Emerging Patterns

September 10, 1974

Mrs. Thompson had a special Moroccan dish, Tajin or Tejune, prepared by El Kabera, her beautiful warm loving cook. It was a stew simmered for hours on a slow heat in a special apparatus made of terra cotta, consisting of a round plate covered with a conical lid, placed over a charcoal burner which cooks it slowly. This stew with a meat base is composed of tomatoes, onions, celery, carrots, squash, turnips, and pumpkins. All vegetable are fresh, purchased in market by Mrs. T and El Kabera, thoroughly washed with water to which a little clorox is added. El Kabera is an excellent cook if this is an example of her cooking. I always prefer stews and this was exceptional. [This leisurely life style can become addictive.] After dinner we all drove through the town to the Mausoleum of Mohammed V, a historic and architectural pleasure. It would take many visits and much study to describe the beauty and richness of this memorial, glittering at night and bathed in sunlight during the day, enduring and costly. From an upstairs balcony we looked down at the seraglio where immobile in a corner a Koran reader chants constantly. We saw the marble inlays, intricately carved gold lanterns, the white robed guards. I later found at that the Mausoleum was built in the form of a quobba (?) in 1966 to permanently house the remains of Mohammed V.

On later study, I found that the arch of the mausoleum was light and delicately but intricately decorated. Geometric designs predominate (Islamic injunction against human representation and animal representation) but there were also script and floral designs with the whole emerging as an extremely complex pattern of interlacing lines. All other architecture had same general pattern according to my limited vision. On my first visit I felt a repugnance at so much wealth showered upon one lone ruler when this country teemed with the very poor. I found out later that Mohammed V. was much loved by his people and in turn he was interested in their well-being, their progress was his foremost aim. He was a leader with Al Fassi in the revolt against French occupation, suffering exile in Madagascar.

After our visit to Mohammed V's tomb, we went home where we drank the traditional Moroccan tea and socialized in this spacious living room. Mohammed as a nightly chore drew all the drapes and securely closed all the shutters, as necessary protection which all Moroccan homes in this residential area use.