🇲🇦 The colours of Morocco
6 meanings recorded, 6 colours tied to the country and 6 colour cities.
Morocco’s flag features a bright red background with a green five-pointed star. Red stands for the blood of ancestors and unity, while green represents the five pillars of Islam. The colours also connect to Morocco’s royal and religious history.
Where no official value is given, the swatch shows the colour family, not the exact shade.
The colours of the flag of Morocco
Morocco’s flag is a rectangle with a bright red field and a green five-pointed star in the centre. The red background is linked to the Alawi dynasty, which has ruled since the 17th century, and is said to represent the blood of ancestors and unity. The green star, called the Seal of Solomon, stands for the five pillars of Islam. These meanings are officially recognised. The red also connects to the sharifs of Mecca and imams of Yemen, reflecting Morocco’s religious heritage.
How the colours were chosen of Morocco
The flag’s origins trace back to the 17th century, when the Alawi dynasty adopted a plain red flag, inspired by the sharifs of Mecca. In 1915, Sultan Yusef introduced the current design by adding the green pentagram to distinguish Morocco’s flag from others. During colonial rule, the flag was restricted to inland use, but after independence in 1956, it became the national flag for all purposes. The red and green colours have deep roots in Morocco’s royal and Islamic traditions.
Official shades and rules of Morocco
The flag must be made from opaque, bright red fabric and be rectangular. The green star is woven from the same fabric, with one point facing upwards, and must be visible on both sides. The hoist is two-thirds the length of the fly. The star fits inside an invisible circle with a radius one-sixth of the flag’s length, centred at the intersection of the diagonals. Each branch of the star is one-twentieth its length. Official documents specify 'bright red' and 'palm green', but no exact colour codes are published.
The facts in this overview come from the Wikipedia article "Flag of Morocco", written by its contributors and used under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence. Rang rewrote the text in its own words, with AI assistance, and compares every page with the article to make sure no passage is copied. It may be reused under the same CC BY-SA 4.0 licence with a link back.
What colours mean in Morocco
Customs vary by region, faith and family; these are the meanings most often recorded.
The flag is red with a green five-pointed star. Red has been the colour of the ruling Alaouite dynasty since the seventeenth century.
Politics and protestPrideSource: Flag of MoroccoMarrakesh is called the Red City. Its walls and buildings are made of, or painted to match, the reddish clay of the plain around it.
Nature and renewalSource: MarrakeshGreen is the colour of Islam. The roofs of mosques and of the shrines of saints, such as the Moulay Idriss shrine in Fes, are covered in green glazed tiles.
Sacred and holySource: Green in IslamThe old town of Chefchaouen in the Rif mountains is washed in shades of blue. The reasons given vary: a Jewish custom, keeping houses cool, or keeping mosquitoes away.
Protection and healingCalmSource: ChefchaouenFes is known for pottery painted in cobalt blue on white, called Fassi blue. In Marrakesh a strong ultramarine is named Majorelle blue after the garden where it was used.
Nature and renewalSource: Majorelle BlueA widow traditionally wears white through the mourning period set by Islamic law, four months and ten days. Black is not the usual colour of grief here.
Mourning and deathGriefSource: MourningColour and feeling in Morocco
The old town of Chefchaouen is washed in pale blue. Explanations for the custom differ, but visitors widely describe the effect as peaceful.
Colour cities of Morocco
🇲🇦 The Blue PearlChefchaouenA mountain town in northern Morocco whose lanes, steps and doors are washed in many shades of blue.
🇲🇦 The Red CityMarrakechWalls of red earth ring the old city, and building rules keep new streets in the same warm pink-red.
🇲🇦 Dye vats and Fez blueFezA medieval city with open-air leather dye pits like a paintbox, and pottery painted in cobalt blue.
🇲🇦 The red earth fortress villageAït BenhaddouA fortified village of red-brown earth climbing a hill on the old caravan road south of the Atlas.
🇲🇦 White walls, painted muralsAsilahA whitewashed Atlantic town where artists paint new murals on the medina walls each summer.
🇲🇦 Blue boats and white wallsEssaouiraA windy Atlantic port of white houses with blue shutters, and a harbour packed with blue fishing boats.Colours tied to Morocco
Purple and violet
Tyrian purple
A reddish-purple dye once worth its weight in silver, made from sea snailsDye · 🇱🇧 Lebanon +4
Red
Hennaحِنَّاء
A reddish dye from the henna plant, used for body art and hair since ancient timesColour named from nature · 🇪🇬 Egypt +5
#6050DC
Majorelle Blue
A vivid deep blue named for artist Jacques Majorelle and his Marrakesh gardenNamed shade · 🇲🇦 Morocco
Red
Red hair
A rare human hair colour ranging from deep burgundy to strawberry blondNamed shade · 🇮🇪 Ireland +3
Red
Dragon's blood
A deep red resin from several plants, used as pigment, dye and varnish since ancient timesColour named from nature · 🇮🇳 India +3
Brown
Quercus lusitanica
A Mediterranean oak shrub that yields nutgalls for dyeingColour named from nature · 🇵🇹 Portugal +2
Photo credits on this page
The small pictures above come from Wikimedia Commons under free licences. Some are cropped to fit.
- Majorelle Blue: Bjørn Christian Tørrissen, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Tyrian purple: Photograph: U.Name.Me Derivative work: TeKaBe, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Dragon's blood: Andy Dingley, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Henna: Izzah Zainab, CC BY 2.0, source
- Red hair: Sunny Ripert, CC BY-SA 2.0, source
- Chefchaouen Ma: Ismailbrk, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Marrakech Ma: CS.D., CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Fez Ma: Petar Milošević, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Ait Benhaddou Ma: Wonker, CC BY 2.0, source
- Asilah Ma: Dans, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Essaouira Ma: Kayaky, CC BY 3.0, source