"Thomas Touqas"... Amazigh New Year celebrations in Algeria
They celebrate the Amazigh New Year
The Amazighs of Algeria , and indeed the Algerians in general, celebrate the Amazigh New Year on January 12 of each year, which is equivalent to the year 2972 in the Amazigh calendar. This is an agricultural calendar that was celebrated by Berber groups in Algeria, as well as in North African countries such as Morocco , Tunisia and Libya , and in the Siwa region in the Western Sahara in Egypt. Then it took on a general social character in Algeria, and Algerians have been celebrating it for centuries, preparing special dinner dishes, and buying sweets to revive the “Draz” habit in various regions of the country, knowing that in 2016, the celebration of the Amazigh New Year turned into a national day in Algeria.
Nana Zubaida (Grandmother Zubaida) says that it is "a day of wishes and gratitude for the abundance of rain and snow and the opening of sustenance for a new Amazigh year," pointing out that Algerian families celebrate the advent of a new year and pray to God for a year of abundance, goodness, tranquility, tranquility, and optimism that snow and rain will fall.
In the Aures Mountains, east of Algeria, and other regions, the celebrations and activities of “Al-Nair” are launched, i.e. the twelfth day of the current month of each year, or what is called in the Amazigh language “Thabourth Isqas” or Bab al-Sunna, meaning its beginning in the Berbers. The Amazigh New Year is seen as the beginning of goodness. Every year, families celebrate this day with festive rituals that have a special place for Algerian families, in addition to dimensions and indications that include symbols related to land, agriculture, and agricultural crops from the background of human connection in the North African region to the land, its service, and its protection by various means.
The Amazigh year begins with special rituals in which Algerian families participate, which represent a beautiful beginning or the beginning of good as a matter of optimism. Couscous made from wheat is cooked, and it is considered the master of the festive traditional dishes on this day, in addition to cooking dry legumes. This ritual continues for three days, starting from the night of the eleventh of January until the fourteenth of it. Naima Hami, who hails from the Ain Azal region in the state of Setif, in eastern Algeria, told Al-Araby Al-Jadeed that the celebrations are called “the day of cannabis, the day of living, and the day of feathers.” These designations have meaning in reality, as women cook dishes consisting of vegetables with the color of hashish (grass) as a sign of greenery, openness of the soul to life, and the relationship with the land. She adds that the second day is called "living." As it prepares dishes consisting of various types of grains and dough made from wheat, beans, chickpeas and flour in a hot soup meal, which is served to family members on the cold night of Nair, as a symbol of solidarity, solidarity and livelihood. The third day is the “Day of the Feathers”, which is the last day of the celebration. It is marked by the slaughter of the turkey, which is a ritual of the celebrations. It is called “Asfal”, meaning a dinner based on couscous with turkey meat, and it is distributed to the neighbors and the poor, and this is a custom rooted in this day among the members of the residential neighborhood. The one, as an expression of cohesion and mercy between the various groups of society.
During the celebration of the Amazigh year, Algerian families buy what is known locally as "Diraz", which is a mixture of almonds, walnuts, sweets, dates, cocoa, etc., and some families adhere to the habit of bringing a quantity of sweets that were purchased, and placing the youngest members of the family inside a container to be emptied on it. What falls inside the pot becomes his own, while the amount that falls outside the pot is distributed to the rest of the family. During this period, a remarkable recovery is observed in the trade of nuts, sweets, etc., and shops compete in offering them to sellers.
January is the month of rain and good things, and Algerians are optimistic about the "Peasant Year" period and the white suit with the start of snowfall, so celebrations are organized while awaiting the fulfillment of wishes. Celebrations of the beginning of the Amazigh year differ from one region to another, through traditional customs that have been transmitted through generations and aim to preserve social ties between families for the synergy and gratitude it carries, and work to consolidate the various customs of solidarity among the Algerian people. Zahida Maarafi, a researcher in Amazigh heritage at the University of Algiers, that popular celebrations often carry symbolic dimensions to the so-called Nair dinner, as various dishes are prepared. In the Beni Senus region in the state of Tlemcen in the far west of Algeria, for example, men gather in the morning to go on a hunting trip for rabbits and partridges that are cooked the next day. However, these customs changed with the slaughter of a sheep or a goat, or the purchase of chickens.
Dancing is indispensable on such an occasion
The common interpretation of the beginning of the Amazigh year is that it is the beginning of history or the agricultural calendar. Researcher Abdullah Zerrougui, from the University of "Constantine" in eastern Algeria, says that January is the beginning month of the agricultural year, with plenty of rain and watering of the land. Among the things that the majority of Algerian families agree upon, coinciding with the “Al-Nair” celebrations, is that the new year is the year of goodness and abundance of agricultural crops. In his interview with Al-Araby Al-Jadeed, he confirms that some historical studies indicate that the Amazigh New Year is linked to the beginning of the Amazigh calendar, which, according to historians, dates back to the day when the Amazigh king Sheshenik I defeated the Egyptian pharaoh Ramesses III, in the year 950 BC, after a long battle. It took place in the Algerian city of Tlemcen, and Chechens, after his victory, were able to establish a monarchy to rule from Libya to Egypt.
And the celebration of the Amazigh year was officially approved for the first time in Algeria after the amendment of the constitution in 2016, and it became a national holiday celebrated in schools and official institutions since January 2017, after the authorities approved the recognition of the Amazigh language as a national and official language in the constitution. The authorities sponsor the national celebration of the Amazigh year, and this year it is organized in the far south, specifically in the capital of the Sahara and the Tuareg, that is, the city of Tamanrasset. The celebration is organized under the slogan "Thomas Togas", which is in the Tariq Berber dialect, and means "to meet all Algerians", in the presence of a group of artists, writers and poets coming from all over the country to revive cultural activities in the "Nayir" celebrations, under the supervision of the High Governorate of the Amazigh. Cultural programs and exhibitions are held for tangible and intangible heritage, as well as traditional industries and products, and exhibitions for books and audio-visual media.
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