Some historians say that celebrating the Amazigh New Year is a commemoration of King Shishing‘s victory over the Pharaohs on the banks of the Nile in 950 B.C. and the Amazigh were able to establish a new monarchy that ruled from Libya to Egypt, this event marked the date of Amazigh new year.

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The Amazigh New Year is celebrated through several activities. We are going to highlight most of them in this article.

In Morocco’s celebrations, as every year, Amazigh families in several regions of the country prepare special dishes including couscous, tagine, and ‘Tagulla’, the famous Amazigh dish served on Yennayer. Tagulla (a corn kernel) with butter ghee or Argan oil, remains a staple for Yennayer festivities, traditionally they hide a date stone in Tagulla plate, the lucky person who finds it will be blessed throughout the whole year.

In other regions of Morocco, they prepare chicken Tagine. however, others prepare Couscous with seven vegetables moreover, neighbors exchange various ‘Fakiah’ (Dry fruits) between them, it is a sort of familiarity. There are also many amazing traditions that accompany the food that the Amazigh prepare for this night Apart from dancing and singing special songs of love, fertility and, welcoming a new agrarian year, the Amazigh people, in particular those in the country side, find in this occasion a better chance to socialize, exchange food .

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They also host their neighbors, children and adults accompanied by traditional music and dance (Ahwach), yet they exchange wishes during this joyful day.

Amazigh culture scholar “Abdallah Bozandag” ; said that since the
beginning of the Amazigh movement, it has demanded that the Amazigh New Year to be an official and national holiday, adding that in the beginning the celebrations on this occasion were only carried out by Amazigh associations, but now all Amazigh families celebrate it.

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Currently, Amazigh activists are still calling on the government to approve the Amazigh New Year as a national day and public holiday. Tamazight has been recognized as an official language in Morocco, so it is not conceivable that the Amazigh New Year is not recognized. It is also part of the Moroccan culture and identity, said Mr. Bozandag.

Amazigh activists say that denying validity of Yennayer as Amazigh new year is cultural exclusion.  This event is a symbol of Amazigh identity and a common history that unites Amazigh people across North Africa. I wish you a happy 2971 new year full of joy and success, or as we say in Tamazight Assuggas Amggaz.

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The Amazigh carpet is characterized by many vivid and bright colors,
such as orange, yellow and red, and various geometric shapes, as well as natural materials used in its weaving, such as natural wool. Additionally, symbols that have a cultural and identity load, most notably the Amazigh letter Tifinagh, which women play a pioneering role in preserving, by employing it in decorating this carpet in a way that is not without splendor. Tattoos inspire carpets in motifs and shapes and vice versa.

These characteristics make a combination of the ancient Amazigh carpet distinct from the carpets women in other regions of the world, but the economic and social transformations that have imposed themselves on the path of their production and promotion require the adoption of development initiatives in order to preserve this authentic cultural heritage and ensure its continuity and transfer to new generations and the world. Furthermore, the Swiss researcher Bruno Barbatti issued a special book on the traditional Amazigh carpet entitled: Carpets of morocco symbols of origin and meaning, explaining its symbols in detail. Because he had been impressed by the Moroccan Amazigh carpets and its charm. His passion for research led him to conduct systematic research and look forward to the history of the Amazigh carpet and learn the connotations of its forms and colors.

Regarding Tifinagh letters were preserved in rock inscriptions for centuries, and their uses later moved to many elements of material culture, such as the carpet of henna and tattoos.The shape that adorn the Berber carpet have meanings and connotations, as this carpet was in the past a means of communication between family members, especially between women who have a great knowledge of deciphering the mysteries contained in the writings and symbols that make up this carpet.

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The carpet is manufactured thanks to the skill in choosing and harmonizing colors, to create at the end a painting with different reading expressions, expressing the life and traditions of a particular region or tribe. It is decorated with simple geometric shapes like rhombuses, triangles and rectangles, in addition to squares. And shapes derived from nature, such as the shape of waves, the sun, the moon, flowers, grains, and other shapes that symbolize animals, such as birds, which symbolize lightness, movement and freedom, the ram, which symbolizes strength, and the cow, which symbolizes hidden power.

“Anzar”, Amazigh god’s of rain

In the ancient Morocco and North Africa, Amazigh tribes believed in the existence of several deities, including Anzar. The legend says that how the Anzar fell in love with a beautiful woman who had become his fiancée.
Like the ancient Greeks or Egyptian, the pre-Islamic period of Morocco also had its own mythology,  gods, and its rituals.

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This weather which promises to be rainy in several regions of Morocco and this important period for agriculture recalls the Amazigh God Anzar, one of the powerful figures venerated by Amazigh society several centuries ago.
Anzar is a beneficial element which reinforces the vegetation and ensures the growth of the herd, Anzar is a sign of fertility and productivity. This is how the ‘’Amazigh God’’ imagined the story.

Anzar and his beautiful fiancée.

According to this legend, Anzar came to marry a beautiful young girl . Then, because of their union, the river flowed again and the greenery covered the earth. The myth tells us that Anzar fell in love with a woman and wanted her to become his fiancee. “She used to swim in a river with silvery reflections. When Anzar came down to earth and approached her, she fled and Anzar withdrew.

This rejection of Anzar have made him angry, which would have ended up affecting the herds, the river and the essential resources for the survival of the Amazigh tribes. But Anzar would not have given up hope of seducing the woman he most wanted. And he was threatening them to lock up water and rain.

Out of desperation and fear for her people, the girl began to cry and call for Anzar. The latter suddenly appeared “under the aspect of an immense lightning. He hugged the young girl: the river began to flow again and the whole earth was covered with greenery.

With this romantic and supernatural ending, Anzar’s story comes to an end, giving rise to an ancient ritual. And some Amazigh tribes call for rain by using some rituals like the ritual of “talghnja”

The ritual is called (tasslit n unzar) which means “the bride of Anzar”or “talghenja”

This practice is based on preparing the bride accompany her to the doors of the sanctuary with women standing on the threshold and throw water for her, prepare a communion meal near the sanctuary, after having undress the bride, go around the sanctuary singing for the rain and for Anzar.

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The current doll is only a symbol to replace the real bride offered to Anzar .
The practice itself describes how the Amazighs were attached to nature and how their rituals were only an explanation of the behavior of nature around them. For the researcher, Anzar ritual is one of these explanations, put in place to restore balance and explain a simple phenomenon, namely drought.

Hammou Ounamir

Hammou Ounamir is common story that brings Amazigh in one. There are different versions depending on the region, but the structure and narrative content remain common with a few details. This old myth tells the story of a young boy, Hammou Ounamir. The only child, who lives alone with his mother. Angels set their sights on this young boy of extraordinary beauty. These celestial creatures, female figures, visit him at night and coat his hand with henna during his sleep. Upon awakening, Hammou Ounamir goes to the Koranic school. The fqih catches his henna tattoo and punishes him for entering a sacred place with this tattoo of henna.

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One day, Hammou Ounamir succeeds because of a ruse to capture one of these nocturnal creatures. The angel woman accepts to marry Hammou, but he must not reveal her presence to anyone, not even to his mother. But one day, hammou violates the forbidden space. The celestial being puts an end to his terrestrial stay and rejoins the heavens. Before that, she enjoins her husband to join her in seventh heaven.

Hammou Oumanir sets out to find him, riding an eagle. He finds his beloved who sets a new condition for their happiness: Hammou Oumanir will never have to lift the cover that marks the border between heaven and the world below. One day, he disobeys and sees his lamented mother on earth, who has become blind from mourning the disappearance of her son. She’s alone on Eid, holding her ram, without anyone to perform the ritual sacrifice. Hammou Oumanir soars from the sky, metamorphosed into a shower of blood. A drop of his blood gives sight to his mother, another hits the ram and slaughters it.

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The story of Hammou Ounamir is a parable on the human quest for purity, beauty and love that we do not find here below, but in heaven.

The Graveyard mare (taserdount nisemsal)

It is a scary creature related to Graveyard in Morocco we call it “taserdount nisemdal” and “taghyalt timqbert” in Kabyle. It is a creature that takes the form of a nice mare that tempts people to ride her to take them to the cemetery where she devours them or bury them alive, and a beautiful woman who did not obey some mourning rituals, turned into a monster that lurks people at night.