The Washerwomen of Chefchaouen

Just outside the walls of the Medina a spring, Ras Al Ma, gushes from the side of a hill and flows down the wadi. Further downstream just past the bridge that leads up to Bab Onsar, local women come everyday to do the family’s laundry. Special wash rooms have been built, one on each bank of the Oued el Kebir river.

 

Overview of washrooms The Washerwomen of Chefchaouen
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There they chat, sing and joke amongst themselves while carrying out their tasks. everything gets washed from clothes to carpets. The wash rooms have built in stone washboards and basins for rinsing the clothes.

Carpet washing and drying Chefchaouen
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Carpet washing and drying Chefchaouen

Carpets are actually taken into the river and opened out for soaking and then taken to a large concrete floor where they are scrubbed with soap and then rinsed again before being hung on the railings above to dry.

Riffian washerwomen Chefchaouen
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Riffian washerwomen Chefchaouen

Washer women having a laugh and joke while doing the laundry Chefchaouen
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Washer women having a laugh and joke while doing the laundry Chefchaouen

Doing the laundry Chefchaouen
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Doing the laundry Chefchaouen

The water supply to the wash rooms comes from purpose built channels that divert the water from the river, after it has turned the flour mills,  through the wash rooms and out again. The river was quite low when i visited but during the rainy season months can be quite a torrential torrent.

washer women chefchaouen
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washer women chefchaouen

Scrubbing the clothes on the washboard chefchaouen
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Scrubbing the clothes on the washboard chefchaouen

The spring is also an attraction for Moroccan tourists to the town who think it lucky to drink from the waters. They dress up in traditional Riffian costumes hired for a few minutes from local entrepreneurial women and have their photo taken and fill their water bottles from the spring.

 

Traditional Riffian Dress Chefchaouen
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Traditional Riffian Dress Chefchaouen

 

Filling water from Ras al ma Chefchaouen
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Filling water from Ras al ma Chefchaouen

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SILVERBACKPACKER

Essential Travel Guides

The Washerwomen of
Chefchaouen,
Morocco

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