Berber New Year

On January 13th of each year, corresponding to 1th amazigh January, Imazighen celebrate their New Year. "Amezwaru n Yennayer" or "Id Seggwas" the day of the year, to coincide this year 2008 to the year 2958 Amazigh.

Oral tradition relates that this night of Yennayer was a tragic moment. The god Azger (Taurus), master of the world, was required to transfer the globe from one horn to another. Imazighen, who used to worship him, cried all night fearing the end of the world (of their lives) if the Earth burst from the other horn. After he had succeeded , they celebrated Yennayer. For peasants, it is mostly a time of transition from one cycle to another, a gate of the year (tawurt useggwas) as the Kabylians say.

On the eve of the year’s day, Imazighen begin this entry into the New Year with rituals and ceremonies that refer to a symbolic of fertility. In Ait Yafelman, Ait Atta in the south-eastern of Morocco, Yennayer’s meal prepared on this occasion consists of a great dish of couscous made out of grains, a good amount of meat and seven vegetables. A single kernel of dates is buried in the dish. The meal is eaten by all the members of the family, the conversation takes place in an atmosphere of intense spirituality where the wishes and prayers for a full year of abundance are expressed. The person who finds the kernel of dates is elected the lucky person "Azuhriy" in the coming year. The seven vegetables are supposed to bring the benefits of fertility and wealth by placing the year under incoming abundance and good colors.

Some rules are to be respected. Turnips are excluded; otherwise their consumption during the night would trigger the proliferation of rats. It is also forbidden to use certain spices, especially chilli, or else the year would be spicy and full of bad surprises. It is advised to eat to satiety, because the one who is not satisfied will remain throughout the year. While eating, it is so important not to get the hiccups. It would give death during the year to the neighbor who is sitting on the right. To avert a possible disaster, a deterrent and protective stick or a small piece of wood is placed between the dinner guests.

The couscous is not only a simple meal, but sacred. It is associated with the invisible world. It is an invocation of invisible forces and ancestors to bring abundance and wealth during the coming year. The evening of Yennayer is called "Haguza" in some Amazigh’ regions as in Ait Seghrouchen as well as in Hyayna, Arabic-speaking Berber origin. The farmers said it was the name of an old woman abducted by the worst torrent of flood with the goats she kept. The family shares tonight's dinner "Haguza" consisting of fritters, dried fruit and bread called "ghorisa”. Children are asked to eat a lot or else the old woman would open their stomaches and fill them with straw (the facts reported by Jean Servier in "Berber traditions and civilizations"). We find the aforementioned myth of the Old woman "Tamghart" or "the old woman’days " among the Imazighen of Algeria at different times of the year to confirm some taboos among the peasants.

Yennayer is also of great importance since its advent reminds us of the year 951 BC., where Imazighen managed to acquire their right to observe and practise their own funeral rites in the various armies of Pharaoh. In the year 950 BC., Sheshnaq, Amazigh chief at that time, ascended the throne of ancient Egypt and became the founder of the twenty-second dynasty. He reigned, from 950 to 929 before J-C., the Nile Delta and Libya now.

Imazighen in Tamazgha –North Africa- and around the world have appropriated this event by making it an occasion of communion with their history and identity but above all to remember the need to value their culture as well as to re-gild its image despite all sorts of denials.

Therefore, it is celebrated in cultural associations, universities and within families of course.

MT

Traduction d'Omar Touali