BEGIN:VCALENDAR VERSION:2.0 PRODID:-//wp-events-plugin.com//7.2.3.1//EN TZID:America/Detroit X-WR-TIMEZONE:America/Detroit BEGIN:VEVENT UID:32710@arabamerica.com DTSTART;TZID=America/Detroit:20240430T183000 DTEND;TZID=America/Detroit:20240430T220000 DTSTAMP:20240422T202422Z URL:https://www.arabamerica.com/events/mimouna-for-palestine/ SUMMARY:Mimouna for Palestine DESCRIPTION:San Francisco\, CA.\n\n\n\nWhat is Mimouna?\n\nMimouna is a cen turies-old Moroccan celebration of our coexistence as Muslims and Jews\, living in harmony on the same lands. During the week of Passover\, North A frican Jews would leave their bread and flour products (known as chametz  in Hebrew) with Muslim neighbors.\n\nAt the close of Passover\, Jewish f amilies retrieve their chametz and invite their Muslim neighbors to a c ommunal gathering called Mimouna.\n\nMimouna parties typically last all ni ght\, with the chametz used to bake sweet pastries. People eat\, sing\, and dance in the streets\, and share blessings of good luck with each ot her. Historically\, Jews from Marrakech would pay a visit to the most anci ent olive trees the day before Mimouna\, as a way to bless them. On the da y after Mimouna\, people would rest and clean their feet in a spring that was sacred to both Muslims and Jews. Muslims saw the entire celebration as a source of blessings.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n🪬\;🪬\;🪬\;\n\nWhy now?\n\nWe formed our collective of Anti-Zionist SWANA and Arab Jews in response to the ongoing genocide and atrocities in Palestine. Mimouna is an expression of Jewish culture indigenous to Morocco\, bringing together Gnawa\, Amazigh\, Jewish\, Arab\, and Muslim traditions in a celebration of hospitality\, friendship\, and loving neighborly relationship.\n\nWe a re reclaiming Mimouna and continuing this ancient indigenous tradition\, b oth to express and center solidarity with our indigenous Palestinian sibli ngs\, and to emphasize the importance of Palestinian liberation in our co llective struggles for justice and equality.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n🪬\;Ǻ ac\;🪬\;\n\nYahya Ashour يحيى عاشور is a touring poet and an awarded author.\n\nAshour was born in Gaza\, where he grew up and conti nuously resided until September 2023\, when he came to the United States t o participate in a festival\, and hasn’t been able to go back home since the beginning of the genocide in Gaza. He currently resides in Saline\, M ichigan.\n\nDuring the Spring of 2024\, Ashour released A Gaza of Siege & amp\; Genocide: excerpts a poetry book written and illustrated by him. Si nce Fall 2023\, he has been reading poetry and talking across the United S tates about the genocide in Gaza. His poetry reading is called: What the World’s Silence Says: A Reading With Gazan Poet Yahya Ashour.\n\nBuy the book here\n\nAll funds from the sale of A Gaza of Siege and Genocide wi ll go directly to assist his family’s escape to Egypt.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n faac\;🪬\;🪬\;\n\nWho are we?\n\nA collective of SWANA (Sout hwest Asian and North African) and Arab Anti-Zionist Jews\, organizing f or a free Palestine. This is our very first event\, and we hope to organi ze more cultural and community events to raise awareness for and provide d irect action in pursuit of a free Palestine.\n\n\n ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://www.arabamerica.com/wp-content/uploads/2 024/04/Screenshot-2024-04-22-at-4.23.09-PM.png CATEGORIES:Arab,Community,culture LOCATION:El Rio\, 3158 Mission Street\, San Francisco \, CA\, United States GEO:37.746805;-122.41944 X-APPLE-STRUCTURED-LOCATION;VALUE=URI;X-ADDRESS=3158 Mission Street\, San F rancisco \, CA\, United States;X-APPLE-RADIUS=100;X-TITLE=El Rio:geo:37.74 6805,-122.41944 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VTIMEZONE TZID:America/Detroit X-LIC-LOCATION:America/Detroit BEGIN:DAYLIGHT DTSTART:20240310T030000 TZOFFSETFROM:-0500 TZOFFSETTO:-0400 TZNAME:EDT END:DAYLIGHT END:VTIMEZONE END:VCALENDAR