Cherry Fruit Festival in Sefrou, Morocco

The Cherry Festival is considered one of the oldest popular festivals in Morocco and has been taking place in the Moroccan city of Sefrou since 1919 AD. This festival is attended by many foreign tourists and Moroccan visitors. The festival features girls being nominated for the title of Miss Love of Kings. Morocco is considered among the countries that produce cherries, with about 7.4 thousand tons. The process of harvesting cherries usually takes place between the end of May and the beginning of July. The Love of Kings Festival was established in the city of Sefrou in Morocco to celebrate this fruit in 1919 AD. This festival is attended by many foreign tourists as well as Moroccan visitors from many different cities. The celebrations coincide with the end of the cherry picking season, and the festival is called the “Love of Kings Festival” after it. It is held for three days in June every year, and the festival is known for selecting a beauty queen. The festival organizers say that Sefrou is the only Moroccan city that crowns the beauty queen without political sensitivities in parallel with organizing the Love of Kings festival, and the secret to combining the two celebrations is the resemblance of the fruit of the love of kings or the shy cherry to the features of the beautiful girl. The beauty queen and her two runners-up are chosen from among nine candidates, and in a ceremony accompanied by Arabic and Amazigh songs, the beauty queen and her two runners-up are crowned, followed by a popular parade that roams the streets of the city, accompanied by the tunes of popular musical bands that summarize the old and new connection between natural beauty and human beauty.