A Royal Affair

Holidays in Morocco seem to come out of nowhere. Walking into school the other day I learned that this Wednesday was Throne Day. A fairly significant yet unpublicized event that apparently happens every year around this same time. This Throne Day was especially significant, as the King was coming to Fes.  

In preparation, all the streets had been decorated with flags of all different colors and massive billboards of the King lined every road.  

Throne Day itself, from what I can gather, is a celebration of the current King’s succession to the Throne and the day he was formally recognized as King. (This information may be slightly off as I didn’t wikipedia it ☺ ).

Regardless, the city was a buzz with activity and excitement. The evening of Throne Day my roommate and I were out, walking along one of the major streets when we noticed thousands of people all standing around. Thinking that something must be happening (like the King passing through), we decided to wait around too. Having stood on the corner for over an hour and finding out that many of the people were also waiting because they saw everyone else waiting, we decided to head back home to see if the concert by our apartment had started up yet.

Walking up the street the air seemed eerily quiet and I was beginning to wonder if we had missed it.  Rounding the corner I realized there was nothing to worry about as the entire field was packed with people as far as the eye could see.  Now the only challenge was getting into the crowd and finding our way towards the front.  It was crazy!  Here is a little taste of what we experienced: