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In a few days, the world will say goodbye to this year and embrace the new one. In Morocco, New Year's Eve celebrations are family-oriented and homely, with a set of traditions and rituals that have marked generations.
As New Year's Eve approaches, people who grew up in the '80s and '90s in Morocco have shared with Yabiladi the moments that defined their celebrations and how their evenings went in a time when the internet, mobile phones, and social media were not prevalent.
The Cake: A New Year's Eve staple
As the year draws to a close, bakeries in Morocco would offer creamy and chocolaty cakes for New Year's Eve. Families would rush to pre-order these cakes, a staple for the evening.
It's not a new tradition, according to Saloua, 42. The mother of three vividly remembers her New Year's Eve evenings with her family in the late 1980s.
«I lived with my parents and brother in Lakhssas, a small town in the Sidi Ifni Province. We celebrated New Year's Eve like any other Moroccan family», she told Yabiladi. And the cake was the star of the show. «I would go to the bakery myself, although we lived in a small town with few choices, to pre-order the cake», Saloua recalled.
The cake would be enjoyed after dinner. «I remember very well, it would be a round cake full of cream and chocolate, a Forêt Noire kind of cake», Saloua joked. «The leftovers, though, were for the next day's breakfast—it's a rule», she added.
Youness, 30, from Casablanca, couldn't agree more. For his family of five, the twist was the addition of Moroccan delicacies. «In addition to the cake, my mom would decorate the table with local delicacies. My family is originally from Safi, so kaak, a local delicacy, was a must», he said.
«The next day's breakfast was milk and cake leftovers, which wasn't always a good mix and never failed to upset my stomach», Youness joked.
TV: New Year's Eve special programming
In addition to the famous cake, childhood New Year's Eve for Youness also meant «Atiq Benchikar», the TV presenter who used to host most of 2M's New Year's Eve special programs in the '90s and early 2000s.
TV, and the special programming it broadcast for the night, kept Moroccan families entertained while enjoying sweets, cozied up at home or under a blanket.
For some, it was music—chaabi music in particular—and for others like Saloua, it was definitely bloopers. «Back then, there was only one TV channel, Al Aoula», the mother of three reminisced.
«It would broadcast a New Year's Eve special with shows and concerts, and most importantly, the segment my brother and I were most excited for: bloopers. Watching the serious news anchors laugh, make mistakes, and do retakes was the highlight for us».
But some families didn't just watch Moroccan TV—they also watched French channels, curiously enjoying the New Year countdown twice. Mohamed, 35, remembers his '90s New Year's Eve evenings watching both French and Moroccan programming for the night. «Doing the countdown twice—once with French TV and then with Moroccan TV».
For Faiza, 28, from Casablanca, what she retains the most from her childhood New Year's Eve memories in the early 2000s is «The Year in Silence». «I enjoyed it a lot—just silent footage and highlights of the year, in addition to bloopers, of course», she told Yabiladi.
I wish you a happy New Year
Enjoying New Year's Eve without wishing friends and family a happy one is impossible. Everyone has their own way of doing it, depending on the period and the technology available at the time.
For Saloua, a child of the '80s, mobile phones and social media weren't around during her childhood. Like many children and teenagers in Morocco in the 1980s, she used to mail postcards to her friends and cousins to wish them a happy New Year and impatiently wait for theirs too.
«My dad used to buy us a bunch of postcards with wishes for a happy New Year. We would write our wishes for our cousins, and my dad would mail them later», she remembers.
In fact, Saloua couldn't recall these memories without mentioning this: «I still remember that every year, I used to send a card wishing a cousin of mine a happy New Year. Now, that cousin is my husband and the father of my children».
For Mohamed, his family preferred to call instead, but with an exception. «My parents had a tradition of calling family and friends at 10 o'clock to make sure everyone was still awake and that they weren't bothering anybody», he said.
With mobile phones, people switched to sending SMS messages. Some of these messages rhymed and cracked jokes, like the famous «Sana saida kif lka3ida», «Sana saida wa haloua ladida» or the classic «See you next year», Youness said, joking, «Still not funny».
Smile for the camera
A New Year's Eve celebration couldn't pass without a photo. Back in the 1980s, Saloua and her family used to take an analog one. With her brother, she prepared for the photo—no filters, no retakes.
«We would get dressed, wearing our best outfits, my brother and I, because there would definitely be a photo—an analog photo, of course, as my dad owned a camera», she said.
For the younger generation, a photo with a phone camera is enough, even if it's just in pajamas—no big deal. After food and TV, «a photo is taken by my mother as a keepsake to send to family or later for my older sister who moved to France to study», Faiza said.
And then it's a wrap. Happy New Year, best wishes, and goodnight. And you? How did you spend your New Year's Eve when you were a child, and which of these traditions would you like to maintain?
