The Hammam
Last night Hassan- my host brother- took me to the neighborhood hammam. The hammam is the public bath and is quite popular in Muslim countries. As a history major, I was very interested to see how the public bath system had evolved- how similar would this experience be to the ones I had read about- the ancient bath houses of Greece and Rome? But I had heard varying accounts of the hammam- some of them not so pleasant- so I went with some trepidation.
We left home at about 9ish at night. Hassan led me through the main avenue of the Medina- Ave. Muhammed 5th- where we stopped at one of the many tiny shops that line the avenue. Hassan asked the shopkeeper for something in Arabic and the shopkeeper promptly returned with a number of sock type things of varying coarseness. I was informed that they were scrubbers- you slip one onto your hand and then scrub yourself with it. I bought one that seemed to be of decent quality for 13 Dirhams (about $1.2). Then we headed off to the hammam- which happens to be right in front of Bryan's house. So we stopped by to invite Bryan to join us- he wasn't too thrilled with the idea so we ended up going by ourselves.
The hammam is seperated into 3 main sections- the waiting/drying room- where people arrive undress (they keep their underwear on) and get ready to bathe- the non heated room where they wash themselves with water and soap and the hot room- heated with pipes embedded in the walls and floor where the people sit, sweat and scrub themselves with the coarse scrubber.
First we filled a few buckets of water with really hot water, which we took out of fountain/reservoir built into the wall- which was filled with scalding hot water. We mixed freezing cold water into the hot water to make its temperature more bearable.
Once the water was mixed we carried the buckets back into the non heated room and left them in a corner. We headed back into the heated room and sat there for about 20 minutes, scrubbing ourselves. No water is used during this phase of the bath- you just scrub yourself- your sweat acting as a sort of cleaning agent when combined with the scrubbing action of the ridiculously coarse loofah. After we were done we moved to the cooler room and proceeded to scrub ourselves once again- after which we used about a bucket of water. Then it was time for soap and some more scrubbing. By this time a relatively thick skinned rhinoceros would begin to wince because of all the scrubbing with the 1200 grit sandpaper type loofah.
We spent the next 45 minutes just sitting in the warm room and ocassionaly using lots of water.
Apart from the intense scrubbing- the hammam was a great experience, I'll probably go there a few more times before I leave Morocco.
If anyone knows of any other things I should experience in Morocco, let me know.
Ma'assalaama
We left home at about 9ish at night. Hassan led me through the main avenue of the Medina- Ave. Muhammed 5th- where we stopped at one of the many tiny shops that line the avenue. Hassan asked the shopkeeper for something in Arabic and the shopkeeper promptly returned with a number of sock type things of varying coarseness. I was informed that they were scrubbers- you slip one onto your hand and then scrub yourself with it. I bought one that seemed to be of decent quality for 13 Dirhams (about $1.2). Then we headed off to the hammam- which happens to be right in front of Bryan's house. So we stopped by to invite Bryan to join us- he wasn't too thrilled with the idea so we ended up going by ourselves.
The hammam is seperated into 3 main sections- the waiting/drying room- where people arrive undress (they keep their underwear on) and get ready to bathe- the non heated room where they wash themselves with water and soap and the hot room- heated with pipes embedded in the walls and floor where the people sit, sweat and scrub themselves with the coarse scrubber.
First we filled a few buckets of water with really hot water, which we took out of fountain/reservoir built into the wall- which was filled with scalding hot water. We mixed freezing cold water into the hot water to make its temperature more bearable.
Once the water was mixed we carried the buckets back into the non heated room and left them in a corner. We headed back into the heated room and sat there for about 20 minutes, scrubbing ourselves. No water is used during this phase of the bath- you just scrub yourself- your sweat acting as a sort of cleaning agent when combined with the scrubbing action of the ridiculously coarse loofah. After we were done we moved to the cooler room and proceeded to scrub ourselves once again- after which we used about a bucket of water. Then it was time for soap and some more scrubbing. By this time a relatively thick skinned rhinoceros would begin to wince because of all the scrubbing with the 1200 grit sandpaper type loofah.
We spent the next 45 minutes just sitting in the warm room and ocassionaly using lots of water.
Apart from the intense scrubbing- the hammam was a great experience, I'll probably go there a few more times before I leave Morocco.
If anyone knows of any other things I should experience in Morocco, let me know.
Ma'assalaama
posted by Behzad J. Larry at 12:58 PM
7 Comments:
I could feel the warmth and the comfort of the place, inspite of the rough loofahs! I know the Romans had separate ones for women, what about in Morocco?
Take care and love.
God Bless Colby!
Behzad, I am thoroughly enjoying your travelogue. It is wonderful that you are game for all the different things that Hassan is sharing with you about his culture. I almost feel I am there as I read your accounts.Have fun. Love from Krishen Uncle and me .
Lila Aunty.
Ofcourse, THAT's not what I was asking, but what is the position of hammams in modern Moroccan society for women? There's a very interesting article on Google,("Hammams in Morocco", for those readers of this blog who may want to read something more on this subject) "Ritual, Strategy or Convention: Social Meanings in the Traditional Women's Baths in Morocco".
I found it very interesting to read that in the modern society, they are used basically by women as their "coffee houses". Thanks, Behzad, you got me thinking!
were letting you know trying the "things" in those bars in casablanca might be quite attractive
wow that rubbing your skin with sandpaper... sounds like pain. Must have been awesome though to take in the aura of something as traditional as a hammam or a bath house ... keep the visions commin bro morocco sounds awesome.
FA out
--ninja vanish--
So it's a steam exfoliation treatment. I hear they have masseurs there as well. Sounds great. Bryan, you missed out buddy.
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