Moroccan Stylez

A lovely “moroccan candle lantern” is exactly what I need I think for my terrace. Im just sitting looking at it now and sure enough I mentioned it to the wife (who has a thing for moroccan candle lantern and all things of moroccan origin). She loved the idea and is actively encouraging me to haul it over to Morocco as soon as possible to see about getting her one pristine moroccan candle lantern of x and y dimensions… me and my big mouth.

Anyways I decided to do some searching for a moroccan candle lantern just to see how they looked and show the wife to ensure I came back with the correct one (or at least as close to a perfect “moroccan candle lantern” that she would expect, not one she wasnt expecting or there would be hell to pay) and came across some beautifully crafted items. They where predominately metal in construction with glass casing, sometimes coloured and more than one had a beautifully etched and crafted design thjat is certainly Arabic in style and has whats becoming familiar to me as a very Moroccan style, ok one moroccan candle lantern coming up!

I have included some examples you can purchase below if you wish!

I was doing a surffing session on the web and came across this stuff…”moroccan red moore paint”. At first I thought, hey hey! a Moroccan produced paint that uses all natural substances or sand or something to make a beautiful red and vibrant hue. Turns out that moroccan red moore paint is actually called 1309 Moroccan Red.

Disappointed to say the least, I was honestly hoping that on my next trip to Morocco I could shuffle up to a nice Moroccan vendor and say “moroccan red moore paint” and with a twinkle in his eye the vendor would proceed to throw together a vast concotion of herbs spices and natural Moroccan sands to produce a beautiful and authentic “moroccan red moore paint” which I would bring home and happily splah all over my walls while awaiting my friends exclamations of “Whoo! This is amazing what is it called?” to which I would reply… “Its called… “red red redder than red” and I bought it in the paint shop. (Like I’m going to tell anyone where I got it” but my cunning plan has been spoiled now as moroccan red moore paint is just a load of chemicals…

Hshuma eh? Sounds interesting.. so what is it.

Its shame apparently and its shame to the extent that it actually means something in Moroccan society. Not like Western Society it seems where shame is something never admitted to or even appreciated for what it is exactly and what it means… we have no shame at times and I think this is a bad thing to be honest.

Shame was what safeguarded society against falling into the pit, not a specific pit but any pit to be honest, in the eyes of your fellow man and all that was of such importance at one time (and still is but incredibly warped) that it ment you stepped up and did the right thing, now it seems its the opposite and its who can do the worst thing.

So the Moroccasn call it Hshuma and boy oh boy is it important. To gain Hshuma in the eyes of your peers in Morocco can be incredibly bad and will mean you will have to do alot of public dispalys of goodness to gain back some social standing etc.

Yep its confirmed im off to Morocco again when the brother arrives! Need to arrange a decent day out with some shopping in Tangers in the morning to get going.. or maybe shopping in Tangers when we get back so we dont have to carry everything around… and a trip out to the countryside or something, basically as much as can be squashed into a day in Morocco. Will let you all know more asap!

I will hopefully be finding it. Its going to be a mishmash of different things folks so keep and eye over the coming weeks and maybe something sweet will take your interest be it Moroccan clothes, Moroccan designed handbags, Moroccan Riads (thats a Moroccan Villa for the uneducated…) or Moroccan Vacations and trips…

First things first I would HIGHLY recommend these books:

Lonely Planet Morocco by Anthony Ham and Alison Bing
The Villas and Riads of Morocco by Corinne Verner, Cýýcile Trýýal, Jean-Michel Ruiz, and Laurel Hirsch
Living in Morocco: Design from Casablanca to Marrakesh by Landt Dennis and Lisl Dennis
Morocco: The Islamist Awakening and Other Challenges by Marvine Howe

Depending on what your looking for at least one of these books should cover it!