Morocco and Black Magic

My favorite Moroccan inside joke is "we're going to eat/make couscous."

There was a guy at Amideast (the language institute where I'll be taking darija, French, and fusha classes) who said that he likes extreme sports. He was talking about a dangerous rock climbing venture, and his friend said, "ohhh we're going to make couscous."

Allow me to explain. In Rabat, by the ocean, there is a small hut in the middle of a massive cemetery, and the people inside the hut do black magic. The couscous comment is a reference to the black magic because it's said that if you bring a dead person's hand to the black magic people, they will use it to make couscous.

Before I continue, I should elaborate a bit more. Making couscous is a rubbing process that involves moving your hand over the grain. The hands are key to the production of perhaps Morocco's most beloved dish. The myth is that if you're a wife and you give this dead-person-hand-couscous to your husband to eat, he will obey you.

Long story short, because the guy at Amideast does dangerous sports, he is probably going to die, in which case we will be able to make couscous with his hand in the cemetery! Yay! Apparently Moroccans are well-known for their black magic, too. Who knew?