Berbers are the indigenous people of Morocco and Algeria and to a lesser extent Libya and Tunisia.
They are descendants of an ancient race that has inhabited Morocco and much of northen Africa since Neolithic times.
The origins of the Berbers are unclear; a number of waves of people, some from Western Europe, some from sub-Saharan Africa, and others from Northeast Africa, eventually settled in North Africa and made up its indigenous population.
Amongst the Northern African Berber people, who are indigenous to the area, there is quite the communal consummation of marriage.
By this I mean that a couple will consummate their marriage either alone, or possibly with other newly-married couples in a shared wedding chamber.
They use the community experience to learn the art of love-making and get accustomed to one another, since many of the newlyweds have not been acquainted for long. The new husband and wife will stay together with all the couples for five days, and it is on the last day that the newlyweds are shown off to the village.
The wedding takes place over three days. On the third night, the Bride and Groom are escorted to a room to consummate the marriage. Both families wait a short distance away outside the door while the best man or best woman sits directly outside the door with a silver platter.
When the marriage is consummated, the blood-stained white sheet is passed outside and put on the silver platter to show the family that she is indeed a virgin. This old tradition is only carried out in perhaps 50% of all marriages.
The happy families (the Bride’s family probably relieved and jubilant that their daughter was a virgin) breakfast together and the guests go home with the exception of the Bride’s mother. She usually stays a few days with her newly married daughter until the Bride goes to live with the Groom’s family.
The woman always lives with the man’s family and spends the rest of her life subjected to verbal and physical abuse by both her new mother-in-law and possibly her husband. Morocco now has initiatives for battered women but customs haven’t changed in rural areas.
