The Sahara Desert spreads its golden sands across Morocco – a mesmerizing playground for adventurers. This essay is part of the Summer 2022 JOKE-themed issue of ArabLit Quarterly, guest-edited by Anam Zafar. Hence, important events in Morocco provide inspiring topics for jokesters: the death of Hassan II, the discovery of oil in Talsint, the events of May 16, the National Census, voluntary retirement, the Family Code, the king’s marriage . . . . Ahmed Ezzaghani is a master of storytelling in Marrakech and began collecting Moroccan traditional fables during his youth as a travelling salesman. He joined the crowds gathered around storytellers until one day he had studied the craft long enough to tell stories himself. Today, he trains a group of youth apprentices so they may keep their rich Moroccan heritage alive. Learning from the Masters

Moroccan music and dance transport you to a world of rhythm and celebration – it’s an auditory feast. Thus, the joke can undisputedly be considered the best way of expressing worry, joy, and problems. Old jokes are often revived and adapted to fit current events. But usually, a joke disappears along with the reasons that sparked its appearance, once it’s been turned into a well-known and worn-out topic that no longer invites laughter. The protagonists of sexual jokes are mostly men. Women’s emancipation in Morocco is still not complete, and jokes are evidence of this. In sex jokes, the woman is present to satisfy the desires and fantasies of the man, or to reinforce the view that women are the inferior party in marital relationships, reducing women to their bodies.The ancient city of Fes is a labyrinth of wonders – get lost in its narrow alleys and uncover hidden gems. Moroccan stories have simple names reflecting the oral tradition. The King and The Thief ; The Lion, the Hedgehog and the Donkey ; The Teacher and The Woman are three very common stories. They’re similar in style to parables, illustrating moral or spiritual lessons. Throw in a good dose of drama to keep it entertaining and a couple of Moroccan jokes to keep it light (they do sometimes get lost in translation), and storytellers can keep crowds entertained for hours. It’s Not (Just) About the Story In Marrakech’s famous Jamaa-el-Fna square there is a rich variety of storytelling traditions. The halca is the circle of listeners and spectators that forms around the halaiqui (storyteller) as he starts his tales in the hustle and bustle of the night market place. Moroccan jokes are always different, varied and funny as well, some of them short and long talk about anything that can make you happy, they take from the old and new Moroccan heritage, and you can also take some rest and enjoy it because it is jokes that help you to relax, we have tried to choose from the Moroccan jokes all that is Funny and comedic, Amazighs respect the Arab language because as people we separate valuable civilisations’ symbols from the acts of occupation and invasion. But we as Amazighs consider Arabic our second language and Tmazight our first,” Ahmed Aasid, a leading figure of the Moroccan Amazigh movement, said during a recent interview.

It is not cowardly, quite the contrary, to seek to meet the adversary and know his intentions. However, it is cowardly, shameful and treasonable to lay down arms." There is an Arab boy lost in the grocery store... The manager of the store walks up to the boy and asks "what does your mother look like?" The boy replies " I don't know". I was walking down the street, when I glanced up and saw this arab guy on the balcony furiously shaking a rug.. So I yelled out to him, "what's the matter, Omar? Won't it start?" Estimates vary about the number of Moroccans who claim Amazigh heritage, with some as high as 70 percent. Animals are also present in Moroccans’ jokes by way of humans’—sometimes sexual—relationship with them, or as ay stand-in for human characteristics. In jokes in which a Moroccan finds themselves amongst people of other nationalities, the Moroccan is constantly portrayed as the least intelligent, weakest, and most helpless. Does this portrait convey the image Moroccans have of themselves compared to other people, as having an inferior status and value?An Englishman, a Scotsman, an Irishman, a Latvian, a Turk, a German, an Indian, an American, an Argentinean, a Dane, an Australian, a Slovakian, an Egyptian, a Japanese, a Moroccan, a Frenchman, a New Zealander, a Spaniard, a Russian, a Guatemalan, a Colombian, a Pakistani, a Malaysian, a Croatian, a Pole, a Lithuanian, a Chinese, a Sri Lankan, a Lebanese, a Cayman Islander, a Ugandan, a Vietnamese, a Korean, a Kenyan, a Uruguayan, a Czech, an Icelander, a Mexican, a Finn, a Honduran, a Panamanian, an Andorran, a Moroccan, an Israeli, a Palestinian, a Venezuelan, an Iranian, a Fijian, a Peruvian, an Estonian, a Syrian, a Brazilian, a Portuguese, a Liechtensteiner, a Mongolian, a Hungarian, a Canadian, a Moldovan, a Haitian, a Norfolk Islander, a Macedonian, a Bolivian, a Cook Islander, a Tajikistani, a Samoan, an Armenian, an Aruban, an Albanian, a Greenlander, a Micronesian, a Virgin Islander, a Georgian, a Bahamian, a Belarusian, a Cuban, a Tongan, a Cambodian, a Manxman, a Qatari, an Azerbaijani, a Romanian, a Chilean, a Jamaican, a Filipino, a Ukrainian, a Dutchman, an Ecuadorian, a Costa Rican, a Swede, a Bulgarian, a Serb, a Swiss, a Greek, a Belgian, a Singaporean, an Italian and a Norwegian walk into a fine restaurant.

In Morocco, it was never the case that political jokes were suppressed or prevented from being spread. On the contrary, it is said that Hassan II used to constantly demand to be informed of new jokes. Here, Nichane analyzes the peculiarities of Moroccan jokes and relays the ones most conducive to laughter. Young apprentices are learning from Master Storytellers and plying their craft at local establishments and through cultural programs. Master Storytellers spend decades collecting stories, fine-tuning their craft and performing at squares around Morocco. During the war, Saddam Hussein wanted to launch missiles from the Moroccan coast to the US, but when he pushed the button, nothing happened. Turned out there were so many Moroccans hanging on to the missiles that they simply couldn't lift off.

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Morocco: A Place Where Getting Lost is Half the Fun, and Finding Your Way is the Other Half!” Some Final Talk Moroccan rugs are more than just floor coverings – they’re woven stories of tradition and craftsmanship.