Yennayer

Yennayer is the first month of the Berber (Amazigh) calendar. The first day of Yennayer corresponds to the first day of January in the Julian Calendar, which is shifted thirteen days compared to the Gregorian calendar, thus falling on 12 January every year. The Berber calendar was created in 1980 by Ammar Negadi, an Algerian scholar. He chose 943 BC (rounded off to 950), the year in which the Meshwesh Shoshenq I ascended to the throne of Egypt, as the first year of the Berber calendar. There is some debate about the traditional date of Yennayer, with some cultural associations advocating for its celebration on the evening of 12 January, which is widespread in Algeria, Morocco, Libya, and the Canary Islands. On 27 December 2017, Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika officially recognized Yennayer as a public holiday to be celebrated on 12 January every year. The first official celebration of Yennayer as a public holiday in Algeria took place on 12 January 2018. On 3 May 2023, King Mohammed VI of Morocco declared the Berber New Year as a national public holiday in Morocco.