Since the beginning of September we have become almost the only people in Amsa who are not full time residents. We have also had much more to do with our nearest neighbour Saffia and her family.

The slightly cooler weather has also made it possible to extend my walks further up the valley. As a result I now know rather more about how the people of the valley live.

If you have been following this blog, you may remember this photo from July, when Saffia brought us a loaf of her bread baked in her outside oven.

On the sea side of the village, where there are many holiday homes and second homes, only the elderly women still wear their traditional attire. But when I ventured further up the valley I discovered almost all the women there still wearing it every day. The coloured striped cloth is called a ‘mendil’. It is a single piece of tightly woven cloth that is normally tied round the waist. It serves as an apron, a towel, a bag (when folded upwards and tucked into the waistband), and can also be wrapped round a large object or bundle and carried on the back slung over the shoulder.

It is only worn by married women, and the colours used, always in stripes, are determined by the husband’s ‘clan’ or extended family. It is used only in northern Morocco. If a husband dies and his wife remarries, she will continue to wear the mendil of her first husband’s clan. There is thought to be only one very old lady who still weaves in this valley, but presumably some are still made in other valleys not too far away, as few look to be in need of replacement.

The other traditional item of clothing in northern Morocco is Saffia’s hat, a sheshia. These are made of Giant Reed (Arundo donax), and are worn by both men and women. They can also be used as a basket. The women wear them over their headscarf, and the men often have a woolly hat underneath.

Many older men throughout Morocco wear a robe, either a djellaba (which has a pointed hood) or a kaftan which does not.

I do not have any other photos of people in traditional clothes, as most refused to let me take their photos when I asked, so I have used the following photo before as well.

This man is wearing a kaftan as he takes Giant Reed home on his donkey for fodder, probably for sheep and goats as well as the donkey.

During the hottest period of the summer, many young lads also wore thin kaftans instead of their usual T-shirt and shorts. I am sure it is cooler. A few even wore sheshias instead of back to front baseball caps.

Djellabas are often of a heavier material and are an all purpose overcoat, and are also worn by many women during the winter.

Saffia and her daughter Anisa have visited us many times in the last month. They come principally to keep Fatima company (she could not walk up the hill to see them) and also to share work. Sometimes Saffia will arrive to help Fatima preparing vegetables or fruit, but for a couple of weeks we were all involved with cleaning their wheat harvest.

I am not sure exactly where they grow the wheat as it was harvested before we arrived here in early July. It is all cut by hand with a sickle – I described a scythe, but they have never seen one.

Then it is threshed by their donkey walking round and round over it in circles. It is winnowed (to remove the chaff) by shaking it in a flat basket in a breeze. The chaff is much lighter than the grains, so once you have mastered the technique, the chaff will fly off the top. The resulting grains were put in sacks of about 25 Kg each. So we could help, these were brought down the hill in a car.

It then has to be picked over to remove small stones, weed seeds and any remaining chaff.

Saffia started us off by riddling to get rid of any large rubbish. The basket below the riddle is probably one of those used for winnowing. On this occasion, Saffia was accompanied by 5 year old grand daughter Miriam. Miriam went home and told her mother that ‘a man took a photo of Granny’. That was me – she had never seen any woman with short hair before.

Saffia is not actually quite as old as she might appear. She must be in her mid 60s, based on her age when she married and the ages of her children. Although, in theory, her birth should have been registered, registration seems to have reached this area very late, so like Fatima, she does not know when she was born.

A heap of grain was then put on the table and we steadily worked our way through it, grain by grain. Anisa is behind me and Fatima just visible on the right. Assia assisted when she could, and a couple of times another of Saffia’s daughters came for a while. In all we picked our way through about 75 Kg.

It was then taken by car to the electric mill in Azla, the next (larger) village.

This is the finished result from the first 25 Kg. About two thirds flour, one third wheat germ.

All the debris, stones included, were given to the poultry.

Now the holiday makers have left, the fishermen have the beach to themselves. Those with the 20 or so small boats have continued fishing throughout, generally going about half a mile off shore, where they catch a wider variety of fish. Along the shoreline, and on the rocks at the far end of the beach, there will generally be 3 or 4 men with fishing rods, who catch fish about 1lb in weight.

The third method is to stand on shore and haul a net in. These men are very resistant to having their photos taken, so this was taken from a long way away. There are 2 ways I have seen used, one with a single team of men, the other with two teams. For both a man with a boat takes a large net about 30 yards off shore, with a rope attached to each side. Normally two teams take a rope each, but for a single team the other rope is tied either to a beached boat, or some fixed pole on the shore. Whichever it is, the two ropes start a considerable distance apart and gradually move closer together.

Each rope has between 4 and 6 pullers. There is usually a older man or young boy who coils the free end of the rope into a neat pile. When a man reached the pile of rope, they stop while he walks to the sea end, and then pulling recommences. Eventually the net arrives on the shore with a catch of sardines. The catch is divided among all those involved.

Another custom we had a brief involvement with was a wedding. A young man from Tangiers who had invited Najib and Jemal to his marriage postponed it due to the lockdown. When it eased, they decided to have a smaller marriage ceremony, then go round and visit some of the guests who could not attend.

So one day they turned up here. They brought us some small cakes from the wedding.

It is customary to give newly weds dates and milk the first time they visit you after the wedding.

The bride still had henna patterns on her hands and feet.

It being autumn, the small holding is producing fruit and vegetables faster than we can eat it, especially now we are far fewer.

At the far end of the balcony are long red peppers, and at the near end there is garlic and bundles of thyme. All being dried for the winter.

In the upstairs ‘hall’ chillies and verveine leaves are slowly drying. There are yet more chillies and red peppers downstairs as well.

Two large sweet chestnut trees are just ripening their fruit. I asked Assia what they would be used for and she was non-plussed. She only knew of roasting them and making a stuffing for turkey. Usually they are thrown away. I suggested there were many other options, so she has been looking for recipes on-line, and is starting with an attempt at chestnut jam. She is very interested in cooking, and is likely to try several recipes.

There are also a lot of pomegranate trees, so we are overdosing on pomegranate ‘smoothies’. The surplus seeds are put in one of the many freezers. These are no longer all full, as much of the meat from the rams killed for Eid have been taken back to Rabat by various members of the family.

Lemons and tangerines are just coming into season as well. No shortage of vitamin C or anti-oxidants whilst we are here!

Doesn’t seem to be much progress on my house purchase, but no doubt it will all happen eventually. In the meantime, I will continue to post about once a month until I do eventually get back to the UK.