Amazigh, Central-Atlas

The Central Atlas Amazigh (Imazighen, 'free people'; Braber in older Moroccan usage) are the Tamazight-speaking people of Morocco's Middle Atlas, the central and eastern High Atlas, the upper Moulouya and the pre-Saharan valleys of the Ziz, Gheris, Todgha and Dades. They are organised in tribes and confederations: the Zayane around Khénifra, the Beni Mguild around Azrou and Timahdite, the Zemmour of the Khémisset plateau, the Ait Youssi, Ait Seghrouchen and Marmoucha of the eastern Middle Atlas, the Ait Ayache, Ait Izdeg and Ait Yahya of the upper Moulouya, the Ait Hadiddou and Ait Merghad of the eastern High Atlas, and the Beni Mtir, Guerrouane and Ait Sgougou. Joshua Project lists some of their neighbours as separate groups: the Ait Atta of Jbel Saghro, the Ait Warain of the north-eastern Middle Atlas and the Black Tamazight speakers of the southern oases (Uregu). Central Atlas Tamazight became the main base of Standard Moroccan Tamazight, official since 2011. In Morocco's 2024 census 7.4% of residents (about 2.7 million) used it daily, down from about 3 million speakers in the late 1990s, as families who move to towns switch to Moroccan Arabic.

Life in the mountains combines terraced or irrigated plots of barley, maize and fruit (apples around Midelt and Imilchil, walnuts) with sheep and goats moved between winter and summer pastures. Villages of stone and pisé or timber houses with low roofs face long snowy winters; the fortified ighrem and the communal granary mark older settlements. Women weave the thick wool rugs and blankets named after their tribes (Beni Mguild, Zayane, Zemmour), dye wool with plants and tattoo less than their grandmothers did. Ahidous, the line dance of men and women answering each other's verses to the frame drum, is the signature art; poets (imdyazn) still tour the villages. Marriage is arranged between families, often within the tribe, and the September moussem of Imilchil, held at the shrine of Sidi Ahmed Oulmghanni, is famed for the betrothals of Ait Hadiddou couples. The tribe's customary law (izerf) and the village assembly (jmaa) still settle water and pasture disputes.

Sunni Islam of the Maliki school, practised with strong local custom: visits to saints' shrines and moussems, the baraka of holy lineages (the Imhiouach and Ahansal lineages were once the great arbiters of the region), amulets against the evil eye and jinn, and seasonal rites such as Yennayer (the Amazigh new year). Rural elders keep the old practices; young people schooled in Arabic and urban migrants follow a more standard, mosque-centred Islam. A small number of Christians of Muslim background, mostly among migrants in cities, worship privately.

A New Testament in Central Atlas Tamazight exists (portions since 1919, revised to 2020), with an Android Bible app (Lctab n rebbi), an audio Bible (Faith Comes By Hearing), the Jesus Film, Magdalena, LUMO Gospel films and GRN recordings. Satellite and online programmes in Tamazight reach some homes. No church meets openly in Tamazight-speaking areas.

The annual moussem at Imilchil in the eastern High Atlas, held in September, is one of Morocco's most distinctive cultural events. Traditionally, young men and women of the Ait Haddidou tribe gather to choose their own spouses, a practice said to originate from a Romeo-and-Juliet legend of two lovers from rival tribes whose tears created the nearby lakes Isli and Tislit. While the event has become partially commercialized for tourism, it remains a genuine cultural tradition and important social gathering for remote mountain communities.