CULTURAL NEWS

Yennayer: Ghardaia hosts official festivities this year

ALGIERS- The province of Ghardaia will host the official festivities of the new Amazigh year "Yennayer," officially celebrated every 12 January in Algeria since 2018, through a cultural and scientific programme shedding light on the tradition and historical depth of this ancestral holiday, Secretary General of the High Commission for Amazighity (HCA) Si El Hachemi Assad announced on Monday, in Algiers.

Speaking in a press conference, Assad presented the main lines of the programme of the celebrations of Yennayer 2973, on 11 and 12 January in Ghardaia which will also host the ceremony awarding the winners of the President Prize for Amazigh Literature and Tamazight in its third edition.

The programme of this year's celebrations, placed under the motto "Yennayer gathers us together," comprises street folk and artistic performances and exhibitions highlighting the local heritage and know-how, as well as conferences on the Amazigh culture in the manuscripts.

Pointing out that Yennayer's historical dimension, declared since 2018 as a national holiday, HCA's Secretary General welcomed "the sincere interest attached by the authorities to Amazighity as an identity, historical and authentic element" which is part of a "civilizational project and reflects the rooting of the Algerian culture."

This willingness, he said , is reflected through the efforts of "all the State's institutions which contribute to the promotion and strengthening of the feeling of belonging to Algeria."