The Moussem of Imilchil spreads over 3 days between the end of August and the beginning of September following the years
Imilchil is perched at an altitude of 2,200 meters in the heart of the eastern Atlas in the territory of the Aït Hdiddou belonging to the famous Aït Yafelman confederation, at the crossroads of the provinces of Midelt and Tinghir.
To reach it by Aït Hani and Agoudal, it is necessary to cross a high pass to more than 2 000 m of altitude. At present, a paved road exists, traversing a very mineral space of various shapes and, past Agoudal, the road follows a succession of small palm groves and gardens.
Finally in the bottom of Imilchil we discover the two famous twin lakes: the Isli, the lake of the bridegroom and the Tilsit that of the bride who both symbolize the tragic story of a young girl Aït Yaaza whose love Reciprocated with a young Ait Ibrahim made that our two Roméo and Juliet of the Atlas would be at the origin of this great moussem which makes the fame of Imilchil.
Where we celebrate the fiancés during the moussem
Today, there is a music festival, a big souk, and especially the engagement festival traditionally called Souk-am. Imichil is an important symbol of Amazigh (Berber) culture, all tribes confused.
This moussem is a great cultural event of which the Aït Yaaza tribe is the flagship, faithful to this tradition which mixes art as much as the mystic or the mythical and where it is still perpetuated in spite of the modern societal changes, the collective marriages which maintain Intertribal links and meetings.
The music festival of Imilchil welcomes many Berber groups of different musical sensitivities, but also more and more European folk groups in particular, which earned him well beyond the Sherifian kingdom an international recognition more and more marked.
The Moussem of Imilchil spreads over 3 days between the end of August and the beginning of September following the years
History leads us to the legend
Contending the story of a young girl from the Aït Yaaza tribe who shared a great reciprocal love with a young man of Aït Ibrahim, in fact two fractions of the Aït Hadidou tribe in perpetual rivalry, and respective parents who opposed To this union.
The great sadness of our two Roméo and Juliette Berbers, unable to marry and loving each other, caused all the tears from their tragic history to form the twin lakes into which they eventually drowned.
Families saddened by their tragic ends repented and then decided that young people could now choose one another.
Thus was born the Moussem of Imilchil where once a year young girls and boys must be able to choose one another and unite freely in a great collective marriage, sheltered under a vast Berber tent where the adoul officiates, Notaries, meeting with no opposition from their respective families. There is also a custom called "Taqerfiyt" allowing a boy to freely frequent his future wife without encountering opposition to their future union.
The formation of lakes finally discovered
The mystery of the formation of the famous lakes Isli and Tilsit in Imilchil which gave birth to the legend of the two Roméo and Juliet Berbers, was finally lifted and published in December 2012.
It was thanks to the work of Professor Abdherramane Ibhi, a group of geologists from the Ibn Zohr University of Agadir and local meteorite hunters that it was possible to establish that two of these asteroids of 75 and 50 M in diameter struck the region 40 000 years ago, their impacts giving rise to the two mythical lakes, Tiznit and Islit.
Field research with sophisticated equipment using satellites corroborated the idea that the circular structures giving rise to these two lakes were designed by the fall of a 120 m diameter meteorite, Change the fauna, flora and climate of the region.
Field research has shown that the sedimentary layers contained fragments of meteorite allowing us some dating. It was during its entry into the atmosphere that it separated into two distinct parts provoking this double impact forming the current lakes.
It is the first time in Morocco that one discovers craters like these. So far, only three of them have been listed: in Quebec, Saudi Arabia and Libya.
Many fragments of siderite weighing from a few grams to 30 kilograms had already been negotiated by local meteorite hunters at Moroccan dealers in Tafilalet and Ouarzazate.
Imilchil is perched at an altitude of 2,200 meters in the heart of the eastern Atlas in the territory of the Aït Hdiddou belonging to the famous Aït Yafelman confederation, at the crossroads of the provinces of Midelt and Tinghir.
To reach it by Aït Hani and Agoudal, it is necessary to cross a high pass to more than 2 000 m of altitude. At present, a paved road exists, traversing a very mineral space of various shapes and, past Agoudal, the road follows a succession of small palm groves and gardens.
Finally in the bottom of Imilchil we discover the two famous twin lakes: the Isli, the lake of the bridegroom and the Tilsit that of the bride who both symbolize the tragic story of a young girl Aït Yaaza whose love Reciprocated with a young Ait Ibrahim made that our two Roméo and Juliet of the Atlas would be at the origin of this great moussem which makes the fame of Imilchil.
Where we celebrate the fiancés during the moussem
Today, there is a music festival, a big souk, and especially the engagement festival traditionally called Souk-am. Imichil is an important symbol of Amazigh (Berber) culture, all tribes confused.
This moussem is a great cultural event of which the Aït Yaaza tribe is the flagship, faithful to this tradition which mixes art as much as the mystic or the mythical and where it is still perpetuated in spite of the modern societal changes, the collective marriages which maintain Intertribal links and meetings.
The music festival of Imilchil welcomes many Berber groups of different musical sensitivities, but also more and more European folk groups in particular, which earned him well beyond the Sherifian kingdom an international recognition more and more marked.
The Moussem of Imilchil spreads over 3 days between the end of August and the beginning of September following the years
History leads us to the legend
Contending the story of a young girl from the Aït Yaaza tribe who shared a great reciprocal love with a young man of Aït Ibrahim, in fact two fractions of the Aït Hadidou tribe in perpetual rivalry, and respective parents who opposed To this union.
The great sadness of our two Roméo and Juliette Berbers, unable to marry and loving each other, caused all the tears from their tragic history to form the twin lakes into which they eventually drowned.
Families saddened by their tragic ends repented and then decided that young people could now choose one another.
Thus was born the Moussem of Imilchil where once a year young girls and boys must be able to choose one another and unite freely in a great collective marriage, sheltered under a vast Berber tent where the adoul officiates, Notaries, meeting with no opposition from their respective families. There is also a custom called "Taqerfiyt" allowing a boy to freely frequent his future wife without encountering opposition to their future union.
The formation of lakes finally discovered
The mystery of the formation of the famous lakes Isli and Tilsit in Imilchil which gave birth to the legend of the two Roméo and Juliet Berbers, was finally lifted and published in December 2012.
It was thanks to the work of Professor Abdherramane Ibhi, a group of geologists from the Ibn Zohr University of Agadir and local meteorite hunters that it was possible to establish that two of these asteroids of 75 and 50 M in diameter struck the region 40 000 years ago, their impacts giving rise to the two mythical lakes, Tiznit and Islit.
Field research with sophisticated equipment using satellites corroborated the idea that the circular structures giving rise to these two lakes were designed by the fall of a 120 m diameter meteorite, Change the fauna, flora and climate of the region.
Field research has shown that the sedimentary layers contained fragments of meteorite allowing us some dating. It was during its entry into the atmosphere that it separated into two distinct parts provoking this double impact forming the current lakes.
It is the first time in Morocco that one discovers craters like these. So far, only three of them have been listed: in Quebec, Saudi Arabia and Libya.
Many fragments of siderite weighing from a few grams to 30 kilograms had already been negotiated by local meteorite hunters at Moroccan dealers in Tafilalet and Ouarzazate.
