Mawsim

Fantasia in Algeria.

The Mawsim is an originally religiously motivated festival pilgrimage in the Maghreb in honor of a Saint (Sheikh, Sidi or Moulay).[3]

In this respect, it is accompanied by the equestrian games called fantasias that sometimes take place at such an event and through other cultural peculiarities.[4]

The religiously related festivals are often based on the Islamic calendar and thus take place in different hijri months each year changing.[5]

Many of the Algerian fantasia troupes perform horse exhibition shown several times a year in different cultural events or Mawsims such as the Celebration of Sidi Ahmed al-Majzoob in Naâma, the Horse celebration in Tiaret, or the Celebration of Sidi Yahia Bensafia in Tlemcen.[6]

These festivities of the Mawsims are for the most part cultural events linked to the harvest, to Muslim saints or to nature, so these local festivals are mainly religious but also secular.[7]

The origin of the name Waada comes from the word waad meaning "meeting" and "gathering", while the name Raqb indicates the pedestrian and equestrian procession of the murids from all sides towards the place of the customary or ritual festival.[8]

The most important Algerian moussem of the territory is that of the oasis of Béni Abbès in the region of Bechar.[9]

Fantasia in Algeria.

Mawsims or fantasias include equestrian games as a tradition of regional pilgrimages linked to one another in Islamic times.[10]

In the Berber areas of the Maghreb, almost every village had its saint or marabout and a small domed tomb or mausoleum (qubba) of the same name.[11]

Some marabout buildings are still being maintained and whitewashed with white paint every few years.[12]

This feast or ritual of the marabout is celebrated once a year and worshipers come to it from places far away.[13]

Many do not really have a link to a saint or founder, but are annual regional meetings designated for a social or economic purpose.[14]

Mausoleum of Sidi Lakhdar Ben Khlouf.

The religious practices relating to the Mawsim are based on the Tilawa of the complete and integral sixty Hizbs of Quran called Salka.[15]

A collective recitation of Al-Burda's poem adorns the festivities to dry up praise for Prophet Muhammad before the occurrence of the Mawlid celebration and before visiting his tomb in the Al-Masjid an-Nabawi in Medina.[16]

Collective catering around large couscous dishes is a central quality of these festivities in order to socialize people attending the Mawsim around traditional culinary foods in addition to the recitation of the Quran, Dhikr and Qasidas.[17]

The annual gathering of the descendants of the marabout in this festivity is an opportunity to strengthen family and tribal ties between these cousins, and also to establish family alliances with other siblings and tribes.[18]

These religious, sociological and gastronomic aspects make it possible to weld the cultural and existential breaches of patriarchal societies and to preserve the intangible heritage of populations, especially rural ones.[19]

Group Salah, collective Tarteel, team tasting of dishes and couscous, choral singing of Al-Burda, appreciation of the artistic performances of fantasia, humming of poems and qasidas, as well as other activities, make Mawsim a proven factor of social cohesion and individual appeasement.[20]

• Zawiyas in Algeria
• Hajj
• Mawlid
• Ziyarat
• Fantasia
• Marabout
• Saint
• Tweeza
• Sebiba
• Wezeea