part of the cultural glue that has held Morocco together
for centuries. In traditional Moroccan families, women
take charge of the cooking, but men preside over tea-
making. The role is taken seriously and the protocol is
well defined. Idir is dressed in a traditional hooded wool
robe and white skull cap. Since he and his family speak
only Berber, our guide, Hassan – who grew up in the
mountains as one of 11 children – interprets.
“Tea is very important to Berber families – it
brings them together. They drink it at all times of day,
throughout the day,” he explains. “Each time they go
through the same ceremony.”
For us, this ritual is an opportunity to see how Berber
people live and, as Hassan points out, our visit also
provides much-needed income to villagers whose
existence of herding and farming is under threat as
younger generations leave for the cities. And, as the
Berber way of life itself becomes forgotten, it helps to
assert the finer points of a tradition that might be lost.
Idir begins by washing his hands under water poured
into a metal bowl by his eldest granddaughter, Rita, who
is 17. Meanwhile, on a portable charcoal stove, water for
the tea is heated. After warming the pot, he throws in a
handful of tea from a decorated metal box. He rinses it
twice in hot water before filling the pot a third time.
A
group of children
heavily layered
in jumpers and
sweatshirts runs up
the unmade track to
greet us. Only two
buildings are visible.
The rest of Aït Said
is hidden - dozens
of stone dwellings
spill down the mountainside, merging with the pink-
brown rock and enveloped in thick mist.
Shivering, we step inside the dark interior of a house.
We’re on a Berber trail in the High Atlas Mountains
and have stopped for tea after a winding two-hour drive
through the Ourika Valley. It was 24°C when we left
Marrakech, but now our shorts and T-shirts are woefully
inadequate for the mountain chill. We huddle around a
paraffin stove in the windowless kitchen.
Idir, the male elder of an extended family and our
host, gestures for us to follow him up a flight of steps
and into a room that couldn’t be more different from
the simple living quarters we’ve just been in. Large and
whitewashed, with hand-painted floral motifs on the
ceiling and green embroidered cushions scattered across
a bench, it’s a surprisingly showy space. A decorated
silver tray with small glasses is in the centre.
This is the heart of the household and we’re here to
view a traditional tea ceremony first hand. The ritual is
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