Al-Mekshah or "Hockey of the Nomads" is a traditional Moroccan game that is in danger of disappearing
Nomadic hockey match in Morocco
The desert game is similar to the famous ice hockey sport in North America and European countries, or on the grass as it is practiced in other countries.
In the desert town of M’Hamid El Ghizlane in southeastern Morocco, sand hockey still thrills a few amateurs who are desperately trying to preserve it from extinction, as part of the ancestral nomadic heritage.
On the occasion of the town's recent International Festival of Travelers, a handful of amateurs and curious people gathered around a small field surrounded by grass, waiting for a game of the game to start.
During the match, players from two teams carrying bats carved from palm wood faced each other with bare feet on a sandy ground.
game "Almkshah"
The members of one of the two teams wear blue clothes, while the members of the second team choose white for these light men's garments that are widespread in the desert, and cover their heads and faces with the "black veil" that nomads and desert people in general take refuge from the harsh weather.
The game is called locally "Al-Mekshah" in the Hassani dialect, which is a colloquial Amazigh word common throughout the desert regions in the northwest of the Maghreb.
This sport is usually practiced for fun in spare time.
The players wear light men's robes, which are widespread in the desert
He adds, "Our ancestors were nomads, and they would rest from their travels whenever they settled in a place, and to pass the time they would play this game that they invented based on the traditions of the desert."
The two competing teams consist of 7 players, and the number may be larger at times, and they face each other on a court whose lines were drawn by hand, and each of them seeks to deliver the ball beyond the opponent's goal line, under the supervision of a referee they call "the sheikh".
'A heritage that must be protected'
The desert game is similar to the famous ice hockey sport in North America and European countries, or on the grass as it is practiced in other countries.
And if it is difficult to determine who invented this game first, "certainly nomads could not have seen that a game similar to Hassaniya was being played in the West," says Bodin.
The desert version of hockey requires precision and mastery in controlling, passing and hitting the ball, in the midst of the dust scattered under the bare feet of the players.
A shot from a nomadic hockey game.
As is generally the case with popular games or other traditional sports that are threatened with extinction, the practice of "nomadic hockey" has declined, and its matches are absent.
"This is a heritage that we inherited from father to grandfather, and it is necessary for us to protect it from extinction," said Rachid Laghouanem, head of the Traditional Games and Sports Association in M'Hamid El Ghizlane.
He adds, "We are trying to arouse the interest of young people in particular in this game by organizing tournaments in various festivals."
Source: websites