Fantasia (culture)

Fantasia in Midoun, Djerba (Tunisia).

Fantasia is a traditional equestrian performance practiced during cultural festivals in Morocco,and occurs traditionally to close Berber wedding celebrations in Maghreb. Fantasia is an imported name, the actual traditional term used is "Game of gunpowder".

It consists of a group of horse riders, wearing traditional clothes and charging along a straight path at the same speed so as to form a line; at the end of the ride (about two hundred meters) all riders fire into the sky using old gunpowder guns. The difficulty of the performance is in synchronization during the acceleration and especially during firing so that one single shot is heard. The horse is referred to as a fantasia horse and is of the type called Barb. Gunpowder is called 'baroud', and the traditional gun is a 'moukahla', hence the name "lab el baroud" or "the gunpowder play".

The performance is inspired from historical wartime attacks of Berber and desert knights. Nowadays, Fantasia is considered as a cultural art and a form of martial art; it also symbolizes a strong relationship between the man and the horse, as well as an attachment to tradition.

Each region in Morocco has one or several fantasia groups, called serba, totaling thousands of horse riders nationwide. Performances are usually during local seasonal, cultural or religious festivals, also called moussem ('season' in Arabic). Some show-based restaurants offer a fantasia show among others in their menu.

Fantasia in art

Some French and Western artists made oil paintings of fantasia, namely Edmon Vales, Eugène Delacroix, Étienne Dinet and Eugène Fromentin