took a carriage ride around the wall of the city to see the celebration. A huge carnival was set up just outside the walls complete with a Ferris wheel, camels to ride (Donna declined) and more.

The driver took us into Jemaa-el-Fna Square in the center of the Medina. The horses and carriage could barely get through the throng of people. Jon and Frank estimated the number of people at 200,000 in the square alone.

When we entered the square, it looked like one end was in flames.

This was the area where the open barbeque pits were grilling meats of all kinds for people to buy to eat.The smoke rolling over the crowd, the smell of the food cooking, and the drums and music made this one of the most exotic scenes I've ever seen.

Juice stands were everywhere. There were snake charmers with cobras, women painting henna tattoos, a huge circle where two men were telling a story, and another circle where two young men were boxing. There were lanterns for sale and rings of drummers who convinced me to wear one of their hats and dance with them.

There were two boys about eight years old who called to me as we rode through the square, "Bonjour Madam," clowning to get me to take their picture.

At one point, a woman completely covered in a burqua with only her eyes showing gayly waved at us in the carriage calling out in English, "Hello, hello." One thing I have neglected to say is that the Muslim women in Morocco generally do not wear burquas. They prefer the brightly colored caftans with hoods which they leave down unless entering a mosque.So the woman who waved was an exception to the general rule. But, I was impressed with her friendlyness and assertiveness.

There was a boy who jumped on the foot step of the carriage and tried to sell us something. I tried to take his photo but he always hid from me. Donna offered him a coin for a photo but he jumped off the carriage and flipped her the bird. Apparently that is a universal statement.

There was a primal aspect to the celebration with the smoke and music and masses of people in close proximity.