International Day of Argania
Next: May 10, 2027
Morocco's liquid gold, pressed by hand.
The story
Where it comes from
The International Day of Argania was proclaimed by the UN General Assembly on 3 March 2021, on a resolution submitted by Morocco and co-sponsored by 113 countries. It honours the argan tree, Argania spinosa, which grows in the dry south-west of Morocco and anchors a whole woodland, the Arganeraie, against drought, erosion and poor soil. For centuries the tree has sustained the region's Berber and Arab rural communities, and the work of turning its fruit into oil is led above all by women.
How it's celebrated
Morocco, UN agencies and the cooperative movement use the day to celebrate the argan tree and the women's cooperatives that have turned oil-making from a household task into a livelihood. For the rest of us it is a good day to taste argan oil in cooking, and to look for oil made by fair, women-led cooperatives.
Did you know
- UNESCO named the argan-growing region a biosphere reserve in 1998, and in 2014 added the know-how of the argan tree to its list of the intangible cultural heritage of humanity.
- Argan oil is called the 'liquid gold' of Morocco, and it is a traditional wedding gift.
- Making the oil by hand takes many steps, from harvesting and drying the fruit to grinding and mixing with warm water, and mothers teach them to their daughters from a young age.
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