What’s that holiday called where kids dress up in scary costumes, knock on your door and ask for treats, threatening mischief should you refuse them?
Holloween?
Nope.
Gotcha, you were thinking locally weren’t you. Think globally.. . and let your thoughts take you to a tiny Amazigh village in Morocco. A few days ago, each family has slaughtered a sheep or a goat….now you have a whole load of smelly skins and nothing fun to do with them. Unless…
The boujloud are coming! If you are a kid, you hear the drums beating and run out to meet them. Or alternately you find a place to hide. After all, you have spent the last day in terrified anticipation of them, exchanging horror stories with other kids about what might happen to you if you don’t give the Boujloud some money. They take all your food and break your furniture…they pick up little kids by their feet and hit them…if the boujloud man goes to a graveyard at night, the goat skins will stick to his body!
I remember this from my own childhood, mapping out hiding spots with my friends. In my mind the Boujloud were a fierce and fearsome band of boogeymen. This Eid, I saw the same delighted fear on my children’s faces. And I could see now that the Boujloud are just a bunch of local youth, out having fun.
You can’t buy costumes like this in any store. I love the creative re-using of these getups. The Goat Boy is the star of the bunch. It is actually quite an impressive (read scary) experience to see him up close.
No children were harmed in the making of this blog post:
It was all (fairly) harmless fun and exaggerated posturing.
Interesting note: the money raised by the Boujloud is donated to the local mosque. Not your typical fundraiser, but it works.
Life in Marrakesh 