Moroccan homes are stocked with huge numbers of blankets. Until my first winter here, I didn't fully appreciate why that is. I never really thought much about blankets. I take them out during cold weather, and I put them away when it's warm. Blankets last for years on end. I rarely have occasion to buy a new one. I always kept just enough for family and maybe a couple of guests. Then I came to Marrakech.
Marrakech homes, public buildings, even hospitals may be unheated. It never snows here. The temperature never goes below freezing, although it gets uncomfortably close. Understandably, blankets are everywhere. Got visitors? Give them blankets and hot tea when they enter your home. Going to be a patient in the hospital? Take your own blankets, just to be on the safe side.
Once I was one of a group of female guests in a home, and we were settled for the night side by side on pallet several blankets thick. We were covered with a couple of individual blankets each, and then the our entire group was covered by the single largest blanket I have ever seen. It measured a good 15 feet across. We were less likely to be cold than we were to be crushed under the weight of it.
I have seen coarse, heavy blankets substitute for rugs on a cold floor. I've seen soft, plush blankets folded and stacked as high as the homeowner. I've seen them stored in closets and beneath sofa cushions. Don't know what to give a bride and groom? Blankets are probably the most common wedding gift in Morocco. The lowly, utilitarian blanket in America has here an importance borne of necessity.
Marrakech homes, public buildings, even hospitals may be unheated. It never snows here. The temperature never goes below freezing, although it gets uncomfortably close. Understandably, blankets are everywhere. Got visitors? Give them blankets and hot tea when they enter your home. Going to be a patient in the hospital? Take your own blankets, just to be on the safe side.
Once I was one of a group of female guests in a home, and we were settled for the night side by side on pallet several blankets thick. We were covered with a couple of individual blankets each, and then the our entire group was covered by the single largest blanket I have ever seen. It measured a good 15 feet across. We were less likely to be cold than we were to be crushed under the weight of it.
I have seen coarse, heavy blankets substitute for rugs on a cold floor. I've seen soft, plush blankets folded and stacked as high as the homeowner. I've seen them stored in closets and beneath sofa cushions. Don't know what to give a bride and groom? Blankets are probably the most common wedding gift in Morocco. The lowly, utilitarian blanket in America has here an importance borne of necessity.
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