I got my milk one morning in Naples, Italy, close to Corso Umberto I. A parked car was playing this song, it filled the tiny way between a deli and Chinese electronics (and other things) store with red lanterns hanging outside.
Silver, in Berber, teaches me a little about the Berber alphabet and Moroccan history
In 2011, the history of Morocco before the arrival of Islam was introduced into school curriculums. I didn’t want to interrupt Silver to ask him to spell names. I looked it up later. I found the “Anas” but what about “silver” in Berber? Was that the correct spelling?
What was the name of the dynasty in power when Islam arrived in Morocco in the 7th century?
Did Silver say the amawe dynasty?
Amazir? It’s spelled Amazigh.
I looked up “dynasty before Muslims arrived in Morocco.”
I couldn’t find anything.
It was not a Muslim dynasty.
I’m being transparent about my process on purpose.
*
Anas: This is a letter that represents all the alphabet—zz.
Maria: zz. In what context do you use that?
Anas: (writing on the chalkboard) Like all the other normal languages.
Maria: It represents all the letters? We don’t have that in English, for example.
Anas: In the Berber or Amazigh flag, you’ll find this symbol.
Maria: It’s more symbolic? A unifying idea?
Anas: Exactly. It’s the “yaz.”
In Berber alphabet I don’t say ah, I say yah. For b, I say yab. And yaz, you see? This is the t—it’s like a cross. If you go to the mountains, females have this letter as a tattoo. It represents hope, light. It was also a way to distinguish if she is married or not. If she’s married, it’s only t.
Maria: If they aren’t married…
Anas: They don’t have a tattoo.
Aamir: (with the other Aamir—if I remember correctly—who paid for my dinner at the street food spot down the street. He works here but was off that night)
You guys got along very quickly guys! Wow! I’m going to put an order in—just to say.
Anas: But if she’s divorced, we add the dots. If she has a t, you don’t put yourself in an awkward situation. Now we’re back on track (he erased the board). We’re trying to revive a bit the culture. And now these alphabets are in there.
Aamir: Okay, guys. Finish your talk. I'll be upstairs.
Maria: I’ll come back another time, I still have a bunch of things to do…
(Aamir continued up the steps)
Anas: Absolutely.
Maria: …for work. I’ll come back.
Anas: Exactly. Allow me just to show you the alphabet. A, ke, l, u. The itch sound. The d, the m, this is the rr sound; there is the soft r and the tense r sound. This is similar to that one, but this is yaz. But this is more tense.
Maria: I really appreciated that being a language person.
Anas: Yeah, well, I'm trying my best. If you need more information about this, I could supply you with that. I was planning to write what I have. I wanted to put it into a unified language like English, so other people would know the story of the whole north of Africa. The Moroccan culture is amazing and we didn’t get a chance to learn it…believe me. Like in the curriculums? There was no existence of such things.
Maria: You mean ancient history? Why is that?
Anas: The Amazigh folks embraced Islam as a religion. History started there.
Maria: When?
Anas: Allow me to check which time exactly; during the Amawe dynasty…
Maria: When the country shifted to Islam. Before, it was…
Anas: 750; 661-750. That was when everything was missed. The identity, the language itself. We replaced Berber with what we have now—the Moroccan dialect. It is a mixture of Arabic, Amazigh, French, Spanish words. During 1962, there was a protest—a political decision from the government. We had to purify the Moroccan tongue. They imposed the Arabic language; it became the first language.
Maria: But now it’s changed?
Anas: Since 2011, they started including the history pre-Islam. Political parties are reviving the culture and imposing it on the government. No, this is the true history of our folk.
We know how to pronounce the words; we use the Arabic letters—(writes my name is Arabic)— but if I show it to a normal guy passing by, he wouldn’t know how to read it, because he only knows how to speak it. He doesn’t have inside his mind the realization of those sounds as letters.
Maria: I look forward to talking more with you…
Anas: Absolutely. Take your time. You will find me always here.
Maria: If I wasn’t full…
Anas: Absolutely.
Silver, in Berber, who studied in Manchester.
Anas means silver in Berber, an official language of Morocco. He worked at Pikala Cafe near my riad, a bicycle-themed oasis.
Upon arrival, I met Silver in Berber with large thin-framed glasses. He studied linguistics in Manchester England instead of New Jersey because it was more economical to do so. He’s there looking thin and dapper by the cash register. Within two minutes, he was erasing the black chalkboard with the dessert du jour: Moroccan Cheez Cake with kiwi to give me a history lesson on North Africa. His grandfather was the chef for former French Resident-General Augustin Guillaume.
Anas: We know all this thanks to Greek historians Herodotus and Strabo. They wrote articles about what was shared between the Greek and Berber cultures. The rain God…we worshipped several God. Before, we were pagans. We had a God of war named Gurzil (or Agurzil as he pronounced it).
Maria: This is Moroccan mythology?
Anas: Rituals and myths. Agurzil is half man with the head of ram (I think). Our God of rain is Anzar.
(wipes the menu chalkboard clean under Moroccan Cheez Cake)
Maria: Is this your café?
Anas: The owner is from Netherlands.
Anas: (drawing a map of North Africa) Morocco used to be called Mauritania….
Karabek: the Refugee Camp Manager
In the courtyard of our riad one evening, a soccer game playing upstairs, Karabek smoked his rolled cigarette (wink) in the shadows. The light filtered through a blue wrought-iron screen of hearts giving way to swirls and an open door to the kitchen.
On a leather couch the color of mud, the refugee camp manager picked the name “Karabek” for our public-facing discourse for its “mystical quality,” rubbing his fingers together. It means “black existence.”
Maria: Do you watch soccer?
Karabek: I do? No, I don’t. I used to do, but I hate it now.
Maria: Well…
Karabek: I just had a conversation with someone about that.
Maria: There’s an expression in Naples…
Karabek: Hm hm…
Maria: In Neapolitan…
Karabek: Hm hm…
Maria: Which is basically its own language, right?
Karabek: Yeah.
Maria: I love you more than Maradona. That’s like, an expression.
Karabek: (chuckles softly) Maradona, yeah.
Maria: As in Diego Maradona…
Karabek: Yeah, yeah…
Maria: That’s a serious declaration of love, okay?
Karabek: (laughs) Cra-zy.
Maria: I love you more than Maradona. Imagine someone telling you that…
Karabek: Yeah, yeah.
Maria: And you’re going to respond…
Karabek: Ok.
Maria: Thank you so…
Karabek: (laughs) I appreciate that…
Maria: That means, I mean it’s…
Karabek: I really love you…
Maria: It’s truly serious…
Karabek: It’s true love…
Maria: He’s Argentinian…
Karabek: Ok.
Maria: But he became Naples…
Karabek: Yeah.
Maria: …Neapolitan essentially.
Karabek: Yeah.
Maria: He’s considered to be a saint pretty much…
Karabek: Yes.
Maria: The graffiti all over the city just…Maradona. It’s like eat, pray, love, but the love is not romantic, it’s about all the cultures…
Karabek: Yeah, yeah…
Maria: …that go into one culture.
Karabek: Sounds really nice…a newsletter in Naples, right?
Maria: I was going to start in Naples because it was conquered by so many people.
Karabek: (Admittedly) Yeah, even the Arab world.
Maria: This is what I found out.
Karabek: Yeah.
Maria: The food in Naples…
Karabek: Yeah.
Maria: So many cultures went into the food. Naples was conquered by Sicily.
Karabek: Hm hm…
Maria: And Sicily…
Karabek: Was Arab…like thousand something…
Maria: So, you know the cannoli? The Italian dessert?
Karabek: Yeah, yeah, cannoli, yeah.
Maria: And the cassata…?
Karabek: Yeah, yeah.
Maria: This was probably an Arab invention.
Karabek: Probably, yeah.
Maria: I found evidence…
Karabek: Yeah.
Maria: Muslim women and Christian nuns were the two big bakers…
Karabek: Okay…
Maria: Of that world
Karabek: Okay…
Maria: So a lot of the desserts in Naples were invented in convents.
Karabek: Yeah.
Maria: Which I love as an image.
Karabek: Yeah.
Maria: The smell.
Karabek: (blows out the smoke from his cigarette)
Maria: Ricotta was something that was used, but the Arab people went: “why don’t you put some sugar in it?” And that’s when Sicilians started using sugar in ricotta…or so, a legend goes.
Karabek: They use so much sugar. The Arabs, they use so much sugar. Wherever you go, not just Morocco. Jordan, Egypt…
Maria: So apparently the cannoli…
Karabek: Yeah.
Maria: Which is a super iconic dessert in Naples.
Karabek: Imagine that?
Maria: The harems…
Karabek: Yeah, yeah…
Maria: That’s why I wanna go…
Karabek: …
Maria: That’s a connection that I think would be amazing, if it were true.
Karabek: For your understanding, it’s worth it. Just for your understanding of human, humanity.
Maria: Totally.
Karabek: Perfect.
Maria: After the harems closed down, I guess? That‘s a part of a legend. They went into convents…
Karabek: Hm hm.
Maria: And started baking with the nuns, and they invented the cannoli, apparently.
Karabek: Have you heard about the history of Andalouse? For 800 years, the region of North Africa, Spain, France, Sicily, they were under Muslim or Arab rule. During this time, that’s what I meant; it’s perfect for your understanding, you know?
Maria: Hm hm…
Karabek: People are used to…they start judging—I don’t like this, bad people. Stop judging. Just try to understand…
Maria: Yeah.
Karabek: You know? Do you know what I mean?
Maria: Hm.
Karabek: I know people, they used to be like this always…
Marco enters (from Abruzzo/Sicily but lived in London).
Marco: Hey hello, how are you? How’s dinner…
Maria: Someone paid for my dinner.
Karabek: (laughs)
Maria: The guys who work across the street…
Marco: At the bicycle place?
Maria: A couple of them were at the spot…
Marco: Oh, the chicken spot.
Maria: They paid for my meal, so I went over there and got a history lesson from somebody.
Karabek: Hm.
Marco: Ah.
Maria: I had a wonderful encounter.
Marco: A history lesson?
Maria: Of North Africa from a young man who studied linguistics.
Karabek: Hm.
Maria: He showed me Berber, the language, and he went into a whole thing about his family. Apparently, his grandfather was like the chef for the French ruler…at the end of colonization. They lost their lands because of la paperasse. [Guillaume].
Marco: Oh wow.
Karabek: Hm hm.
Maria: So…
Karabek: Hm hm.
Maria: Super interesting people.
Karabek: Yeah yeah.
Maria: We’re talking about Andalouse.
Karabek: Andalouse; yeah, yeah, yeah.
Maria: That’s what we’re talking about…
Karabek: Yeah, yeah yeah…I guess you know the history of Andalouse?
Marco: About Andalusia?
Karabek: Yeah, yeah, yeah…
Marco: I mean, I know it was colonized by Morocco, but uh, that’s all I know.
Karabek: (laughs) Yeah…
Marco: For 300, 400 years…
Karabek: Even more. 700 years…
Marco: 700 years…
Karabek: Yeah, yeah. Yeah.
Marco: Okay.
Karabek: Yeah.
Maria: I liked what you were saying, about all the cultures that go into a place…
Karabek: Yeah. You see, here, they have a different perception of community if you compare to other places. It works! Somehow.
Maria: What do you mean, a different perception of community?
Karabek: Our eyes give us a lot of information…just look at the way they live. House by house, don’t know what’s behind the door. They have these hammams, big bakeries…there’s one big bakery that makes a quarter…
Maria: (did I hear that right, tbd, where do the baked goods come from) …?
Karabek: How do you live together? They have different regulations on how to live together. You see? There aren’t so many rules.
Maria: Yeah…hm.
More to come from Karabek.