Chapter 8 “SACRED WEEK”: RE-EXPERIENCING JEWISH-MUSLIM COEXISTENCE IN URBAN MOROCCAN SPACE Aomar Boum Introduction Essaouira is a new pre-Islamic Mecca. Just like Mecca thrived because of its annual fair, ‘Ukaz, 1 Essaouira improved because of the baraka of its musical fairs. 2 Visitors arrive in thousands to its sanctuary without fear of being harmed. By the sanction of its custom of tolerance, tourists, national and foreign, Muslims and Jews, are protected by the blessings of its Jewish and Muslim shrines. Ahmed (a pseudonym), Essaouira. Personal communication, 2004. hroughout Morocco, shrines are spaces where religious, folkloric, economic, cultural, and political beliefs and practices are socially highlighted, publicly celebrated, and communally enforced. Historically, Morocco provided a distinctive environment where Muslims venerated Jewish saints and Jews visited Muslim shrines (Westermarck [1926] 1968: 1; also see Voinot 1948; Ben-Ami 1998; Gitlitz and Davidson 2006; Kosansky 2002, 2003; Stillman 1996; and Lévy 2003). However, the Jewish migration between 1948 and 1982 to Israel and other Western countries, and the emergence of an orthodox Islamic fundamentalist interpretation in the late 1970s, led to a decrease in saint celebrations and shrine visits by Muslims and Jews. 3 In the wake of Moroccan independence in 1956, saint veneration gained new meanings (Reysoo 1991; Levy 1997). hese celebrations were exploited to disseminate a national ideology and reinforce the spiritual legitimacy of the monarchy (Reysoo 1991: 178; Kosansky 2003; Boum 2007). In addition, some cities such as Fes, Essaouira, and Asilah were deined on the basis of cultural diversity and a presumed memory of Jewish-Muslim coexistence to create a neutral space of tolerance with the intent of improving national tourism (Elboudrari 1985; Reysoo 1991; Belghazi 2006; Eickelman 1976).