Honor of Love...Imilchil

Ceremonies of love, collective weddings, melodious and romantic poems, chants of courage and Amazigh hospitality, dances and music on the carpets in these confines of the White Mountains and snow-capped peaks !

That is the atmosphere every year in these unusual places at the edge of the lakes, and which the American anthropologist and ethnologist David M. Hard spoke about, more than forty years ago, at the home of this mountain population of the High Atlas of 2,300 meters of altitude, describing the ceremonies of group marriages and the perennial immensity of the tradition of collective engagements and unparalleled in the whole of North Africa.

And despite the austerity and harshness of the winters, jubilation each time fills Imilchil and its neighborhoods during this festive autumn break, where the senses, emotions and unions are amplified, intertwining with the air pure and fresh from the mountains.

And at the end of each summer, the enchanted valley and its engagement rituals are rocked in an artistic festival called “music of the peaks”, which reinvents like a season between seasons, the life of this small centuries-old village.

Those group engagements convey a tradition of several centuries, where marriage was venerated and honored, far from the sacred prostitution of the time of the Carthaginians and Phoenicians.

A village that is certainly isolated and very poor, living off livestock farming and very little agriculture, but proudly displaying and perpetrating its authentic local customs passed down from generation to generation.

The entire legendary history of this picturesque village in Morocco revolves around love at first sight and the connection between two village lovers and the famous lake 'Isli'.

Saga which has made this town of Imilchil an emblematic and captivating place with its magnificent and unusual natural sites, as well as its flourishing cultural traditions.

And it is the strength of the romantic and crazy legend of the two enthusiasts which has conveyed this tale of love which has crossed the ages and generations.

The two young lovers, Isli and Tislit, lived in this remote town and had fallen in love with each other to such an extent that they could not separate or imagine one day moving away from each other.

But in those times buried in the past, there were quarrels that broke out between their respective tribes, and adversities between their two respective families were born.

Determined never to separate no matter what, Isli and Tislit decided to flee their homes and live together further away.

And it is near the large lake of water 'Isli' that they promised to meet again and hope to start their fresh new life together, outside the constraints and adversities of their families and their tribes.

But the disappearance of the two teenage lovers could not go unnoticed by the inhabitants of the village as well as the families and parents.

And so teams of men took it upon themselves to go looking for them, crossing the neighboring plains, valleys and forests to find them and bring them back to the village.

The days passed and the research progressed following the reports of the shepherds and witnesses who had seen them in different places in nature, so that one morning a group of men from the village were informed that the two lovebirds had settled near the large lake, and that they were seen taking up residence among the trees right at the water's edge.

The clique of researchers then rushed towards the forest which extended the edges of the lake, and after a few rounds around the bushes and trees they began to hear sniggering, and as they approached the side from which the voices came, they fell on the couple in full loving embrace, intertwined between caresses and passionate looks of desire and tenderness, and suddenly frightened and interrupted in their intimate ritual by strangers, isli and Tislit took each other's hands and jumped like bewildered rabbits under the cries of their watchers at their backs, and found no way out of their flight except to face the expanse of the lake in front of them.

Surprised and in complete fear, they threw themselves with all their strength into the icy waves of the lake to escape their tormentors who were pursuing them, they huddled together and embraced each other, frightened and trembling with cold and horror , the young couple began to clap their hands for a few moments, their eyes fixed on the pursuers, then looked into each other's eyes and spoke a few words to each other, then embraced again and to the surprise of the watchers, they both rushed towards a single stroke into the depths of the waters, in an act of ultimate despair but of devotion and eternal attachment, choosing to die together rather than live apart.

Their bodies disappeared in a few minutes and the waters of the lake returned to calm, silence then fell on the edge and on the forest, on the mountains and the valleys, and on the entire village which received the painful news.

To be continued...