# Mawsim

> Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Mawsim
> Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Mawsim.md
> Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mawsim
> Source revision: 1327064694
> License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/)

{{Short description|Annual regional festival in Maghreb countries}}
{{See Wiktionary|the annual regional festival in the Maghreb|موسم}}
{{Expand Arabic|topic=cult|وعدة|date=January 2021}}
{{Sufism|Practices}}

'''''Mawsim''''' or '''''moussem''''' ({{langx|ar|موسم}}), '''''waada''''', or '''''raqb''''', is the term used in the [Maghreb](/source/Maghreb) to designate an annual regional festival in which worshippers usually combine the religious celebration of local [Marabout](/source/Marabout)s or [Sufi](/source/Sufi) [Tariqa](/source/Tariqa)s, with various festivities and commercial activities. These are very popular events, often attended by people from very distant places.<ref>{{cite web |title= سكان وهران يتحسرون على وعدة سيدي الحسني |website=جزايرس |language= ar |url= https://www.djazairess.com/alfadjr/119493 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=وعدة سيدي‮ ‬محمد بن‮ ‬يحيى بتيسمسيلت‮ ‬ |website=جزايرس |language= ar |url= https://www.djazairess.com/alseyassi/102750}}</ref>

==Etymology==
===Mawsim, moussem===
[Mawsim](/source/wiktionary%3A%D9%85%D9%88%D8%B3%D9%85) (pl. mawāsim) is an Arabic word literally meaning "season of, time of".<ref>{{Cite book |last=Mohamed |first=Mohamed Hassan |url=https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Between_Caravan_and_Sultan_The_Bayruk_of/Gy3s6zd-yTcC?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=mawsim%20morocco&pg=PA2&printsec=frontcover |title=Between Caravan and Sultan: The Bayruk of Southern Morocco: A Study in History and Identity |date=2012-02-22 |publisher=[Brill](/source/Brill_Publishers) |isbn=978-90-04-18379-7 |pages=2 |language=en}}</ref> It comes from the root w-s-m "to mark".<ref>{{Cite book |last= |first= |url=https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Literature_of_Travel_and_Exploration/xZyOAwAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=mawsim%20root%20%20w-s-m&pg=PA946&printsec=frontcover |title=Literature of Travel and Exploration: An Encyclopedia |date=2014-05-12 |publisher=[Routledge](/source/Routledge) |isbn=978-1-135-45663-4 |editor-last=Speake |editor-first=Jennifer |pages=946 |language=en}}</ref>

===Waada===
The origin of the name '''''waada''''' comes from the word ''waad'' meaning "meeting" and "gathering".<ref name=youm>{{cite web|url=https://www.djazairess.com/akhbarelyoum/159055 |title=وعدة سيدي أحمد المجدوب ببلدية عسلة تستقطب آلاف الزوار|website=جزايرس |language= ar}}</ref>

===Raqb===
The name '''''raqb''''' indicates{{how|date=August 2022}} the pedestrian and equestrian procession of the [murid](/source/murid)s ([novice](/source/novice)s) from all sides towards the place of the customary or ritual festival.<ref name=youm/>

==Religious and secular origin==
[[File:Fantasia à Ain Larba.jpg|thumb|[Fantasia](/source/Fantasia_(performance)) in [Algeria](/source/Algeria)]]
A mawsim is an originally religiously motivated festival pilgrimage in the [Maghreb](/source/Maghreb) in honor of a saint (typically called by an honorific such as [sheikh](/source/sheikh), [sidi](/source/sidi) or [mulay](/source/mulay_(title))).<ref>{{cite web|url= https://www.alaraby.co.uk/%D8%B6%D8%B1%D9%8A%D8%AD-%D8%B3%D9%8A%D8%AF%D9%8A-%D8%B9%D8%A8%D8%AF-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B1%D8%AD%D9%85%D9%86|title=ضريح سيدي عبد الرحمن |website= www.alaraby.co.uk/ |language= ar}}</ref> Mawāsim are cultural events linked to the [harvest](/source/harvest), to [Sufi saints](/source/Sufi_saints), or to nature, so these local festivals are both religious and secular.<ref>{{cite web|url= https://www.djazairess.com/echorouk/26115 |language= ar |title=زيارة‮ سيدي‮ عبد‮ الرحمن‮ تقليد‮ شعبي‮ يثير‮ الجدل|website=جزايرس}}</ref>

The mawsim at [Nabi Musa](/source/Nabi_Musa) in [Jericho](/source/Jericho), the most important festival for Muslim [Palestinians](/source/Palestinians), took place in spring, a season used for popular holidays since [classical antiquity](/source/classical_antiquity).<ref name=Cohen>{{cite book |last= Cohen |first= Amnon |chapter= Al-Nabi Musa – an Ottoman festival (''mawsim'') resurrected? |title= Mamluks and Ottomans: Studies in Honour of Michael Winter |year= 2006 |pages= 34–44 [38] |editor= David J. Wasserstein |editor2= Ami Ayalon |publisher= Routledge |location= Abingdon, Oxon |series= Routledge Studies in Middle Eastern History |isbn= 041537278X |chapter-url= https://books.google.com/books?id=SMGSTgfU7CQC&pg=PA38 |access-date= 30 July 2022}}</ref>

==Religious and social practices==
[[File:Arbre mythique.jpg|thumb|[Mausoleum](/source/Mausoleum) of ''{{interlanguage link|Sidi Lakhdar Ben Khlouf|ar|لخضر بن خلوف}}'']]

In the [Berber](/source/Berbers) areas of the [Maghreb](/source/Maghreb), almost every village had{{clarify|reason=Why in the past tense, discontinued?|date=July 2022}} its saint or marabout and a small domed tomb or [mausoleum](/source/mausoleum) (''[qubba](/source/qubba)'') of the same name.<ref>{{cite web |url= https://www.djazairess.com/alfadjr/157539 |language= ar |title=وعدة سيدي الحسني.. تظاهرة لم يبق منها إلا الاسم|website=جزايرس}}</ref> This feast or ritual of the marabout is celebrated once a year and worshipers come to it from places far away.<ref>{{cite web |url= https://www.djazairess.com/elmouwatan/102754 |language= ar |title=أهل فليتة يحتفلون بوعدة الولي الصالح سيدي محمد بن عودة|website=جزايرس}}</ref> Some marabout buildings are still being maintained and whitewashed with white paint every few years.<ref>{{cite web |language= ar |url= https://www.djazairess.com/elitihad/24911 |title=إحياء وعدة الولي الصالح سيدي سحنون التقليدية ببلدية أولاد بن عبد القادر|website=جزايرس}}</ref>

Many do not really have a link to a saint or founder, but are annual regional meetings designated for a social or economic purpose.<ref>{{cite web |language= ar |url= https://www.el-massa.com/dz/%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%AB%D9%82%D8%A7%D9%81%D8%A9/%D8%A5%D8%AD%D9%8A%D8%A7%D8%A1-%D9%88%D8%B9%D8%AF%D8%A9-%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%88%D9%84%D9%80%D9%8A-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B5%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%AD-%D8%B3%D9%8A%D8%AF%D9%8A-%D8%A3%D9%85%D8%AD%D9%85%D8%AF-%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%88%D8%A7%D8%B3%D9%8A%D9%86%D9%8A|title=إحياء وعدة الولـي الصالح "سيدي أمحمد الواسيني"|first=❊ل عبد|last=الحليم|website=المساء}}</ref>

The religious practices relating to the ''mawsim'' are based on the [''tilawa''](/source/Tilawa_(Quran)) (ritual recitation) of the complete and integral sixty ''[hizb](/source/hizb)s'' of the [Quran](/source/Quran), the Sufi [''salka''](/source/Salka_(Sufism)).<ref>{{cite web |language= ar |url= https://www.djazairess.com/eldjoumhouria/62073 |title=اختتام وعدة " سيدي الحسني " بوهران|website=جزايرس}}</ref>

A collective recitation of the ''[al-Burda](/source/al-Burda)'' poem adorns the festivities to praise Prophet [Muhammad](/source/Muhammad) before the start of the [Mawlid](/source/Mawlid) (Prophet's birthday) celebration and before visiting his tomb in the [Prophet's Mosque](/source/Prophet's_Mosque) in [Medina](/source/Medina).<ref>{{cite web |language= ar |url= https://www.djazairess.com/eldjoumhouria/41491 |title=تيميمون تتزيّن للإحتفال بأسبوع المولد النبوي|website=جزايرس}}</ref>

Collective catering around large [couscous](/source/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](/source/Quran), [Dhikr](/source/Dhikr) and [Qasida](/source/Qasida)s.<ref name=djz>{{cite web |language= ar |url= https://www.djazairess.com/akhbarelyoum/222329 |title=غليزان توافد كبير على وعدة سيدي حراث بزمورة|website=جزايرس}}</ref>

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.<ref>{{cite web |language= ar |url= https://www.djazairess.com/akhbarelyoum/223775 |title=وعدة سيدي عابد بتيسمسيلت تستقطب الزوار|website=جزايرس}}</ref>

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.<ref>{{cite web |language= ar |url= https://www.djazairess.com/alfadjr/221643 |title=منطقة وتقاليد وعدة سيدي أحمد المجذوب بالنعامة|website=جزايرس}}</ref>

Group ''[salah](/source/salah)'' (prayer), collective ''[tarteel](/source/tarteel)'', team tasting of dishes and [couscous](/source/couscous), choral singing of Al-Burda, appreciation of the artistic performances of fantasia, humming of poems and ''[qasida](/source/qasida)s'', as well as other activities, make ''mawsim'' a proven factor of social cohesion and individual appeasement.<ref>{{cite web |language= ar |url= https://www.djazairess.com/eldjoumhouria/10158 |title=المشوي، الكسكسي والرفيس لفتح الشهية|website=جزايرس}}</ref>

==Date==
The religiously related festivals are often based on the Islamic calendar and thus take place in different hijri months each year changing.<ref>{{cite web |language= ar |url= https://www.djazairess.com/akhbarelyoum/45682 |title=الزوار "يحجّون" إلى ضريح سيدي عبد الرحمن|website=جزايرس}}</ref>

==Equestrian games; prominent ''moussem''s==
[[File:Horse fantasia Algeria.jpg|thumb|[Fantasia](/source/Fantasia_(performance)) in [Algeria](/source/Algeria)]]

A mawsim is sometimes accompanied by the equestrian games called [Fantasias](/source/Fantasia_(performance)) and other cultural peculiarities.<ref>{{cite web |language= ar |url= https://www.djazairess.com/eldjadida/10036 |title=وعدة حناشة .. إطعام وصدقات على أمل موسم فلاحي ناجح|website=جزايرس}}</ref> Mawāsim and Fantasias include equestrian games as a tradition of regional pilgrimages linked to one another in Islamic times.<ref>{{cite web |language= ar |url= https://www.djazairess.com/elmouwatan/3080 |title= "‬وعدة‮" سيدي‮ محمد والشيخ شموع،‮ كسكسي‮ وأشياء أخرى|website=جزايرس}}</ref>

Many of the Algerian fantasia troupes perform horse exhibition shown several times a year in different cultural Mawāsim such as that of Sidi Ahmed al-Majzub in [Naâma](/source/Na%C3%A2ma), the Horse celebration of [Tiaret](/source/Tiaret), or the Celebration of Sidi Yahia Bensafia in [Tlemcen](/source/Tlemcen).<ref>{{cite web |language= ar |url= http://www.aps.dz/ar/societe/78532-2019-10-25-16-58-55 |title=غليزان: إقبال كبير للزوار على وعدة الولي الصالح سيدي بوعبد الله |publisher=Aps.dz |access-date=2021-01-24}}</ref>

The most important Algerian mawsimis that of the oasis of [Béni Abbès](/source/B%C3%A9ni_Abb%C3%A8s) in the region of [Bechar](/source/Bechar).<ref>{{cite web |language= ar |url= https://www.echoroukonline.com/الوعدة-السنوية-لسيدي-محمد-السايح-بغرد/|title=الوعدة السنوية لسيدي محمد السايح بغرداية تجمع شمل الجزائريين|date=July 1, 2019|website=الشروق أونلاين}}</ref>

[Tan-Tan Moussem](/source/Tan-Tan_Moussem) is a traditional annual gathering of Berber tribes<ref name=MAcom>{{Cite web |language= ar |url= http://www.morocco.com/blog/tan-tan-moussem-an-amazing-cultural-celebration|title=Tan Tan Moussem: An Amazing Cultural Celebration|website=www.morocco.com|access-date=2016-03-21}}</ref> from the Maghreb in the southwest Moroccan town of [Tan-Tan](/source/Tan-Tan).<ref name=UNESCO>{{Cite web |url= http://www.unesco.org/culture/ich/en/RL/moussem-of-tan-tan-00168|title=Moussem of Tan-Tan - intangible heritage - Culture Sector - UNESCO|website=www.unesco.org|access-date=2016-03-21}}</ref> A mawsim is "a type of annual fair with economic, cultural and social functions."<ref name=UNESCO/>

==See also==
{{wiktionary|موسم|moussem|mevsim}}

* [Hajj](/source/Hajj), annual Islamic pilgrimage to Mecca
* [Islamic saint](/source/Saint) or [wali](/source/wali)
* [Sebiba](/source/Sebiba), Ashura Festival event and dance of the Algerian Tuaregs with black African roots
* [Tweeza](/source/Tweeza), Algerian Sufi term for voluntary cooperation in doing a good deed for individuals or communities
* [Wezeea](/source/Wezeea), Algerian term for a rural Sufi cultural custom
* [Zawiyas in Algeria](/source/Zawiyas_in_Algeria), Sufi religious buildings honouring the memory of patron saints
* [Ziyarat](/source/Ziyarat), pilgrimage to venerated Islamic sites

==References==
{{reflist}}

{{Sufism terminology}}
{{Portal bar|Religion|Islam|Education|Psychology}}
{{Authority control}}

Category:Sufism
Category:Islamic pilgrimages
Category:Islamic terminology
Category:Religious festivals
Category:Sufism in Algeria
Category:Culture of Algeria
Category:Culture of Morocco
Category:Rituals
Category:Festivals in Algeria
Category:Mawlid

---
Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Mawsim](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mawsim) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mawsim?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.