The cultural heritage of the nomads of the world and the cultural caravan for the peace: two festivals dedicated to the cultural promotion of Africa

On October 28, 29, and 30, 2022, the 11th edition of the Taragalt festival will be held.

Organized every year in the month of October for nearly 10 years, it is a festival that celebrates the rich heritage of the tradition and historical culture of the nomads of the world, in the small Moroccan rural town of M’Hamid El Ghizlane, near the province of Zagora located on the edge of Sahara near the border with Algeria and near the bend of Oued Draa which bends towards the West towards the Atlantic Ocean.

The theme of this edition, “Sobriety in pictures”, is indicative of the characteristics of the culture of nomads of the Sahara, who at all times and in all places, have never ceased to show modesty, humility and union with other African cultures.

This edition of the Taragalt festival will be dedicated to Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, because of his ideas, his love for Morocco and its links with Moroccan nomads.

Antoine de Saint-Exupéry discovered Morocco in 1921, when he performed his military service in the 37th Casablanca Aircraft Regiment.

But it was in 1927-1928, as an airplane manager for the Latécoère company at Cap Juby, the current Tarfaya, that he forges particularly strong ties with the country.

He established himself there as one of the most talented pilots of Aéropostale. This is also where he writes his first novel, Courrier Sud, and that he drew inspiration from the Little Prince, his masterpiece, translated into 270 languages ​​and sold 145 million copies worldwide. And above all, it is in the destitution of Cap Juby, wedged between the Sahara and the Atlantic, that he develops the humanist ethics that will characterize his life and his work. Saint-Exupéry stayed on other occasions in Morocco, notably in the 1930s,
where he settled in Casablanca with his wife, the volcanic Consuleo.

It is therefore an immersion in the heart of the work and the extraordinary career of Antoine de Saint-Exupéry in order to discover the links that unite us through art, culture and dialogue in the footsteps of this great author passionate about African nomadism.

In addition, this edition of the Taragalt festival also hosts the 6th edition of the Caravan Culture for peace.

The Cultural Caravan for Peace is a trans-Saharan Sahelian work and cooperation network born from the will of three festivals (Festival on the Niger, Festival of the Desert of Mali and Festival Taragalt of Morocco).

It is therefore a network of festivals that combines both cultural and historical values ​​to make instruments at the service of the search for peace, solidarity, understanding and contributing to living-together and to social cohesion. Its objectives are to promote dialogue, peace, diversity culture and social cohesion, in order to develop cultural mixing, actions to promote sustainability and environmental management.