“Belmaun” spreads an atmosphere of joy and preserves the Amazigh heritage that has been inherited for thousands of years
Thousands of Amazigh audiences in the regions of Souss, Al Haouz and other regions turn out to follow the rituals of spectacle, enjoyment and creativity in the massive “Belmaune” celebrations, festivals and “carnivals” that these regions witness on the occasion of Eid al-Adha.
Celebrating this ancient Amazigh heritage, which begins on the next day of Eid al-Adha and lasts from three days to a week or more, disguises itself in a variety of different masks to hide their identities and features, and they wear goat and sheep skins. Then they wander through the alleys and streets accompanied by large crowds, dancing and singing to rhythms. “Ahwach” and various Amazigh art.
Major celebrations and festivals are organized at the level of Agadir, Dashira and a number of neighboring regions, including official ones through local and regional groups and authorities, as well as civil and association events. It is expected that the Agadir Community Council, in partnership with the Ministry of Youth, Culture and Communication and the Souss-Massa Region Council, and under the management of the Souss-Massa Center for Cultural Development, will organize the second session of the “Belmaune” International Carnival of Agadir from 1st to 3rd July 2024.
As usual, with every “Belmaun” season, some “extremist” voices rise up on “social media” platforms that try to “prohibit” these Amazigh customs and traditions that are deeply rooted in history, and try to “distort” it and attach it to “customs that are hostile to the Islamic religion,” as they claim. However, this small group, which shrinks year after year, is faced with vigilance and intellectual and scientific argumentation by Amazigh, associational and civil activists, intellectuals and activists, which refutes their claims.
The defenders of “Belmaune” considered that the Amazigh cultural heritage, which has been passed on between generations since ancient times, is aimed at entertainment and joy. They stressed that the “Wahhabi ideology” imported from the Middle East, which prohibits everything related to our customs, traditions, and cultural, civilizational, and human heritage, has ended irrevocably. Rather, “the same Levantine countries that exported “extremism and extremism” to “North Africa” have begun to open up to the world. .
In this regard, Professor Muhammad Farid commented by saying: “Most of those who attack us, the Amazigh, and spoil our joys, and work in every way to annihilate, kill, and bury our cultural, linguistic, and civilizational heritage, are Arabs, Arabized, Arabized, and usurped Amazigh, and Islamist preachers, preachers, and sheikhs. The language of the enemy in their vile attempts, “And they accuse us of all kinds of charges.”
He said, “The Amazighs are not young children who even need the guardianship of extremists who fight Amazigh customs and traditions. Rather, they are free in their own land,” adding that “the Amazighs are peaceful, open-minded and tolerant people, but they do not accept injustice, injustice, arbitrariness, oppression, marginalization, and contempt.”
For his part, the Amazigh artist, Hamid Ashtouk, wondered why “the leftist, modernist and progressive forces and parties retreated backwards and “spectatored” in the “Wahhabi war” on the Amazigh heritage.”
For his part, Muhammad Badara considered that “culture and arts have limitless means and possibilities for reviving and revitalizing the cultural self of peoples. In their womb, types and patterns of cultural forms grow and are reproduced, some of which are popular latent in the popular collective memory, and some of which are unpopular latent in the self.” Creative individuality, some of which is transcendent and transcendent, and some of which is coexistent and non-scriptural, such as popular culture, which is seen as an image of non-scriptural societies, expresses itself through artistic and non-artistic means of expression and is embodied through an endless number of symbolic forms that represent a witness or a temporal indicator. About its long cultural history.
Also, the writer adds a gesture in a previous article about “rituals of spectacle and enjoyment in Boujloud celebrations,” It is a container for the beliefs, customs, values and customs that were embodied in the past and manifested in the civilization of this collective memory. It does not remain imprisoned in this past, nor does this memory prevent it from regaining its present and present awareness.
He said that man, as represented by this culture, is not an eternal being, but rather the product of historical memory that embodies the meaning and significance of his existence. Therefore, we “inherited a number of symbolic forms that helped us enrich our knowledge of ancient times, as is the case with French celebrations or folkloric festivals (Boujloud celebrations - for example), which are held in parallel with Eid al-Adha celebrations and last for days filled with dancing, acting, singing, and spectacle.”
He highlighted that “these joyful celebrations fall within the expressive media in Amazigh popular culture, and like other popular cultural forms of similar peoples with cultural value, they are expressive and semantic patterns that express and imitate reality and nature through many imitative means, including movement, dancing, acting, and spectacle... “For the Amazigh person, it constitutes spiritual and natural needs.”
Moreover, a number of activists and Amazigh and civil society activists called on the Ministry of Culture to “begin valuing and registering this cultural heritage in the UNESCO list of intangible cultural relics and protecting it from extinction.”
It is worth noting that the Ministry of Youth, Culture and Communication expressed last year its readiness to coordinate with practitioners and all stakeholders in order to prepare the file for registering Belmaune on the UNESCO List of Intangible Cultural Heritage.
She considered that “Belmaune” has a special importance among the elements of living heritage, and that young people were keen to continue caring for this element because of its connection to cultural identity.
Source: websites