Update: See the comment below on the history of the day.
Yennayer is an Amazigh celebration in Algeria and other places where there is a significant berber population – it is currently under way as it is usually celebrated between 12-14 January of each year. My admittedly quick lazy searching did not prove me otherwise: I wonder whether it is the oldest celebrated day in the world, is it? It has been celebrated since the Amazighs’ victory over Ramses III in Tlemcen in 950 BC, 2960 years ago. Read more about it here and here. The French Wikipedia has a more comprehensive entry in French.
The Kabyle region have been campaigning for a long time for an official recognition of the day. Recognising it as an important cultural event in Algeria is surely a great asset to the country.
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January 15, 2010 at 20:27
MnarviDZ
Oldest celebrated day? I don’t know. The Chinese calendar will reach year 4707 in a few weeks but the first day of the year doesn’t correspond to any specific historical event as far as I know. The Hebrew calendar is also older (year 5770).
Apparently the celebration this year took an official stance, which is a pity because it’s part of the politician game the government plays since the Algeria/Egypt match.
It’s a shame that this day, which has been celebrated all around Algeria by both Amazigh and Arabs, is “recognised” only as a reaction to the Egyptian declarations…
January 17, 2010 at 18:10
Kabylian
Mnarvi Dz..when people dont have anything say its better to shut upppppp
and put ur ugly noze where it should be ..that is something that does not concern you at all . let other contribute and tell the truth and keep ur bad brain washed mind in Algeria or a whereever u r residing and im sure u r residing in a country that u guys call infidels…
peace
January 18, 2010 at 17:12
MnarviDZ
Oh boy!
I shouldn’t have replied on the other post.
May Allah guide you my brother :)
January 18, 2010 at 16:58
L
Ramses III never got anywhere near as far west as Tlemcen, and the only reason the Amazigh calendar starts in 950 BC is because some activists in Paris in the 1960s decided it ought to, to commemorate the Pharaohs of the 22nd Dynasty (943-716 BC), who were of Libyan ancestry and may – or may not – have been Berber. The date of Yennayer is simply the Julian New Year – that is, the new year in the calendar set up by Julius Caesar, used everywhere in the Mediterranean until Pope Gregory reformed the calendar to be in better synchrony with the seasons. Its name is a Berberised version of Latin “Ianuarius”, meaning “month of the god Janus” – the same as English “January” or French “janvier”. Something similar might have been celebrated on a different date in North Africa before Julius Caesar, but I know of no evidence for that.
January 18, 2010 at 21:37
Houwari
L, thanks for the informative comment. I had the impression that the calendar was initiated before then.
Would you say that the calendar itself is an effort to break away an indigenous calendar to bolster Berber cultural claims?
January 22, 2010 at 11:00
L
Yeah, basically. Berbers and Arabs alike in North Africa (and Andalus, incidentally) have used the “Yennayer” month-cycle since long before colonialism – farmers always need a solar calendar! – but this 950 BC business is precisely an effort to make up an indigenous calendar just for the sake of being different. The Yennayer celebration itself includes some very widespread elements – for example, the “seven greens” (سبعة خضار) traditionally eaten on Yennayer in Tabelbala and Morocco, is a tradition also found in New Year’s celebrations as far afield as Iran (haft sabz) and Japan (nanakusa).