On the twelfth day of the third month of the Islamic calendar, the mld or birth of the Prophet

Muhammad is commemorated. Every country has its own special dish on this occasion. In
Tunisia and Morocco, most families have assda for breakfast, a semolina porridge prepared with
milk and sweetened with honey. Poorer people and those in the countryside keep it simple, while
people in the cities and those who are better off may add raisins and orange blossom water to the
porridge. In Algeria, people in the east are known for eating sfinj, fritters, for breakfast, while
qatawarmi, chicken with turnip and chickpeas, is eaten for dinner across the country. In Morocco
chicken or beef with prunes and almonds is a favorite dish on the Prophet's birthday.

Life Cycle Rites

Birth. While in North African cuisine both hot and mild spices are used, the two should not be
mixed. According to Tunisians, the combination of hot and sweet spices is thought to cause
diarrhea, just as fish with milk is thought to cause skin diseases and tea with buttermilk stomach
aches. In all three countries, dishes prepared for special occasions related to life cycle rites tend
to be mild and sweet. Cinnamon, raisins, prunes, and nuts are recurring ingredients. On the
occasion of a birth, for example, an Algerian new mother is offered semolina porridge with
honey. In Morocco the mother is offered seff, ground and grilled cereals and nuts, flavored with
sugar, anise, and fennel. Seff is considered to help her regain her strength and to pass it on to
her baby through her breast milk. According to a Moroccan tradition, when the baby is a girl, a
cock should be slaughtered for the first meal that the mother eats after having given birth, the
cock symbolizing the future husband of the girl. If the baby is a boy, a hen is slaughtered for this
dish. On the seventh day after birth, the day on which the baby is given its name, different kinds
of pancakes such as ghraif and beghrr are prepared for breakfast. In families that can afford it, a
sheep is sacrificed to thank God. It is prepared for the guests who attend the name-giving party.
Marriage. According to a Moroccan custom, the last meal that a mother of a Moroccan bride
prepares before her daughter leaves her parental home to join her husband should be a dish that
was "stirred with no spoon," lest her husband should prove to be an easily agitated and restless
man. Meanwhile, the guests at the groom's house are offered chicken with lemon preserve,
almonds and hard-boiled eggs, which symbolize fertility. In Algeria, guests are served shtetha,
"the dancing (chicken)," a name referring both to the dancing of the guests and to the movements
of the chicken in the pot as is simmers in its sauce of tomatoes, potatoes, garlic, and red pepper.
Often, the parents of the groom slaughter a ram or calf on behalf of the bride to serve to the
wedding guests. In all North African countries the bride and groom offer each other dates and
milk before they withdraw to a room to consummate the marriage. Like eggs, dates and milk
symbolize fertility. For Algerians, an additional explanation is that in this way, the partners eat
each other's "salt," thus becoming part of each other. On the morning after the marriage
ceremony, the parents of a Moroccan bride traditionally send the newlyweds a rice porridge and
bzelf, a boiled head of sheep. The whiteness of the porridge symbolizes the purity of the bride
while the head expresses the wish that she uses her head in running her household. On the
seventh day after the wedding, the family of the bride comes to visit her and are offered fritters
(sfinj ) and porridge (assda ) sweetened with honey.
Mourning. In the house where someone has died, traditionally no fire should be lit to prepare
food for three days. Those who come to express their condolences bring along food for the

bereaved, usually a very simple couscous and hard-boiled eggs. Besides fertility, eggs also
symbolize death and mourning, particularly egg shells, which break easily. On the fortieth day
after the funeral, a ram is slaughtered and its meat prepared for those who gather to recite the
Qur'an on behalf of the deceased. The same ceremony is repeated a year after the death.