The Berber calendar () is the agricultural

calendar A calendar is a system of organizing days. This is done by giving names to periods of time, typically days, weeks, months and years. A calendar date, date is the designation of a single and specific day within such a system. A calendar is ...

traditionally used by

Berbers Berbers, or the Berber peoples, also known as Amazigh or Imazighen, are a diverse grouping of distinct ethnic groups indigenous to North Africa who predate the arrival of Arab migrations to the Maghreb, Arabs in the Maghreb. Their main connec ...

(''Amazigh'', plural ''Imazighen''). The calendar is utilized to regulate the seasonal agricultural works. The current Berber calendar is a legacy of the

Roman province The Roman provinces (, pl. ) were the administrative regions of Ancient Rome outside Roman Italy that were controlled by the Romans under the Roman Republic and later the Roman Empire. Each province was ruled by a Roman appointed as Roman g ...

Mauretania Caesariensis Mauretania Caesariensis (Latin for "Caesarea, Numidia, Caesarean Mauretania") was a Roman province located in present-day Algeria. The full name refers to its capital Caesarea, Numidia, Caesarea Mauretaniae (modern Cherchell). The province had ...

and the

Roman province of Africa Africa was a Roman province on the northern coast of the continent of Africa. It was established in 146 BC, following the Roman Republic's conquest of Carthage in the Third Punic War. It roughly comprised the territory of present-day Tunisi ...

, as it is a surviving form of the

Julian calendar The Julian calendar is a solar calendar of 365 days in every year with an additional leap day every fourth year (without exception). The Julian calendar is still used as a religious calendar in parts of the Eastern Orthodox Church and in parts ...

. The latter calendar was used in Europe before the adoption of the

Gregorian calendar The Gregorian calendar is the calendar used in most parts of the world. It went into effect in October 1582 following the papal bull issued by Pope Gregory XIII, which introduced it as a modification of, and replacement for, the Julian cale ...

, with month names derived from Latin. Berber populations previously used various indigenous calendars, such as that of the indigenous

Guanches The Guanche were the Indigenous peoples, indigenous inhabitants of the Spain, Spanish Canary Islands, located in the Atlantic Ocean some to the west of modern Morocco and the North African coast. The islanders spoke the Guanche language, which i ...

of the

Canary Islands The Canary Islands (; ) or Canaries are an archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean and the southernmost Autonomous communities of Spain, Autonomous Community of Spain. They are located in the northwest of Africa, with the closest point to the cont ...

. However, relatively little is known of these ancient calendrical systems.

Differences between calendars

The agricultural Berber calendar still in use is almost certainly derived from the Julian calendar, introduced in the Roman province of Africa at the time of Roman domination. The names of the months of this calendar are derived from the corresponding Latin names and traces of the

Roman calendar The Roman calendar was the calendar used by the Roman Kingdom and Roman Republic. Although the term is primarily used for Rome's pre-Julian calendars, it is often used inclusively of the Julian calendar established by Julius Caesar in 46&nbs ...

denominations of Kalends, Nones and Ides exist: El Qabisi, an Islamic jurisconsult by Kairawan who lived in the 11th century, condemned the custom of celebrating "pagans'" festivals and cited, among traditional habits of North Africa, that of observing the ''Qalandas'' ("Kalends") of January (

1 January January 1 is the first day of the calendar year in the Gregorian Calendar; 364 days remain until the end of the year (365 in leap years). This day is also known as New Year's Day since the day marks the beginning of the year. __TOC__ Events ...

, i.e. the Julian

New Year's Day In the Gregorian calendar, New Year's Day is the first day of the calendar year, January 1, 1 January. Most solar calendars, such as the Gregorian and Julian calendars, begin the year regularly at or near the December solstice, northern winter ...

). The length of the year and of the individual months is the same as in the Julian calendar: three years of 365 days followed by a

leap year A leap year (also known as an intercalary year or bissextile year) is a calendar year that contains an additional day (or, in the case of a lunisolar calendar, a month) compared to a common year. The 366th day (or 13th month) is added to keep t ...

of 366, without exceptions, and 30- and 31-day months, except for the second one that has 28 days. The only slight discrepancy lies in that the extra day in leap years is not usually added at the end of February, but at the end of the year. This means that the beginning of the year (the first day of ''

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 Janua ...

'') corresponds to the 14th day of January in the Gregorian calendar, which coincides with the offset accumulated during the centuries between astronomical dates and the Julian calendar.

Months

There are standard forms for the names of the Amazigh (Berber) calendar. The table below also provides the forms used in

Morocco Morocco, officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It has coastlines on the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to Algeria–Morocc ...

Algeria Algeria, officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It is bordered to Algeria–Tunisia border, the northeast by Tunisia; to Algeria–Libya border, the east by Libya; to Alger ...

Libya Libya, officially the State of Libya, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to Egypt–Libya border, the east, Sudan to Libya–Sudan border, the southeast, Chad to Chad–L ...

and

Tunisia Tunisia, officially the Republic of Tunisia, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It is bordered by Algeria to the west and southwest, Libya to the southeast, and the Mediterranean Sea to the north and east. Tunisia also shares m ...

. In addition, some of the month names in

Maltese Maltese may refer to: * Someone or something of, from, or related to Malta * Maltese alphabet * Maltese cuisine * Maltese culture * Maltese language, the Semitic language spoken by Maltese people * Maltese people, people from Malta or of Maltese ...

are of Berber origin, specifically January (''jannar''), February (''frar''), May (''mejju''), and August (''awwissu''), with the others deriving from Italian. Berber and Italian month names are different enough that it is possible to easily determine the source language of each Maltese month name.

Seasons and Festivals

In addition to the subdivision by months, within the traditional agricultural calendar there are other partitions, by "seasons" or by "strong periods", characterized by particular festivals and celebrations. Not all the four seasons have retained a Berber denomination: the words for spring and autumn are used almost everywhere, more sparingly the winter and, among northern Berbers, the Berber name for the autumn has been preserved only in

Jebel Nafusa The Nafusa Mountains () () is a mountain range in the western Tripolitania region of northwestern Libya. It also includes the regions around the escarpment formed where the northern end of the Tripolitanian Plateau meets the Mediterranean coasta ...

(

). *Spring ''tafsut'' (Ar. ''er-rbiʿ'') – Begins on 15 ''furar'' (28 February) *Summer ''anebdu'' (Ar. ''es-sif'') – Begins on 17 ''mayu'' (30 May) *Autumn ''amwal'' / ''aməwan'' ( (Ar. ''le-xrif'') – Begins on 17 ''ghusht'' (30 August) *Winter ''tagrest'' (Ar. ''esh-shita'') - Begins on 16 ''numbír'' (29 November) An interesting element is the existing opposition between two 40-day terms, one representing the allegedly coldest part of winter ("The nights", ''llyali'') and one the hottest period of summer ("The

Dog Days The dog days or are the hot, sultry days of summer. They were historically the period following the heliacal rising of the star system Sirius (known colloquially as the "Dog Star"), which Hellenistic astrology connected with heat, drought, ...

", ''ssmaym'', ''awussu'').

Llyali

The coldest period is made up by 20 "white nights" (Berber: ''iḍan imellalen'', Arabic: ''al-lyali al-biḍ''), from 12 to 31 ''dujamber'' (Gregorian dates: 25 December - 13 January), and 20 "black nights" (Berber: ''iḍan tiberkanin/isṭṭafen'', Arabic ''al-lyali al-sud''), beginning on the first day of ''yennayer'', corresponding to the Gregorian 14 January.

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 Janua ...

The first day of the year is celebrated in various ways in the different parts of North Africa. A widespread tradition is a meal with particular foods, which vary from region to region (such as a

couscous Couscous () is a traditional North African dish a quote: “Couscous or seksu (Image 1) in Berber language or kuskus in Arabic is by origin a Numidian (the Berber population of Numidia) dish…” of small steamed granules of rolled semolina ...

with seven vegetables). In some regions, it is marked by the

sacrifice Sacrifice is an act or offering made to a deity. A sacrifice can serve as propitiation, or a sacrifice can be an offering of praise and thanksgiving. Evidence of ritual animal sacrifice has been seen at least since ancient Hebrews and Gree ...

of an animal (usually a chicken). In January 2018, Algeria declared Yennayer a national holiday – a landmark policy considering how the Amazigh are marginalized in Northern Africa. A characteristic trait of this festivity, which often blurs with the Islamic

Day of Ashura A day is the time period of a full rotation of the Earth with respect to the Sun. On average, this is 24 hours (86,400 seconds). As a day passes at a given location it experiences morning, afternoon, evening, and night. This daily cycle dri ...

, is the presence, in many regions, of ritual invocations with formulas like ''bennayu'', ''babiyyanu'', ''bu-ini'', etc. Such expressions, according to many scholars, may be derived from the ancient ''bonus annus'' (happy new year) wishes. A curious aspect of the Yennayer celebrations concerns the date of New Year's Day. Though once this anniversary fell everywhere on 14 January, because of a likely mistake introduced by some Berber cultural associations very active in recovering customs on the verge of extinction, at present in a wide part of Algeria it is common opinion that the date of "Berber New Year's Day" is 12 January and not the 14th. Previously the celebration at the 12, two days before the traditional one, it had been explicitly signaled in the city of

Oran Oran () is a major coastal city located in the northwest of Algeria. It is considered the second most important city of Algeria, after the capital, Algiers, because of its population and commercial, industrial and cultural importance. It is w ...

El Azara

El Azara () is the period of the year extending, according to the Berber calendar, from 3 to 13 February and known by a climate sometimes hot, sometimes cold.

Lḥusum/Imbarken

Before the cold ends completely and spring begins fully, there is a period of the year that is very feared. It consists of ten days straddling the months of ''furar'' and ''mars'' (the last five of the former and the first five of the latter), and it is characterised by strong winds. It is said that, during this term, one should suspend many activities (agricultural and

artisan An artisan (from , ) is a skilled craft worker who makes or creates material objects partly or entirely by hand. These objects may be functional or strictly decorative, for example furniture, decorative art, sculpture, clothing, food ite ...

), should not marry nor go out during the night, leaving instead full scope to mysterious powers, which in that period are particularly active and celebrate their weddings. Due to a linguistic

taboo A taboo is a social group's ban, prohibition or avoidance of something (usually an utterance or behavior) based on the group's sense that it is excessively repulsive, offensive, sacred or allowed only for certain people.''Encyclopædia Britannica ...

, in

Djerba Djerba (; , ; ), also transliterated as Jerba or Jarbah, is a Tunisian island and the largest island of North Africa at , in the Gulf of Gabès, off the coast of Tunisia. Administratively, it is part of Medenine Governorate. The island h ...

these creatures are called ''imbarken'', i.e. "the blessed ones", whence this period takes its name. Jamrat el Ma (), "embers of the sea", 27 February, is marked by a rise in sea temperature. Jamrat el Trab (), "land embers" in English, is the period from 6 to 10 March and known to be marked by a mixture of heavy rain and sunny weather. The term ''jamrat'' (literally 'coal') is in reference to the warm state of the earth during this period .

Ssmaym

Like the strong winter cold, the

also last 40 days, from 12 ''yulyuz'' (25 July) to 20 ''ghusht'' (2 September). The apical moment of the period is the first of ''ghusht'' "August" (also the name ''awussu'', widespread in Tunisia and

, seems to date back to Latin ''augustus''). On this date, particular rites are performed, which manifestly derive from pre-Islamic, and even pre-Christian, traditions. They consist, in particular, of bonfires (which in many locations take place around the summer solstice: a custom already condemned as Pagan by

St. Augustine Augustine of Hippo ( , ; ; 13 November 354 – 28 August 430) was a theologian and philosopher of Berber origin and the bishop of Hippo Regius in Numidia, Roman North Africa. His writings deeply influenced the development of Western philosop ...

), or water rituals, like those, common in the coastal towns of Tunisia and

Tripolitania Tripolitania (), historically known as the Tripoli region, is a historic region and former province of Libya. The region had been settled since antiquity, first coming to prominence as part of the Carthaginian empire. Following the defeat ...

, that provide to dive in the seawaters for three nights, in order to preserve one's health. In these ceremonies, whole families used to enter the water, bringing with them even their pets. Though the rite has been revisited in an Islamic frame (in those nights, the water of the

Zamzam Well The Zamzam Well ( ) is a Water well, well located within the Masjid al-Haram in Mecca, Saudi Arabia. It is located east of the Kaaba, the holiest place in Islam. In the Islamic teachings, the well is a miraculously generated source of water, ...

, in

Mecca Mecca, officially Makkah al-Mukarramah, is the capital of Mecca Province in the Hejaz region of western Saudi Arabia; it is the Holiest sites in Islam, holiest city in Islam. It is inland from Jeddah on the Red Sea, in a narrow valley above ...

, would spill over, and in the sea there would be beneficial sweet water waves), many call this celebration "the nights of the error". It was in fact usual that, in order to achieve fertility and prosperity, men and women copulated among the waves.

Iweǧǧiben

Another important period for the agricultural calendar is that of the

ploughing A plough or ( US) plow (both pronounced ) is a farm tool for loosening or turning the soil before sowing seed or planting. Ploughs were traditionally drawn by oxen and horses but modern ploughs are drawn by tractors. A plough may have a wooden, ...

. In this context, a date considered fundamental is the 17th of ''(k)tuber'', in which one may start ploughing his fields. In Arabic, this period is called ''ḥertadem'', that is "

Adam Adam is the name given in Genesis 1–5 to the first human. Adam is the first human-being aware of God, and features as such in various belief systems (including Judaism, Christianity, Gnosticism and Islam). According to Christianity, Adam ...

's ploughing", because in that date the common ancestor of humanity is said to have begun his agricultural works.

Influences from the Islamic calendar

Following centuries-long contacts with the Arab-Islamic culture, the celebrations linked to the Julian calendar have been sometimes integrated into the Islamic calendar, leading to the suppression of some traditional holidays or to the creation of duplicates. The most evident example are the celebrations for the new year, which in many cases have been transferred to the first Islamic month, i.e. ''

Muḥarram Al-Muharram () is the first month of the Islamic calendar. It is one of the four sacred months of the year when warfare is banned. It precedes the month of Safar. The tenth of Muharram is known as Ashura, an important day of commemoration in Is ...

'', and more precisely to the ''ʿĀshūrā’'', which falls on the 10th day of that month. This holiday has an important mournful meaning in the

Shia Islam Shia Islam is the second-largest Islamic schools and branches, branch of Islam. It holds that Muhammad in Islam, Muhammad designated Ali ibn Abi Talib () as both his political Succession to Muhammad, successor (caliph) and as the spiritual le ...

, but it is substantially ignored among

Sunni Sunni Islam is the largest branch of Islam and the largest religious denomination in the world. It holds that Muhammad did not appoint any successor and that his closest companion Abu Bakr () rightfully succeeded him as the caliph of the Mu ...

s. Many studies have shown the relationships between the joyful celebration of this holiday in North Africa and the ancient New Year's Day celebrations. Arabic and Berber names of the Islamic months

Older calendars

Not much is known about the division of time among the ancient Berbers. Some elements of a pre-Islamic, and almost certainly a pre-

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of Roman civilization *Epistle to the Romans, shortened to Romans, a letter w ...

calendar, emerge from some

medieval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of World history (field), global history. It began with the fall of the West ...

writings, analyzed by Nico van den Boogert. Some correspondences with the traditional

Tuareg The Tuareg people (; also spelled Twareg or Touareg; endonym, depending on variety: ''Imuhaɣ'', ''Imušaɣ'', ''Imašeɣăn'' or ''Imajeɣăn'') are a large Berber ethnic group, traditionally nomadic pastoralists, who principally inhabit th ...

calendar suggest that in

antiquity Antiquity or Antiquities may refer to: Historical objects or periods Artifacts *Antiquities, objects or artifacts surviving from ancient cultures Eras Any period before the European Middle Ages (5th to 15th centuries) but still within the histo ...

there existed, with some degree of diffusion, a Berber time computation, organized on native bases. There are not enough elements to reconstruct this calendar fully, but known characteristics include many month names' appearing in couples (in the Tuareg world, even in triplets), which suggests a time division different from the present one, made up of months of about 30 days. Some further information, although difficult to specify and correlate with the situation in the rest of North Africa, may be deduced from what is known about time computation among the

of the

. According to a 17th-century manuscript by Tomás Marín de Cubas, they The same manuscript states (although somewhat obscurely) that graphical-pictorical records of such calendarial events (''tara'') were made on different supports, and on this basis some modern scholars identified alleged descriptions of

astronomical Astronomy is a natural science that studies celestial objects and the phenomena that occur in the cosmos. It uses mathematics, physics, and chemistry in order to explain their origin and their overall evolution. Objects of interest include ...

events connected to annual cycles in a series of geometric paintings in some caves of

Gran Canaria Gran Canaria (, ; ), also Grand Canary Island, is the third-largest and second-most-populous island of the Canary Islands, a Spain, Spanish archipelago off the Atlantic coast of Northwest Africa. the island had a population of that constitut ...

island, but the results of these studies are for now highly speculative. The name of only one month is known in the native language, handed down as ''Beñesmet''. It seems it was the second month of the year, corresponding to August. Such a name, in case it was made up by something like *''wen'' "that of" + ''(e)smet'' (or ''(e)zmet''?), may correspond, in the list of medieval Berber month names, with the ninth and tenth months, ''awzimet'' (properly ''aw'' "baby of" + ''zimet'' "gazelle"). But data are too scarce for this hypothesis to be deepened.

Computation of the years

The traditional Berber calendar was not linked to an

era An era is a span of time. Era or ERA may also refer to: * Era (geology), a subdivision of geologic time * Calendar era Education * Academy of European Law (German: '), an international law school * ERA School, in Melbourne, Australia * E ...

with respect to which years were calculated. Where traditional ways to compute the years have been preserved (Tuareg civilization), years are not expressed with numbers but each of them has a name characterizing it. Starting from the 1960s, however, on the initiative of the Académie Berbère of Paris, some Berbers have begun computing the years starting from 950 BC, the approximate date of the rising into power of the first Libyan

Pharaoh Pharaoh (, ; Egyptian language, Egyptian: ''wikt:pr ꜥꜣ, pr ꜥꜣ''; Meroitic language, Meroitic: 𐦲𐦤𐦧, ; Biblical Hebrew: ''Parʿō'') was the title of the monarch of ancient Egypt from the First Dynasty of Egypt, First Dynasty ( ...

in Egypt,

Shoshenq I Hedjkheperre Setepenre Shoshenq I (Egyptian ''ššnq''; reigned )—also known as Shashank or Sheshonk or Sheshonq Ifor discussion of the spelling, see Shoshenq—was a pharaoh of ancient Egypt and the founder of the Twenty-second Dynasty of Egy ...

, whom they identified as the first prominent Berber in history (he is recorded as being of

Libyan Demographics of Libya is the demography of Libya, specifically covering population density, ethnicity, and religious affiliations, as well as other aspects of the Libyan population. All figures are from the United Nations Demographic Yearbooks ...

origin). For example, the Gregorian year corresponds to the year of the Berber calendar. This innovation has been adopted with conviction by many supporters of the Berber culture and is now a part of the cultural heritage of this people, fully integrated in the system of traditional customs related to the North-African calendar. Berber new year

References

Bibliography

* "Il calendario degli uomini liberi", ''Africa'', Epicentro (Ferrara), year V, no. 16 (January/February 2000), pp. 30–33 (in attachment: a Berber calendar for 2000) * *Saïd Bouterfa, ''Yannayer - Taburt u swgas, ou le symbole de Janus'', Alger, El-Musk, 2002 – *Gioia Chiauzzi, ''Cicli calendariali nel Magreb'', 2 vols., Naples (Istituto Universitario Orientale), 1988 * Jeannine Drouin, "Calendriers berbères", in: S. Chaker & A. Zaborski (eds.), ''Études berbères et chamito-sémitiques. Mélanges offerts à K.-G. Prasse'', Paris-Louvain, Peeters, 2000, , pp. 113–128 *Henri Genevois, ''Le calendrier agraire et sa composition'', "Le Fichier Périodique" no. 125, 1975 *Henri Genevois, ''Le rituel agraire'', "Le Fichier Périodique" 127, 1975, pp. 1–48 *Mohand Akli Haddadou, ''Almanach berbère - assegwes Imazighen'', Algiers (Editions INAS) 2002 – *H. R. Idris, "Fêtes chrétiennes célébrées en Ifrîqiya à l'époque ziride", in ''Revue Africaine'' 98 (1954), pp. 261–276 *Emile Laoust, ''Mots et choses berbères'', Paris 1920 *Umberto Paradisi, "I tre giorni di Awussu a Zuara (Tripolitania)", ''AION'' n.s. 14 (1964), pp. 415–9 * *Jean Servier, ''Les portes de l'Année. Rites et symboles. L'Algérie dans la tradition méditerranéenne'', Paris, R. Laffont, 1962 (new edition: Monaco, Le Rocher, 1985 ) *Nouh-Mefnoune, Ahmed; Abdessalam, Brahim (2011). ''Dictionnaire mozabite-français'' (in French) *

External links

An article about traditional customs in Berber New Year's Day

A page with a "Berber zodiac", a modern creation based upon traditional elements

An essays on the calendars used by Guanches of Canaries (pdf)

{{DEFAULTSORT:Berber Calendar Specific calendars

Calendar A calendar is a system of organizing days. This is done by giving names to periods of time, typically days, weeks, months and years. A calendar date, date is the designation of a single and specific day within such a system. A calendar is ...