When Morocco meets Provence

Yes of course I say and I say again (cf. une-vie-fantastique.e-monsite.com) that my country is not my country, merely considering the land. Actually my country is in my head. It is all my life with its positive or negative experiences. In spite of that, speaking of the land, my country is divided in two parts, for I have lived on both sides of Mediterranean sea. Therefore sometimes I can have a jolly good, really jolly good feeling when the two countries meet during a simple weekend. That's what happened the 21st and 22nd September 2013 whereas the city of Buis-les-Baronnies (Drôme Provençale) - the residence of my in-laws - welcomed a Moroccan fair organized by its North African inhabitants. A real success, plus a surprise for me because I did not know about this event, that time visiting Buis by chance. It's difficult to relate in a few words. Colours, scents, harmony, the craft, the Arab, Berber or Egyptian music, the tasty mint tea and the delicious Ramadan soup kindly offered, the honeycombs, information on oriental calligraphy, tales told to the children in both languages, demonstration of henna-making up, a lecture about Turkish bath... everything surrounded with the splendid Provençal area of Buis. Moreover a conviviality and an atmosphere so different, so far from our sinister European fairs characterized by the foolish and hammering techno music and the false merry faces of the people... I say no more, the present author of these writings furnishes you a selection of his best pictures. (Digital photos taken with a SLR camera).

(Copyright Jean-Michel Cagnon).