- Title: ALGERIA: Berbers celebrate start of year 2964
- Date: 12th January 2014
- Summary: AIT SAADA, ALGERIA (JANUARY 10, 2014) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF THE MOUNTAINS PEOPLE GATHERING IN VILLAGE BANNER READING (French): "WELCOME TO AIT SAADA" VARIOUS OF VILLAGERS CUTTING MEAT VARIOUS OF VILLAGERS ALIGNING EQUAL PIECES OF MEAT ON FIELD (SOUNDBITE) (Tamazight) VILLAGER, KADI LARBI, SAYING: "Here in the village of Ait Saada, we carried out the 'Timechret' - the meat distribution. Each family will have its part tonight and so we will all have the same meal. Rich and poor have the same meal. The purpose is to gather all the inhabitants and those who are far away. And as Yennayer is tomorrow it is an opportunity to welcome it with joy as a tradition of our ancestors." VILLAGERS GATHERED VARIOUS OF VILLAGERS HAVING LUNCH TOGETHER (SOUNDBITE) (French) VILLAGER WHO LIVES IN ALGIERS, OUALI OMAR, SAYING: "It is a feast that takes place on the eve of Yennayer, the Berber new year. The villagers have taken a really good step to celebrate this anniversary, which is one of the great cultural markers of our region." VARIOUS OF VILLAGERS DANCING WOMEN IN TRADITIONAL CLOTHES CLAPPING THEIR HANDS WOMEN ULULATING (SOUNDBITE) (Tamazight) VILLAGER, OUYAHIA FATMA, SAYING: "Yennayer is a big joy, like the Eid feast or Mawlid al-Nabi (the birth of the prophet). We are very happy at every occasion, we are proud of our children, and our brothers." VARIOUS OF TRADITIONAL MUSICIANS VARIOUS OF VILLAGERS DANCING
- Embargoed: 27th January 2014 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Algeria
- Country: Algeria
- Topics: General
- Reuters ID: LVAHK7RV4OY3U5LXOI38XE1P7JS
- Story Text: It's Amazigh New Year and Algeria's Berbers are in festive spirit.
In the mountains of northern Algeria, over 4,500 Berber villages are celebrating Yennayer 2964 - the beginning of the new agricultural year.
Ait Saada village, 170 kilometres east of Algiers, is perched high up in the Djrdjura mountains in the Kabylie region.
There, the local community have spent the past six months preparing the celebrations, including the traditional 'Timechret' - a ritual that involves the sharing out of pieces of meat to the village's 2000 families.
Villagers say it is a way of bringing everybody together.
"Here in the village of Ait Saada, we carried out the 'Timechret' - the meat distribution. Each family will have its part tonight and so we will all have the same meal. Rich and poor have the same meal. The purpose is to gather all the inhabitants and those who are far away. And as Yennayer is tomorrow it is an opportunity to welcome it with joy as a tradition of our ancestors," said villager Kadi Larbi who helped coordinate the ritual.
Festivities for New Year, which falls on January 12, began on Wednesday (January 8), when the oxen were bought for the feast.
They were then slaughtered at a local site - before the community came together to clean the entire village.
Some former villagers had travelled home especially to take part in the New Year celebrations.
"It is a feast that takes place on the eve of Yennayer, the Berber new year. The villagers have taken a really good step to celebrate this anniversary, which is one of the great cultural markers of our region," said Ouali Omar, who now lives in Algiers.
Villagers said they were happy to see the traditions of their forefathers being revived.
"Yennayer is a big joy, like the Eid feast or Mawlid al-Nabi (the birth of the prophet). We are very happy at every occasion, we are proud of our children, and our brothers," said Ouyahia Fatma as she enjoyed the celebrations.
Berbers, who are now spread across Algeria, Morocco, Libya and Tunisia, were the original inhabitants of North Africa before the 7th century Arab invasion and make up a fifth of Algeria's 33 million people.
Most are Muslim but speak their own language and many identify more with Berber rather than Arab culture.
They call themselves "imazighen," or free men, and their resentment of the Arab-dominated central government means they have long agitated, sometimes violently, for autonomy.
In 2002, the Algerian government recognised Tamazight as a national language, meaning it could be taught officially in schools in Berber-speaking regions for the first time, but Berbers still want Tamazight to be an official language, on equal status with Arabic.
They also hope to one day see Yennayer marked as an official holiday in Algeria. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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