Yennayer

Yennayer is the first day of the agrarian year used since antiquity by Berber groups in North Africa. It corresponds to the first day of January of the Julian Calendar, which is shifted thirteen days compared to the Gregorian calendar, i.e. 14 January of every year. Probably due to a mistake of the first cultural associations asking to return to this traditional celebration, the opinion that the traditional date is 12 January is very widespread, especially in Algeria.

Origins

In 1968, the Berber Academy proposed to inaugurate a "Berber Era", after the Christian era and the Islamic calendar. It fixed as year one of the Berber calendar the first known manifestations of the Berber civilization, in the Ancient Egypt, when the Meshwesh Pharaoh Shoshenq I (Cacnaq, founder of the 22nd Egyptian dynasty) took the throne and became a Pharaoh in ancient Egypt.

Etymology

Yennayer is a composed Amazigh word. Yan means one or first and Ayour means month, hence Yennayer means first month.

The celebration and the tradition

Yennayer is a very widespread in Algeria. It is considered as national celebration. We also find it among the other north African communities, like in Morocco.

Imensi umenzu n yennayer (Dinner of the first day of January)

The meal prepared for this circumstance is hearty and different from the everyday ones. The rites are done in a symbolic manner. They aim to eliminate the famine, to augur the future and the change, and to warm welcome the invisible forces the Berber believed in.

For the preparation of " imensi n yennayer ", the Kabyle uses the meat of the sacrificed animal (asfel) to complement the couscous, fundamental element of the berber culinary art.

An opportunity to exchange wishes for prosperity

Yennayer symbolizes longevity, and it is often the occasion to include other familiar events:

First hair cut for little boys.
Marriage under the good omen of Yennayer.
Agricultural initiation rites: The Berbers send their children to the farm to pick themselves fruits and vegetables.

Bibliography

Encyclopaedia Universalis. France S.A. 1989.
Paul Couderc. Le calendrier. P.U.F. Que sais-je. n^o 203
Jean Servier. Tradition et civilisation berbères. "Les portes de l’année". Éditions du Rocher. août 1985