Doum palm weaving

What it is

Doum is the name of the dwarf palm; in Moroccan Arabic the word also means a bunch of its leaves.¹ The Maison de l’Artisan lists doum, alongside wool, silk, cotton and linen, among the fibres used by Moroccan weavers and basket makers.²

According to the Maison de l’Artisan, basketry in Morocco is mostly a rural craft practised by both men and women.³ Palm leaves are made into baskets, bowls, back baskets and shopping bags; basket makers also work with raffia, rush and reed.⁴

Where it comes from

In the Maghreb, basketry is done where the plants grow; the dwarf palm is found in the mountain ranges of the Atlas.⁵ Because it grows wild, the work there, according to the ethnologist Tatiana Benfoughal, still lies mainly with nomads and semi-nomads, who either weave themselves or supply the leaves to the villages.⁶ A basket maker in Marrakesh works with two kinds of doum, one from the Taza area and one from the Marrakesh area.⁷

History

Making baskets and other household goods from doum is, according to Le360, one of the oldest crafts of Marrakesh.⁸ Its makers have passed on their skill from generation to generation.⁹

How it is made

For the straw hats of the north, the leaves are cut every year in May in forests of northern Morocco, carefully prepared and then plaited, sometimes mixed with leaves of other palms.¹⁰ The weavers start in April, May and June so that the hats are ready for the hottest season and the harvest.¹¹ For baskets, a basket maker in Marrakesh follows the customers’ wishes for handles, ornaments and accessories.¹²

When

The chachiya, the plaited hat of the Jbala in the north, accompanies the rural population in the fields, on mountain paths and on the way to market.¹³ Today it is worn mainly by women in summer, and in Anjra, Chefchaouen, Ouazzane and Beni Arous in the province of Larache also by men; in other areas the hat is called taraza.¹⁴

How to recognise it

The weave of the chachiya protects the head from the sun and lets air through.¹⁵ Women’s models around Chefchaouen carry small pompoms of red or dark blue wool, while men’s models are plainer; the plaiting is passed on by women craftworkers and by cooperatives in Chefchaouen, Fahs-Anjra and around Tetouan.¹⁶