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Clothing

Haïk

A large, usually white cloth that women wrapped around body and head as an outer garment when going out.

What it is

Harrell’s 1966 dictionary of Moroccan Arabic describes the ḥayek as a large, usually white piece of material that women wrap around body and head as an outer garment. According to The Moorish Times, the cloth measures about five metres by one metre sixty, envelops the wearer from head to foot and also protects against cold and sun.

The haïk is draped, not sewn: the encyclopaedia of the Amazigh contrasts it with the burnous, which thanks to a short seam on the chest can be worn without draping, brooches or buttons.

History

According to The Moorish Times, Fez was an important place of manufacture; according to 16th-century documents, the Portuguese Crown ordered 9,000 haïks from a merchant in Safi in 1519. The ethnographer Jean Besancenot distinguished six kinds of women’s haïk in Morocco, by colour, fabric and manner of draping.

In the 20th century many women wore the djellaba instead of the haïk; today, according to The Moorish Times, it survives only in a few towns such as Chefchaouen, Essaouira and Figuig.

When

In 2019 a young woman from Chefchaouen living in Tetouan called on social media for the haïk and the litham, the face veil, to be worn again; groups of young women then walked in haïks through Tangier, Larache, Oujda, Rabat, Marrakesh, Agadir, Demnate and Casablanca. The participants wanted to make the dress, which had almost disappeared from the streets, visible again.

At a glance

Darija
ḥayek

Where it comes from

At home throughout the country, with no place of origin named by a source.

Goes with it

ClothingDjellabaLong garment with a hood and sleeves, which in the countryside is woven in one piece. Originally it was worn by men; today in Morocco it is worn by women and men.ClothingSelhamWide hooded cloak reaching to the feet, sewn together at the front for only a hand’s breadth, made of white wool or brown goat hair; Moroccan Tamazight speakers usually call it asdelham, a form also known in Arabic. In town it is worn over the djellaba.ClothingKaftanLong tunic with a central opening, buttons and rich handwork, worn at weddings, naming ceremonies and other celebrations. Since 10 December 2025 the Moroccan kaftan has been on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.

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Last checked on 27 Oct 2026. 4 sources, 0 of them primary (authority, UNESCO, operator).

  1. Richard S. Harrell (Hg.), Thomas Fox, Mohammed Abu-Talib, Georgetown University Press: A Dictionary of Moroccan Arabic: Moroccan-English (1966), mit dem Band English-Moroccan (1963), Volltext im Internet Archive. https://archive.org/details/ADictionaryOfMoroccanArabicMoroccanEnglishEnglishMoroccan. Checked on 27 Oct 2026.
  2. The Moorish Times: History and Origins of the Moroccan Haik, a Cultural and Religious Heritage. https://moorishtimes.com/en/articles/haik. Checked on 27 Oct 2026.
  3. Encyclopédie berbère (OpenEdition Journals): C. El Briga, Burnous, Encyclopédie berbère 11 (1992), S. 1668–1669. https://journals.openedition.org/encyclopedieberbere/1883. Checked on 27 Oct 2026.
  4. The Moorish Times: History and Origins of the Moroccan Haik, a Cultural and Religious Heritage. https://moorishtimes.com/en/articles/haik. Checked on 27 Oct 2026.
  5. The Moorish Times: History and Origins of the Moroccan Haik, a Cultural and Religious Heritage. https://moorishtimes.com/en/articles/haik. Checked on 27 Oct 2026.
  6. The Moorish Times: History and Origins of the Moroccan Haik, a Cultural and Religious Heritage. https://moorishtimes.com/en/articles/haik. Checked on 27 Oct 2026.
  7. TelQuel (Ghita Ismaïli, Fotos Yassine Toumi): Quand le haïk fait son “flashback”. https://telquel.ma/diaporamas/quand-le-haik-fait-son-flashback. Checked on 27 Oct 2026.
    The Moorish Times: History and Origins of the Moroccan Haik, a Cultural and Religious Heritage. https://moorishtimes.com/en/articles/haik. Checked on 27 Oct 2026.
  8. TelQuel (Ghita Ismaïli, Fotos Yassine Toumi): Quand le haïk fait son “flashback”. https://telquel.ma/diaporamas/quand-le-haik-fait-son-flashback. Checked on 27 Oct 2026.
  9. Richard S. Harrell (Hg.), Thomas Fox, Mohammed Abu-Talib, Georgetown University Press: A Dictionary of Moroccan Arabic: Moroccan-English (1966), mit dem Band English-Moroccan (1963), Volltext im Internet Archive. https://archive.org/details/ADictionaryOfMoroccanArabicMoroccanEnglishEnglishMoroccan. Checked on 27 Oct 2026.