Belated Dowry provided

C
Jun 19, 2023
2 min read

Our Riad - Riad El Amine - Fez

It is not the Berber tribes' women who spend up to two years vertically weaving and double knotting their ornate woollen Kilim rugs, that are the artisans of this town. The true artists, genuine masters of their craft, are the rug sellers. Also, the Riad owner and their favourite tour guide are in on it, but it all culminates with the rug seller and his merry band of rug rollers who help you to discover the perfect rug you never knew you needed. They quote you an ancient Muslim saying, “Shrouds do not have pockets”, which basically translated into “You can’t be buried with your $$ ”. Being schooled in the art of negotiation was almost worth the price of the rug. Abdul alternated between best friend, wise uncle, vogue interior decorator and street beggar as he navigated us through our shock, disbelief, anger, denial and finally, acceptance stages of the process. All the while providing the most delicious mint tea. The rug that caught my eye was (or maybe was not) a vintage marital rug that is made in the Altas mountains by the bride's family and goes to her new family as a dowry. Abdul had already joked with Chris that he would pay 500 camels to take me off his hand (A note by Chris - seemed a fair price at 250 camels) - I don’t know what the going rate is here, but I was disappointed Chris didn’t immediately try to haggle for more. Chris then, in what is a pattern of him negotiating against me and with the seller (bless his soft soft heart), declared, as he did not receive any dowry when we married, we must buy the rug as my belated dowry. Abdul, after wiping his joyful tears of laughter away, agreed, and we now have a new rug that may (or may not) be shipped home to us.

The belated dowry payment to C

The medina itself is a wonderful labyrinth of laneways that everyone insists you can not possibly navigate without a tour guide. We took that advice yesterday and, between sales pitches, did get to see the key sites of interest. Also, I got to start my “Cats of Fez” photo exhibition. Today, however, we are going it alone. What could possibly go wrong?