Throne Day () is a

public holiday A public holiday, national holiday, federal holiday, statutory holiday, bank holiday or legal holiday is a holiday generally established by law and is usually a non-working day during the year. Types Civic holiday A ''civic holiday'', also k ...

Morocco Morocco, officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It has coastlines on the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to Algeria–Morocc ...

, punctuated by commemorations of the day of the

king King is a royal title given to a male monarch. A king is an Absolute monarchy, absolute monarch if he holds unrestricted Government, governmental power or exercises full sovereignty over a nation. Conversely, he is a Constitutional monarchy, ...

's formal accession to the throne. The first celebration was held in 1933 to mark the accession of Mohammed V in 1927. The current date on which the holiday takes place is 30 July, the date when Mohammed VI was officially enthroned. Several nationwide and official events are covered on public television throughout the day.

History

The first celebration was in 1933 in honor of Sultan (later King) Mohammed V, and subsequent commemorations took place each year on 18 November. During the French protectorate period, he reportedly refused to sign off on "

Vichy Vichy (, ; ) is a city in the central French department of Allier. Located on the Allier river, it is a major spa and resort town and during World War II was the capital of Vichy France. As of 2021, Vichy has a population of 25,789. Known f ...

's plan to ghettoize and deport Morocco's quarter of a million Jews to the killing factories of Europe," and, in an act of defiance, insisted on inviting all the rabbis of Morocco to the 1941 throne celebrations. The celebration date has since been moved to the respective day of the next monarch's official enthronement following their accession, beginning with 3 March under

Hassan II Hassan, Hasan, Hassane, Haasana, Hassaan, Asan, Hassun, Hasun, Hassen, Hasson or Hasani may refer to: People *Hassan (given name), Arabic given name and a list of people with that given name *Hassan (surname), Arabic, Jewish, Irish, and Scotti ...

(reigned 1961–1999). The ''

bay'ah ''Bayʿah'' (, "Pledge of allegiance"), in Islamic terminology, is an oath of allegiance to a leader. It is known to have been practiced by the Islamic prophet Muhammad. In Bedouin culture it was a procedure for choosing the leader of the trib ...

'' ceremony, in which elected and state officials pledge allegiance to the monarch and which initially took place only at the king's actual coronation, was made annual by Hassan II in 1962. The date was moved again to 30 July under the reign of Mohammed VI (1999–present).

Events

Throne Day is customarily marked by an official gathering at the royal palace, which comprises the swearing of allegiance (''bay'ah'') by officials representing the

Ministry of Interior An interior ministry or ministry of the interior (also called ministry of home affairs or ministry of internal affairs) is a government department that is responsible for domestic policy, public security and law enforcement. In some states, th ...

regions In geography, regions, otherwise referred to as areas, zones, lands or territories, are portions of the Earth's surface that are broadly divided by physical characteristics (physical geography), human impact characteristics (human geography), and ...

prefectures and provinces of Morocco The 12 Regions of Morocco are subdivided into 75 second-level administrative subdivisions, the Prefectures and provinces. There are 13 prefectures and 62 provinces. Each prefecture or province is subdivided into arrondissements (only in prefect ...

to the monarch. This ceremony is covered only by official state media. Traditional activities by the king on 29 July (the eve of the enthronement day) include a televised speech to the nation outlining domestic and foreign policies, and the granting of royal

pardon A pardon is a government decision to allow a person to be relieved of some or all of the legal consequences resulting from a criminal conviction. A pardon may be granted before or after conviction for the crime, depending on the laws of the j ...

References

Works cited

* {{Cite book , last=Miller , first=Susan Gilson , url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/9781139045834/type/book , title=A History of Modern Morocco , date=2013-04-08 , publisher=Cambridge University Press , isbn=978-0-521-81070-8 , edition=1 , doi=10.1017/cbo9781139045834 Culture of Morocco