Belgha

What it is

The belgha, in French babouche, is a leather shoe with a long tradition in the Muslim world¹. The urban form has neither a heel piece nor tabs and is not laced². Harrell’s dictionary of Moroccan Arabic lists belga (plural blagi) as a pair of North African shoes for everyday use, a single shoe being a ferda de-l-belga; the embroidered women’s shoe is called serbil³.

Festive dress with the kaftan includes babouches, which the Maison de l'Artisan, the state body for promoting crafts, lists as belgha and cherbil⁴. In Tiznit the models for women are more richly decorated than those for men⁵.

Where it comes from

In Morocco the belgha is made in the medina of Fez and in Tiznit, among other places⁶.

History

According to the craftsman Abderrahim Zerifi in Fez, the form of the babouche ziwani goes back seven to eight centuries and has kept more than 90 per cent of its original shape; it was worn above all by the upper classes and by notables⁷. In Tiznit, the craftsman Abderrahman Touil says that the history of the babouche there is as old as the town⁸.

What it is made of

The main material is goat leather, traditionally tanned; for the babouche ziwani from Fez it is dyed a bright yellow⁹. The shoemaker Ahmed Bouchaala in Fez dyes his ziwani leather only with natural materials, among them wheat bran, herbs, pomegranate and pigeon droppings¹⁰. The sole is usually of leather or rubber¹¹.

How it is made

The babouche ziwani is made by hand in 24 steps and entirely in the workshop: the cut pieces are sewn together with strong thread, decorations and a lower layer of sole are added, and finally the edges are smoothed¹². At Bouchaala’s, an elaborate pair takes up to five days, a simple one a day¹³.

In Tiznit the leather is worked locally; the craftsmen use chased motifs, among them the dagger and the tazarzit, symbols of historical significance for the area, and sometimes decorate with fine beads or velvet¹⁴. The models include takendift and tanashbalt¹⁵.

When

The belgha is worn at religious festivals and traditional celebrations such as weddings¹⁶. Before the Feast of Breaking the Fast in 2025, traders in the medina of Rabat sold djellaba, jabador and babouches together as a complete festive outfit¹⁷. In everyday life, yellow babouches go with the short woollen djellaba and the turban, the typical men’s dress of the Jebala in the Rif¹⁸.