Leaving Oran/Dressing Up for the Pilgrimage

The plane to Tunis was two hours, then three, and, when baggage loading and boarding took place, finally four and a half hours, late. Before leaving for the airport, I had forgotten my sandwich (pressed meat [like ham] and Swiss cheese) in my hotel room. When I returned to retrieve it, close to half an hour later, the maid was already eating it. The bellhop apologized profusely and offered to bring me another. However, I said it really wasn’t that necessary. Such is one of the many pieces of trivia, which weave among other events, larger and even less significant, to make up my life.

A Fashion Parade: Especially for the Young

In the airport, a group was waiting to leave for Djeddah to make the hajj (pilgrimage) to Mecca. Children were dressed in their finest. I was amazed at the variety of outfits. One young girl had a long maroon robe, slit on the sides at the bottom, with silver braid arranged in designs around the neck and hem, with a hat (foldable with straight sides and a slightly concave top when parted, like army privates wore before the beret) to match. Her brother had an ivory traditional tunic, with crocheted beige trim, and pants with a dark red fez. Another young woman looked like a miniature, western bridesmaid. She wore an ankle-length, short-sleeved, white satin dress, with large round ivory earrings, and white fabric lilies fastened into her upswept dark hair. Silver glitter around the edges of her face added a touch of magic. Another lass had a finely textured (gauze-like), white material, embossed with creamy, glittery flowers wrapped around her waist and then draped over her shoulder and across the bodice. Her almond-shaped, brown eyes were compelling; a light olive complexion contrasted with her attire. A very little girl who seldom left her mother’s arms also had a white outfit. The headdress was a white veil (more literally, tent-like covering), with a ruffle around the crown, and an opening for the face. It hung below her shoulders. Henna is popular, applied in patterns to the hands and feet. Yet, another girl had what looked like a customary oriental bride’s outfit –a turquoise, glossy robe with a gold headpiece, rising to a point on top, coming down onto the forehead with braided filaments, dropping enticingly from the edges. A mesh pink robe trimmed with crocheted handiwork of the same color, drawn in at the waist with a belt of strung, gold ovals, each accented with a center pearl, and all over a white tunic and slacks, graced an adolescent girl, who walked quickly by.

Older men wore traditional long gowns with white leather, open-heeled shoes. One woman, unremarkable in dress otherwise, had beautiful open-backed, pointed black felt shoes with gold embroidery. A young boy wore a black robe trimmed in gold braid over a white, Saudi-style thobe. He also had on the typical Saudi headdress (a white cotton piece of material placed over a white skull cap, held in place by a black circular double cord).

A group of ululating women in colorful hijabs and gowns could be heard from time, celebrating the beginning of this great spiritual adventure. I particularly like the fashionable pins, which may be worn on the side of a hijab to keep it in place. Making the hajj is one of the pillars of Islam, required for believers who have the means to do it. It is, therefore, to Algerian Muslims, who for the most part are very observant, an intensely personal, religious experience, crucial to their life in the hereafter. And for some, it may be one of the few times they have traveled outside Algeria.

At check in, I met an Algerian poet on his way to Hammamet; but that's a whole other story. I did get an expresso, a café creme, and a croissant out of the deal, plus the perennial offer to "make couscous for you." I said I had eaten couscous; so I now know that there are five kinds of couscous. What fun!

The picture is of me in from of a building from Ottoman times in Algiers.