Morocco	Mexico
Executive	King Mohammed VI assumed the throne in July 1999. Morocco has a democratic, social and constitutional Monarchy therefore the King of Morocco, is on charge of the whole power. Just because Morocco is a democratic Monarchy, the king is able to  dissolve government and deploy the military. In the same way, the constitution gives the king all the power in the religious things; other than king, he is call “Commander of the Faithful, as a direct descendant of the Prophet Mohammed. The people is suppose to love him and never to speak bad about his highness.	As a result from a long period of timer where the Mexican´s had different kind of governments, for example; empire, monarchy and dictatorship, after the 1917´s constitution, México has a Democratic Republic, consequently there is a President a head of the executive power. However, that doesn´t means that he is the head of the whole country.  The executive power has the same importance than the legislative and judicial branch. For instance, the executive has as a limit those two branches. On the other hand, there are three different kinds of executive´s, the federal, the state, and the municipal.
Language	The official language is Arabic but in some parts like in central and the south part of Morocco, the dominant language to do business is French . However, Spanish is often spoken in the north. English is verily spoken. The Berber languages, that at some point in history were the most important once in Morocco, have decrease  in importance in such way that  in the early 1990s only 25 percent of the population used Berber as their main language.	As a result of the Spanish colonization in the Mexico´s territory science the XVI century, México adopted the Spanish as a main language. Despite that, there still many places where the spoken language are those who were used in the pre-Hispanic times. However, the English language has been taking more importance around the people.
Capital	Rabat is the Capital of Morocco, even though  that the largest city is Casablanca	The  capital of Mexico  is Mexico City, is a federal District, and it is not only known as the largest city in Mexico, Mexico city is also considered the one of the biggest cities in the whole world.
Population	The United Nations estimated that Morocco had 30,566,000 in the year 2003, therefor it was ranked as number 37 in population among all of the nations.  5% of the population was over 65 years old,  another 32% were under 15 old. What’s more curios is that There were an equal number of males and females in the country in 2003.	The population of Mexico in July 2006, was estimated around 107,449,525. The highest structure in population is observed between the age group of 15-64. Population growth rate has been estimated at 1.16% in the year 2006. Birth rate has been 20.69 per 1000 and death rate has been 4.74 per 1000.
Currency	The Moroccan Dirham is the name of their currency,  Although, In various parts of Morocco they are used to sale stuffs in francs, pesetas o rails. Even though those units are not the ones that are use in the original country of that money.	The Mexican Currency is the “peso”.  Never the less, it is usual to use the Dollar as the Currency in much business. Mostly in the ones that are located in touristic areas.
Area.	The total area of Morocco is 458,730 sq km (177,120 sq mi).	Mexico Covers is  almost 1.964.375 square kilometers.  Mexico is the fifth-largest country in America total area and the 14th biggest in the whole world.
Legislature	The legislative power is vested in both the King and the two cameras of parliament.. Bicameral legislature consists of two chambers. The Assambly of Representatives of Morocco (Majlis al-Nuwab/Assemblée des Répresentants) is based in 325 people elected for a five year period, also has 295 elected in multi-seat, and 30 in national lists consisting only of women. In the other hand, they have the Assembly of Councillors (Majlis al-Mustasharin) this one has 270 members, elected for a nine year term, elected by local councils.	Similarly, Mexico has a bicameral kind of federal legislature. Mexican Legislature branch is divided by the senate and the Assembly of representatives, that are call Diputados. The Diputados are 500 in total, 300 of them are elected directly from the people in elections, and the rest are send by the political parties to   represent them.  Their term is for only 3 years. The other camera is the senate, and it is composed by 128 Senators, witches 96 are elected by de voters in the elections, and the rest are elected by minority representation. The senator term is for six years. Neither of both cameras can be re-elected for the consecutive term. They both are part of the Union Congress.
Judicial	The highest court in the judicial structure is the Supreme Court,  The  judges are elected by the King. Judicial has  independence and impartiality at the time of giving a resolution. What is mores curios about Morocco is that Judicial system consist´s of secular courts based on French legal tradition, and religious courts based on the Jewish and  the Islamic traditions. The secular system is formed bye communal and district courts, courts of first instance, appellate courts, and a Supreme Court.  There are 27 Sadad courts, this ones are courts of first instance for Muslim and Jewish trails.	In the same way, the highest court in Mexico is the Supreme Court. Made of 11 ministers, they are a head of all the Mexican Judicial structure.  In contrast with the  Morocco´s law system, the Judicial power is the only one allowed to judge people. The judicial system  is divided in Judges, Magistrados de Circuito that are divided in Magistratos Unitarios y Colegiados, also is made of the Consejo de la Judicatura Federal, witch watch for the good practice of the law by all of the courts. Similarly than Morocco, Mexico has their own military courts. Also, each state has their own local courts, and federal courts.
Religion and government relation.	The relations Between the government and the religions are really close, actually the king is known as “Commander of the Frightful”, because he also is the great religious leader. This is because he is a direct descendent of the Mohamed the prophet. The Government and the religions are really important in the social life, because they are strongly influenced by their  faiths.	In contrast, México government has been separated from the religious system science the Juarez Law in 1855. Although, Mexico is a really Religious country, mostly composed bye Roman Catholic Believer who constantly make acts were they prove their total faith. Even though that Government is separated from the church, this one has still having a lot of power in the community, and they play a high roll in the society.
Military	The Royal Moroccan Armed Forces is the summation of the armed forces of the kingdom of Morocco.	The Mexican Armed Forces includes the Mexican Air Force, the Mexican Navy. The head of the Military in Mexico is the President himself, as the only general with 5 stars. Below that is the minister of defense, who has to be a 4 stars division general.
Constitution	Established Since   September 13th, 1996.	Established science February the 5th, of 1917.
Coat of arms.
Independence.	Morocco got it´s independence from France on March 2, 1956, and on April 7. Through agreements with Spain in 1956 and 1958, Moroccan got back the control over certain Spanish-ruled places. Tangier was nemed as a international city for a while, although it was reintegrated in on October 29, 1956	Likewise, Mexico was part of the Spanish territory. Mexico started the War for it´s independence in September 1810, and finally got it from the Spanish in 1821 It started as an idealistic  rebellion by some priest´s against their colonial masters, nevertheless, the war ended by an agreement between Mexican ex-royalists and Mexican who were fighting.

To conclude...

As a conclusion, Mexico and Morocco are two countries that shares some culture aspects and differ in others, but they are two fraternal cultures that develop constantly and are mentioned worldwide as "growing up nations" regardless of all the issues they can encounter every day.

It is not coincidence that Mexico and Morocco are two tourist destinations where people fall in love with the culture. Maybe because of the open-loving people, maybe because of the exotic food or all the different traditions they have to make the daily-life living interesting as it should be in every culture.

Fun facts! - Did you know...?

Mexican money is called pesos, and Moroccan money is called dirhams.


Below, two coins: 10 pesos & 10 dirhams.

Interesting...



Now lets check a worldmap...

Big coincidence, don't you think so?

Social Interaction - Women in society

Art, music.....

Although this section has many topics of which we speak, we will focus mainly to art, culture, architecture and clothing from Mexico and Morocco.


Art .- in Morocco are the main forms of artistic expression through carpet weaving, jewelry, ceramics, sculpture and painting. Inside the ceramic tiles we also find, located inside the houses and palaces. In Mexico we can find jewelry making, painting and sculpture, as well as ceramics, mainly in the very traditional talavera, which comes from Andalusian Arabic culture, is probably also arrived in Morocco many years ago. In terms of painting, highlighting the murals of Bonampak pre-Hispanic cities, Teotihuacan and Monte Alban, and in contemporary painting we see the great murals of David Alfaro Siqueiros and Diego Rivera. As already mentioned that the Spanish influence was the similarity in the two countries in the field of painting, we can not find clear similarities, but if we see them in carpet weaving, pottery (or talavera) and jewelry.

Moroccan mosaic

 Kitchen in the Santa Rosa convent, Puebla, Mexico

In Morocco exist the famous Kilims, wich are rugs with big decorations, all unique designs; this are used as quilts, and for furniture. Something a bit like there is in Mexico with so-called Sarapes, which at first occupied as a garment to cover the person from the cold, but over time has been changing and now has endless uses.

Sarape

     Kilim

Music.- Music .- traditional Moroccan music is called Chabbi, when people come out to dance they do in groups, this means that only women dance with women and men with men, this is completely different in Mexico because in this country men and women dance together.Traditional Mexican music is called Mariachi; the mariachi band is usually formed by a number between 7 to 12 members but there is no limit to the maximum. The essential instruments are the vihuela, guitarrón, guitarra de golpe, guitar, violins and trumpets, but sometimes are added flute and harp, and abroad including the accodion. 

Architecture.- Mexican architecture is characterized as baroque, but few know where it comes from the baroque which is in Mexico, this comes from the baroque architecture of Andalusia (Spain), and although in this field Morocco and Mexico do not have great matches, we can see in both countries some Andalusian Baroque style buildings. Because as has been said these countries were, at one time, Spanish colonies. This difference is because of the geography of where these countries are situated, and therefore have to adapt to the environment, Morocco is desert and in Mexico we can find a diverse climate.

Social Interaction - How do people have fun?

In this entry we will talk about the difference of the most common (but not only) ways of daily distractions people have in our beloved countries Mexico and Morocco.

**Before reading** The entry is not assuming ALL Mexican and Moroccans have fun this way!

Mexico is well known worldwide for being a high rated alcoholism country. It sounds bad but its true, most generally, Mexican people love to party and drink alcohol. Very often young Mexican people use their weekend to go to clubs or "cantinas" (bars) where they drink big quantities of alcohol, dance, sing or do other crazy stuff to celebrate the work (school) week is over again. And at a university level (specially if you live away from your parents) you could do this even 2, 3 or more times per week.

In contrast, Moroccan people are not supposed to drink alcohol because of their religion, and even if they want to, it is really hard to get "fun drinks" in that country (In compare of Mexico, for example). In Morocco they drink tea even more than we drink coffee in Mexico, they do it for breakfast, they do it after meals, they even do it in the night when they go out! (And it is pretty cheap also).

According to the United Nations, Morocco is the second country in the world in the meaning of hachis production (The first one is Afghanistan), so that, hachis is the most popular drug in Morocco, and it is smoked very freely we could say; you can be walking down the street and watch people smoke it as if it was just a regular cigarette. In some places, you can take a random taxi (preferably one with a not very old driver), tell them your neighborhood's dealer's name, and they will know exactly where to go, they will take you and wait for you until you have your "bussiness done" and then take you to your next stop.

Tea shops are the most common point of reunion for Moroccans to hang out, they go there and talk, order tea, and usually smoke one, two, three......whatever number of hachis's joints.

Is good to mention that hachis is not a legal drug in Morocco, but as in Mexico, law is very easy to defeat when you have certain amount of money to give to the policemen. We suck when it comes to corruption, but that is a topic we don't want to focus in this entry.

**If you are not familiar with hachis, check out this link that might help you understand what hachis is:

http://encyclopedia2.thefreedictionary.com/Hachis

Concluding, Mexicans and Moroccans have peculiar forms to have fun, but of course they are not all alcoholics and drug-addicts, you can have fun with the "help" of those substances and not abuse of them and still enjoy it; or you can just hang out with people that does that and not do it. Each one is responsible for what they do and the ways they decide to spend their free time. ¿Are you Mexican or Moroccan? ¿Do you think this is false? We would like to hear your opinion.

King Roi Hassan II

King Roi Hassan III, was last king of Morocco, before of his son King Mohammed VI. He Became King on  March 3th in 1961.
 King Hassan survived two  attempts to kill him. The first happend  in 1971, and was organized by General Madbouh and Colonel Ababou. The second one, happend on August 16 of 1972. This attemped was amazing because it happende in the sky while the king was comming back from a trip to France. Some F-15 jets from his own country, fired upon the King's plane, but luckly they failed to bring it down.

A good thing that happend while he was King, was the recover of Ifni that was controlled by the Spanish Government. 
King Hassan died of natural causes when he was 70 years old,  in his birthtown on 23 July 1999. There was a funeral in the whole country of Morocco. Many of the Presidents from the whole world attended to his funeral. He was buried at a local cementery in Rabat.

Here is the whole Dinasty of the King Hassan, comming all the way from Mohammed the prophet:

1. Muhammad, Prophet of Islam (died 632)
2. Fatimah
3. Hasan ibn Ali (died 670)
4. Hasan II
5. Abdullah al-Kamal
6. Muhammad al-Mahdi
7. Hasan
8. Muhammad
9. Abdullah
10. Qasim
11. Ismail
12. Ahmad
13. Hasan
14. Ali
15. Abubakr
16. Hasan
17. Abu Muhammad Arafa
18. Abdullah
19. Hasan
20. Muhammad
21. Belqasim
22. Muhammad
23. Qasim
24. Al Hassan Addakhil (came to the Tafilalt region in Morocco in 1266)^[9]
25. Muhammad
26. Hasan
27. Ali ash-Sharif
28. Yusuf
29. Ali
30. Muhammad
31. Ali
32. Muhammad I ash-Sharif, King of Tafilalt (died 1659)
33. Moulay Ismail, Sultan of Morocco (died 1727)
34. Moulay Abdullah, Sultan of Morocco (died 1757)
35. Sidi Muhammad III, Sultan of Morocco (died 1790)
36. Moulay Hisham, Sultan of Morocco (died 1796)
37. Moulay Abd ar-Rahman, Sultan of Morocco (died 1859)
38. Moulay Muhammad IV, Sultan of Morocco (died 1873)
39. Moulay al-Hasan I, Sultan of Morocco (died 1894)
40. Moulay Yusuf, Sultan of Morocco (died 1927)
41. Mohammed V, King of Morocco (died 1961)
42. Hassan II, King of Morocco (died 1999)
43. Mohammed VI, King of Morocco (born 1963)

Food, Recipes and Spices

In this particular issue can be found similarities between Mexico and Morocco, they share a special taste for seasoning their food with a variety of spices, among them are cinnamon, chiles and saffron.

      Moroccan Spices

  Mexican Spices

The reason why Mexico and Morocco have many similarities is clearly influenced by Spanish and Arab who came to these countries many years ago, and although it was at various times the influence was in some ways very similar.

Returning to our theme, we also observed that both cultures added to the dishes lemon, olives, almonds and many vegetables, as a sort of garrison. 

Both cuisines are rich in color, a special feature as many cuisines around the world are sober and have no color. From my point of view I think that adding color to the food also has to do largely with the personality and identity of the nation.

 Mexican dish

Moroccan dish

You can found some moroccan recipes on the links that we present you now:

http://www.moroccan-recipes.com/
http://www.magicmorocco.com/morocco_food/

And for mexican recipes you can see the next  links:
http://www.gourmetsleuth.com/Recipes/Mexican-Recipes-191.aspx
http://www.ifood.tv/r/mexican/recipes