Jemaa el-Fnaa · After Dark, a Different Crowd

By day the great square in Marrakesh sells juice and spices. Once the sun is down the stalls roll out in sheets: storytellers, snake charmers, monkey handlers, musicians, soup sellers, all of it going until the small hours.

It is nearly a thousand years old, and the square itself is on the heritage list — because of its oral traditions. The storytellers work without a script and can hold a crowd for hours, and only the people sitting around them know what was said.

The older generation says some stories are only told at night.

Folklore / Marrakesh · Morocco / Time immemorial