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Kalaat M'Gouna's Festival of Roses
Stop and smell the roses as the city of Kalaat M'Gouna celebrates the fragrant blooms that flourish in the M'Goun Valley - the Valley of the Roses - in the lively three-day Rose Festival During the main growing season of April to mid-May, the valley produces a staggering 4000 tonnes of wild Damask roses; according to folklore, they were brought here centuries ago by an Amazigh trader from Damascus.
At harvest time, women set out before dawn to gather the roses by hand before selling them to cooperatives seattered across the valley.
The festival is a sea of pink-roses are everywhere, tied together in heart-shaped garlands strung from street lights and fashioned into necklaces and bracelets - with much music, singing and dancing. And look out for the star of the show, the newly crowned Rose Queen, who presides over a rose-petal-strewn parade.
The date of the festival is linked to the harvest and is thus a moveable feast, but it usually takes place from mid-May to early June, beginning on a Friday, with the main events running over the weekend.
