What is Mimouna?

Mimouna is a centuries-old Moroccan celebration of our coexistence as Muslims and Jews, living in harmony on the same lands. During the week of Passover, North African Jews would leave their bread and flour products (known as chametz in Hebrew) with Muslim neighbors.

At the close of Passover, Jewish families retrieve their chametz and invite their Muslim neighbors to a communal gathering called Mimouna.

Mimouna parties typically last all night, with the chametz used to bake sweet pastries. People eat, sing, and dance in the streets, and share blessings of good luck with each other. Historically, Jews from Marrakech would pay a visit to the most ancient olive trees the day before Mimouna, as a way to bless them. On the day after Mimouna, people would rest and clean their feet in a spring that was sacred to both Muslims and Jews. Muslims saw the entire celebration as a source of blessings.

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Why now?

We formed our collective of Anti-Zionist SWANA and Arab Jews in response to the ongoing genocide and atrocities in Palestine. Mimouna is an expression of Jewish culture indigenous to Morocco, bringing together Gnawa, Amazigh, Jewish, Arab, and Muslim traditions in a celebration of hospitality, friendship, and loving neighborly relationship.

We are reclaiming Mimouna and continuing this ancient indigenous tradition, both to express and center solidarity with our indigenous Palestinian siblings, and to emphasize the importance of Palestinian liberation in our collective struggles for justice and equality.

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Yahya Ashour يحيى عاشور is a touring poet and an awarded author.

Ashour was born in Gaza, where he grew up and continuously resided until September 2023, when he came to the United States to participate in a festival, and hasn’t been able to go back home since the beginning of the genocide in Gaza. He currently resides in Saline, Michigan.

During the Spring of 2024, Ashour released A Gaza of Siege & Genocide: excerpts a poetry book written and illustrated by him. Since Fall 2023, he has been reading poetry and talking across the United States about the genocide in Gaza. His poetry reading is called: What the World’s Silence Says: A Reading With Gazan Poet Yahya Ashour.

Buy the book here

All funds from the sale of A Gaza of Siege and Genocide will go directly to assist his family’s escape to Egypt.

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Who are we?

A collective of SWANA (Southwest Asian and North African) and Arab Anti-Zionist Jews, organizing for a free Palestine. This is our very first event, and we hope to organize more cultural and community events to raise awareness for and provide direct action in pursuit of a free Palestine.