Sainctity, Orality and Questions about Cultural and Religious Identity in Norte of Morocco. The case of Lalla `Aisha al-Khadra, Saint of Alcazarquivir

Abstract

This study presents some results from my fieldwork dealing with the female saints of the north Moroccan city of Alcazarquivir, which has been carried out between 2012 and 2014 in that village. The connections between orality and writing are more frequent as the educational level of the interviewee is higher; some of these informants raised roader issues regarding the evolution of the customs or the cult of saints. At the same time, it has been possible to observe the dissemination of oral traditions existing in other Moroccan regions that were not gathered in the hagiographical literature. In this study, I will offer some reflections concerning the data collected about a concrete example, that of Lallā ʿĀʾisha al-Khaḍrāʾ, one of the most important saints of Alcazarquivir and main character of a large part of the information compiled about the female saints of this city. Both the oral and written sources used in this study will be provided. Narrations related to Lallā ʿĀʾisha will be analyzed together with additional stories from ethnographic and anthropological sources on Moroccan female saints. The studied narrations highlight the problematic and complex character of Lallā ʿĀʾisha’s historicity, among other things. Finally, the symbolism of color green will be studied since al-Khaḍrāʾ (the Green) is the denomination by which Lallā ʿĀʾisha is known.