Do you think people would go to public baths if they existed in the U.S.? Hammams, or public bathhouses, are a popular, long-standing Moroccan tradition.
When I first arrived in Morocco, I learned about hammams. A hammam is a public bathhouse and it's a part Moroccan tradition that has existed in for centuries! There are separate hammams for men and women, but the rituals are the same. When you enter, you pay at the front, change into your towel, grab your soap and shampoo, and enter the first of three rooms. The rooms get progressively warmer as you go on. You start by using a natural black soap that is made with olive oil, and then you use your shampoo and conditioner. You fill your bucket at water fountains in each room. You can pay extra for someone to help you, or you can go with your friends!
Like many things in Morocco, this tradition started thousands of years ago, back when people didn’t have baths or showers in their homes. Each neighborhood in the old medina (walled-in cities built during the 11th century) would have a fountain where families would get water, a community oven where families would bring their bread to be baked, and a mosque with a hammam attached.
