Thursday, March 24, 2011

Negafa : Moroccan Bridal Wear

Salaam alaikum wa rahmat Allah wa barakatuh everyone! Insh'Allah you're all in the best of health and the highest of iman today ^_^
So here it goes...I shall begin my posts on Moroccan marriages by covering traditional Moroccan bridal wear, or "negafa". I would also like to request that people please not repost these pictures, jazak Allah khair in advance!
During the wedding ceremony, a Moroccan bride will change her dress multiple times. For instance, at the wedding of my husband's cousin R, she changed her outfit a whopping TEN TIMES (yikes! That's a lot of stuff to get in and out of! Luckily the bride has two women to attend to her and help her get dressed/make sure she always looks pretty for pictures and videos...and that Moroccan weddings tend to last 8 to 10 hours!)

Bridal wear usually includes a takchita (a traditional Moroccan dress for women, worn for parties and special occasions, it consists of an inner dress, as well as an outer, often transparent dress, and can be worn with or without a belt) or a caftan that is heavily embellished and embroidered, a long veil that is draped on top of the head, and a lot of jewelry (including a clip for the belt, necklaces, earings, a tiara, and clips to hold the veil in place). Brides that choose to keep covered (i.e. hijab) at their weddings will also have elaborately wrapped head scarves (however, I've found that a lot of women do not wear the hijab at their wedding for whatever reason). The negafa is often rented for the day, as buying all the fabric to tailor the takchitas and caftans and to look for matching jewelry would take quite a bit of time and a LOT of money. However, there are some brides out there that choose to do that.
These photos are just some examples of Moroccan negafa worn by my husband's cousin R, aunt L, and myself (my female in-laws planned such a sweet surprise for me, may Allah(swt) bless them...they had me dressed up in negafa after aunt L's ceremony (she was in on this too! May Allah(swt) bless her immensely for her generosity!) because I didn't really get to have a traditional wedding ceremony of my own (I didn't really want one...too much attention...I was sobbing like crazy because I was so touched that they did this for me)...I had no idea that they were planning this, they kept it a secret up until the very last minute because my MIL knew very well that if I knew what they were planning I would have very politely refused...she just told me that I was going to wear negafa so that I could take pictures for my family (she had to plead with me for me to agree to do even that lol mash'Allah)...little did I know that I was going to be brought downstairs into the wedding with a room full of women!) So anyways, yeah, that's the long story about how I ended up in negafa even though I didn't have a traditional wedding ceremony (I'm in the red if you haven't already guessed...) These aren't in any way meant to be taken as exhaustive examples...they're only just a few. If you'd like to see more, I suggest googling "negafa" images. I hope you all enjoyed this post!

5 comments:

  1. Salaam alaikum

    Gorgeous! I've always wanted a takchita. They're so colorful and I like the band that goes around the waist..

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  2. @Amal: Wa alaikum salaam! Thank you, I really love them too; I've always found them really elegant, and I love how they come in pretty much every color under the sun, the problem is that they're not really that readily available outside of Morocco (except maybe in France, I'm not sure?) and if you do find them, they often cost an arm and a leg :( Alhamdolillah now that I live here I have the chance to wear them every now and then!

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  3. the dresses are beautiful:) reminds me of something a morocan princess would wear

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  4. @JuliaLui
    Thank you! You definitely feel like a princess when you wear negafa! ^_^

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  5. I absolutely love the head wear! Gorgeous elaborate hijabi, and the dress is so beautiful. The word sophisticated comes in to mind. I like the beeded scarf around ur face & neck:) Such a pure look! Like a true princess hehe

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