[TICKETS SOLD OUT] Barcelona’s Mouride community celebrates Magal Porokhane, a festival featuring women
The session ‘Magal Porokhane: Celebration of Mouride Sufism’ will be held on the afternoon of 24 February. It is the latest activity in the ‘Trànsits: músiques de l’esperit’ [Transitions: Music of the Spirit] series organised by the Barcelona Music Museum and the Office for Religious Affairs (OAR) as part of L’Auditori’s ‘Power or Revolt’ season. The activity will be held at the Teatre del Casinet of Hostafrancs and will consist of a conversation and a demonstration of the practice of ‘zikr’ as part of the celebration of Magal.
Waiting list by writing to reservesmuseu@auditori.cat.
The ‘Trànsits: músiques de l’esperit’ [Transitions: Music of the Spirit] series, organised by the Office of Religious Affairs (OAR) and the Barcelona Music Museum, will continue on 24 February with the fifth activity in the series’ second edition. It is ‘Magal Porokhane: Celebration of Mouride Sufism’, which will start at 6 pm at the Teatre del Casinet in Hostafrancs.
The term magal, which means ‘celebration’ or ‘commemoration’ in Wolof, refers to the main festivals and pilgrimages of the tariqa or Mouride brotherhood of Senegal, which is part of the mystical Muslim way of Sufism, the main branch of Islam in West Africa. Mouridism came into being in the late nineteenth century with Sheikh Ahmadu Bamba Mbacke, who was not only a religious leader but is also considered one of the touchstones of non-violent resistance against French colonialism. Just like other tariqas, this brotherhood is organised into dahiras, groups of believers from the same neighbourhood or city which organise social and religious life.
The Magal Porokhane is one of the main festivals on the Mouride ritual calendar. It is held in the city of Porokhane in the region of Kaolak in Senegal in honour of Sokhna Diarra or Mame Diarra Bousso, the mother of the founder of the tariqa and a figure of particular importance. Although the festival is not exclusively for women, it is unique in that women play a prime role in it, even in the diaspora.
As a branch of Sufism, Mouridism is characterised by an affective religious practice through group recitations of religious texts like the Quran, the qasidas (poems written by prominent figures within the Sufi tradition) and the dhikr or zikr (remembrances of God), which consist of rhythmic repetitions of Allah’s different names and other words or phrases. In Senegal, these recitations are a core part of the magals; although instruments are used in some cases, singing voices dominate the rhythm with repetitive choral chanting that encourages introspection among those present.
Beyond this commemoration, women play a key role in the everyday workings of many of the dahiras in the more general framework of the Murîdiyya (Mouride order). These groups are also found in diaspora communities, where they are a space of gathering, companionship and mutual support. In Barcelona, too, dahiras like the Dahira Jazbul Khulob and the Dahira Sokhna Diarra, which are comprised exclusively of women, organise and promote the different religious practices of the city’s Mouride community.
In recent years, these celebrations have become spaces where the Senegalese culture and tradition found in Barcelona have gained visibility.
MAGAL POROKHANE. CELEBRATION OF MOURIDE SUFISM (#Trànsits):
Limited capacity. Free admission with prior booking here.
- Date: Saturday 24 February
- Venue: Teatre del Casinet of Hostafrancs (Carrer del Rector Triadó, 53)
Celebration of Magal Porokhane with the Mouride community of Barcelona (Dahira Jazbul Khulob and Dahira Sokhna Diarra)
- Time: starts at 6 pm
6:15 Recitation of the zikr
8:15 pm Recitation of the qasidas
Conversation moderated by Marta Contijoch Torres, PhD in Social Anthropology (UB), specialising in urban and religious anthropology and religious diversity in Senegal. Participants include Aminata Fall, member of the Dahira Sokhna Diarra of Barcelona; Mbaye Pouye, vice-president of the Dahira Jazbul Khulob, founding member of the Mouride Federation of Catalonia and spiritual activist; and Ahmadou Bamba Al-Kadîm Mountakha Mbacké, grandson of the founder of the Murîdiyya, expert in Islamic studies and the life of Sheikh Amadou Bamba and founder of the Dahira Sokhna Diarra.
- Time: 9 pm