[dropcap]I[/dropcap]nternational Women’s Day is an annual celebration of the respect, honor and appreciation towards women across the world. In recent years, the annual event has gained decent recognition, giving a chance to celebrate achievements in the women’s movement and to inspire further progress through both local and international action.

On this occasion, the Amazigh World News team would like to take this opportunity to congratulate all women across the globe including the Amazigh women of Tamazgha/North Africa, to whom we owe so much.

We also want to assure that we will continue to defend Amazigh women’s rights, try to help them in their daily struggle for a better life, work to promote their role in society, and create a suitable platform that helps them to actively participate in civil society, political leadership and economic development.[ads1]

The history of the Berber people in northern Africa is extensive and diverse. The Berbers are a large group of non-Arabic tribes, related by language and culture, inhabiting areas stretching from Egypt to the Canary Islands as well as regions south of the Sahara such as Niger and Mali. Archaeologists have traced their origins to the Caspian culture, a North African civilization that dates back more than 10,000 years. Berber-speaking people have lived in North Africa since the earliest times and are first referenced by the Egyptians in 3,000 BC under the name Temehu. Phoenician, Greeks and Roman texts also make reference to them. Since prehistoric times, Berber lands have been a crossroad of peoples from Africa, Europe, and the Middle East. The Carthaginians, Romans, Vandals, Byzantines, Arabs, Turks, Spaniards, French, and Italians have invaded and ruled portions of the Berber homeland. The Berbers have never experienced a unified political identity. There have been many Berber kingdoms and cultures existing alongside one another in various regions of North Africa and Spain, but never a unified “Berber empire”. Throughout the centuries, Berbers have mixed with many ethnic groups, including Arabs, and because of this, they have come to be identified more by linguistics instead race. Their language is one of the oldest in the world and belongs to the African branch of the Afro-Asian language family, along with ancient Egyptian.

Although never formalized beyond local cults, the Berbers had a rich mythology and belief system structured around a pantheon of gods. Many of their beliefs were developed locally while some were imported or later influenced by contact with other African mythologies, such as the Egyptian religion along with Phoenician mythology, Judaism, Iberian mythology, and the Hellenistic religion during antiquity. The most recent influence came from Arab mythology, when the Berbers were converted to Islam during the ninth century. Today, some of the traditional, ancient, pagan Berber beliefs still exist within the culture and tradition, especially in Algeria, where older cults survive to varying extents.

Many prehistoric peoples considered rocks to be holy, including the Berbers. Second century Latin writer Apuleius, along with Saint Augustine, bishop of the Hippo Regius (ancient name of the modern city of Annaba, in Algeria), both remarked on rock-worship among North Africans. The Greek historian Herodotus wrote of their sacrifices:

They begin with the ear of the victim, which they cut off and throw over their house: this done, they kill the animal by twisting the neck. They sacrifice to the Sun and Moon, but not to any other god.

The megalithic culture may have been part of a cult of the dead or of star-worship. The best known rock monument in Northwest Africa is Mzora (or Msoura). It is composed of a circle of megaliths surrounding a tumulus. The highest megalith is longer than 5 meters (16 feet). According to legend, it is the resting place of the mythic Berber king Antaeus. Another megalithic monument was discovered in 1926, south of Casablanca and was engraved with funerary inscriptions in the Libyco-Berber script known as Tifinagh.

The tombs of the early Berbers and their ancestors (the Caspian’s and Ibero-Mauresians) indicate that they believed in the afterlife. The prehistoric men of the region of northwest Africa buried their bodies in the ground. Later, they buried the dead in caves, tumuli (burial mounds), and tombs cut into rock. These tombs evolved from primitive structures to more elaborate ones, such as the pyramidal tombs that spread throughout North Africa. The best known Berber pyramids are the 19 meter (62 ft) pre-Roman Numidian pyramid of Medracen and the 30-meter (98 ft) ancient Mauritanian pyramid located in modern-day Algeria.

Among ancient Berber and Egyptian mythology there are similar, overlapping deities. The Berbers were neighbors of the Egyptians, originally inhabiting the lands of Libya for thousands of years, before the beginning of human records in Ancient Egypt. It is thought that some Ancient Egyptians deities, such as Isis and Set, were originally worshipped by the Berbers. Osiris was one of the Egyptian deities’ paid homage to in Libya. Some scholars believe Osiris was originally a Libyan god. Berbers supposedly did not eat the swine’s flesh, because it was associated with Set, and they did not eat the cow’s flesh, because it was associated with Isis. This was reported by Herodotus: Cow’s flesh, however, none of these [Libyan] tribes ever taste, but abstain from it for the same reason as the Egyptians, neither do they any of them breed swine. Even at Cyrene, the women think it wrong to eat the flesh of the cow, honoring in this Isis, the Egyptian goddess, whom they worship both with fasts and festivals. The Barcaean women abstain, not from cow’s flesh only, but also from the flesh of swine Another one of their deities the Egyptians considered to have a Libyan origin, was Neith who is said to have emigrated from Libya to establish her temple at Sais in the Nile Delta. Some legends tell that Neith was born around Lake Tritons or modern Tunisia. It is notable that some Egyptian deities were depicted with Berber (ancient Libyan) characters, such as “Ament” who was depicted with two feathers, which were the normal ornaments of the Ancient Libyans as shown by the Ancient Egyptians.

The most remarkable common god between Egyptian and Berber culture was Amon. King of the gods and god of the wind, he was adopted by the Ancient Egyptians as Amen-Ra, by the Greeks as Zeus-Amon, and by the Phoenicians as Baal-Amon. Represented in human form, sometimes with a ram’s head, early depictions of rams have been found across North Africa dating to 9600 BC and 7500 BC. The most famous temple of Ammon in Ancient Libya was the augural temple at Siwa in Egypt, an oasis still inhabited by the Berbers. Although most modern sources ignore the existence of Ammon in Berber mythology, he was honored by the Ancient Greeks in Cyrenaica, and was united with the Phoenician god Baal due to Libyan influence.

Source: www.ancient-origins.net

The film is written and produced by Ahram Canadian University of Media and Journalism students (ACU), and has been selected as one of the 25 featured films in this year’s Oscar Egypt 2016 Festival.

The Amazigh, or Berbers, are an ethnic group native to North Africa, their populations concentrated mainly in Algeria and Morocco, and Egypt’s estimated Amazigh population is no more than 27,000 according to Amany al-Weshahy, the head of Egypt’s Amazigh community and World Amazigh Congress chairperson’s consultant.

Mustapha Akebdan, February 7, 2016

After a perpetual denial of the State responsibility on the surge of the violent Islamic extremism, the king of Morocco has ordered a reform of the religious material taught in the public and private schools. The goal of the reform is to emphasize the values of coexistence among different cultures and civilizations.

Over the last few years, Morocco has witnessed an increased number of public harassment cases especially targeting women and gays. Human rights activists like Ahmed Assid, have repeatedly called for an overhaul of the education programs to uphold the universal values of individual freedoms and to align it with the different human right conventions Morocco has signed.

Other North African countries like Egypt and Tunisia have already started similar reforms to address what is viewed a fundamental aspect of the ongoing epidemic of violent Islamic extremism.

[author image=”https://scontent-yyz1-1.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash2/v/t1.0-9/228568_1906893948665_7936911_n.jpg?oh=ca699b9b44a74d342a1a63cea37367ba&oe=574892B4″ ]Mustapha Akebdan is an Amazigh from Rif who writes for Amazigh world news.[/author]

Since ancient times, from the Greek to Roman eras and on to the Middle Ages, the oasis was referred to by a variety of names as witnessed by various inscriptions unearthed in temples and on tombs. The more recent name Siwa was derived from the name of the indigenous Ti-Swa tribe.
The ancient oasis of Siwa was crucial to the trade caravans which crossed the desert from the Nile valley in the east to the Mediterranean harbours of Libya in the west. Such was its importance that traders from the southern oases and central Africa were frequent visitors. Siwa also prospered as a religious centre, with many kings sending delegates to consult the Oracle of Amun.

The era of the 26th Dynasty drew to a close with the invasion of a Persian army led by Cambesis – though his 50,000-strong force was later to vanish in a desert sandstorm, leaving no trace behind.
The Oracle of Amun derives much of its fame from Alexander the Great’s visit in 331 BC. After consulting the oracle, he claimed to be the son of the god Zeus Amun, and so chose to be buried in Siwa.
Siwa started to go into decline around the sixth century AD, when many of the pagan temples in Siwa fell out of use thanks to the spread of Christianity. This period coincided with the collapse of the Roman Empire and the area’s degeneration into anarchy which culminated in the Arabian invasion of Egypt in 640 AD.

At the height of Siwa’s glory, change was swift and the rewards to  victorious assailants were potentially very high. In the eighth century, the Arabian army arrived to conquer Siwa. The inhabitants, an ancient tribe of Amazigh people under Roman rule, were confronted by the Arabian army and given three choices; one, to join the Arabians, two, to pay them tribute and live in peace, or three, to fight for their land.

The clever natives bought themselves time by asking for three days to choose their answer. During this three-day period they gathered together all their riches (such as gold, jewellery, precious stones, and Pharaonic treasures). Then, on the last day, they fled west with all they could carry. Leaving all their heaviest treasures behind, they hid them from the Arabian soldiers and cast spells so that they would be guarded in their absence by the magical powers of their genie.

At the time, there was a drought throughout the countries of northwestern Africa, so the Amazigh people set off eastwards, in caravan formation, searching for grass and water. Then, travelling through the scorching sands of the Western Desert, they found the answer to their dreams – the beautiful oasis of Siwa, with natural springs and fields of apricot, olive, and palm trees, all singing with life.

The Amazigh people decided to make their home here and sent word back west to Algeria and Morocco for their families to come and join them to strengthen the tribe’s power and claim on this fertile land. The first city was named Ami Misalum and built in the lowlands of the oasis. However, this left the Amazigh vulnerable both to attacks from hostile forces and to mosquitoes. So, in 1103 AD they built a strong citadel on the hilltop to protect themselves and their unique culture and made this their kingdom.
New laws and rules were instituted which, along with the more secure location, allowed the tribal chiefs to govern Siwa as an independent state for hundreds of years. For example, in order to irrigate their lands throughout the night, gardeners had to seek permission from the chiefs before the Zagala (‘strong youth’) guards would open up sthe citadel’s doors.

In 1840, however, the independence of Siwa was challenged by the famed tyrant and Turkish ruler, Mohamed Ali. He sent his Egyptian army to Siwa, seeking tribute and the submission of its people to his rule. The Siwans dug a trench around the base of Shali to prevent the Egyptian army from attacking, but Ali fired rockets at the citadel, causing great destruction. He also commanded General Hussein Bek Ashamashurgi to invite seventy-two of the highest local chieftains to a meeting where they were promptly killed. So the Siwans were forced to submit.

a new system of Egyptian government was imposed and the Siwans suffered many hardships, such as paying a one piastre tax for every palm tree in the oasis. This continued until 1950 when a  Bedouin businessman bought all the dates in Siwa and paid all the  state taxes on the trees.
The police chief responsible for the administration of Siwa, El Misseri, then took control of the oasis. The Siwan people had grown dates from the palm trees to feed the poor and to send money to Mecca to help the nation of Islam. But under Misseri’s control, the sheikhs were forced to sign over the trees to him and he took the proceeds from the sale of the dates for his own gain. This lasted for four years.

The new challenge for Siwa was how to open up to the world. In 1977, president Mohamed Anwar Sadat visited the oasis and showed great sympathy towards the people. Later, in 1983, he gave the Siwans a helicopter to make access to the rest of Egypt easier. This helicopter was for medical purposes and the transport of necessary commodities. (I had the chance to fly in this helicopter when I was just baby Mohamed.) We now have educational support with many schools, starting from elementary school,  all the way to preparation for university. The provision of child and youth services and activities was also instituted.

Siwa’s changing fortunes have been reflected in the fluctuations of its population levels, from forty in the twelfth century AD to some three thousand at the time of Mohammed Ali’s invasion in 1805. Siwa continues to expand, and the population is currently calculated to be around twenty thousand and growing.

Source: siwaoasis