The Kelaât M'Gouna Rose Festival is one of the most emblematic agricultural feasts of Morocco. It is held each year on the second weekend of May, in the Dadès valley where the Rosa damascena, imported according to tradition by Mecca pilgrims in the 10th century, blooms in lively hedges over several hundred kilometres.

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The harvest is done at dawn, by hand, by the women. The flowers are immediately distilled to produce rose water, the concrete and the absolute, exported to French, Swiss and Japanese perfumery.

I. The festival

Three days of events punctuate the feast: a fresh-rose market, a parade of petal floats, ahidous and ahwach dances, the election of Lalla Bent Lawarda (Miss Rose), a blessing prayer for the crops, a collective banquet.

II. The economy

The rose mobilises more than 7,000 women in 50 cooperatives. Annual production: 4,500 tonnes of fresh roses, 50-70 kg of absolute (1 kg = 4,000 kg of petals). The "Rose of Kelaât M'Gouna" PGI label is under way.

III. Beyond the festival

The Rose Valley is now developed as a spring tourist destination, with visit circuits of the distilleries, the rose fields and the medersa of Sidi Brahim. Local consumption of rose water remains ritual: sprinkling during feasts, the base of many recipes (rfissa, briouates).

∗ Sources

1. Moroccan National Tourism Office — visitmorocco.com
2. Agency for Agricultural Development (ADA) — ada.gov.ma
3. Women's rose cooperatives — Drâa-Tafilalet.