With traditional dance, the Tuareg celebrate the "Sabiba" festival in the desert of Algeria
The Sebiba Festival has been included in the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage List since 2014 – Twitter
The Touaregs of the Algerian Sahara celebrate the Sbiba Festival in an atmosphere of traditional singing and dancing, dating back more than three thousand years.
Hassan Al-Sheikh, one of the participants in the festival, said: "This arena has been known since the time of our ancestors. Rehearsals for the Al-Sabiba festival take place here from the first night of Ashura until the ninth night."
According to tradition, a fierce war took place between two tribes from the Tassili N'Ajer desert, but when they learned of the victory of Prophet Musa over the armies of the pharaoh, they concluded a peace treaty.
"According to our ancestors, the festival of al-Sabiba dates back to the time of the pharaoh and Moses in Egypt. Our ancestors kept the date of the day the pharaoh sank in the sea and celebrated the death of the pharaoh," Elias Ali, 73, told AFP.
A celebration within the cultural heritage
This celebration has been inscribed on the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage List since 2014.
It simulates a battle between two Tuareg tribes, the Mihan and the Zulwaze. During the ceremony, the men wave swords and pretend to be facing each other, while holding scarves in their other hands as a sign of peace.
The women, who adorned themselves with henna tattoos and heavy silver jewelry, sang to the beat of traditional drums to evoke the atmosphere of competition for the men.
Doaa, 16, one of the singers, said that jewelry is "like a woman's adornment, worn with accessories," while Sabrina, 29, another singer, wore traditional clothes and a large necklace. An "old woman of the year who knows how to dress" assisted the two in the task.
"There is a woman here specially helping us to put on these clothes," Sabrina said. "We can't put them on alone, it's difficult," said Douaa.
Men in hats with geometric patterns pretend to be facing each other, waving swords in one hand and scarves in the other as a sign of peace.
Source: websites