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Sbiba Festival

It is one of the most important annual popular festivals with its origins in ancient history, celebrated by the Tuareg population in Djanet in the Sahara, in the south of Algeria during the festival of Achoura which marks the tenth day of Muharram in the Hijri calendar. The populations came together to renew the peace pact sealed nearly three thousand years ago as well as new alliances. There are no reliable sources that indicate the exact origin and beginning of this festival and its initiators, but popular legend reports that at that time, three thousand years ago, there was a fratricidal war between Targui tribes. It was only upon learning of the victory of the prophet Moses over the Pharaohs that they agreed to put an end to their conflicts and sealed a peace pact which has since united them. This festival symbolizes peace and social cohesion and thus perpetuates a tradition several thousand years old. The ceremonies take on a particular choreographic character, the entire population of men and women of all ages participate in this festival animated by artistic troupes for around ten days. The men dressed in their most beautiful traditional costumes, engage in their ritual confrontation and warrior dances, to the rhythm of the female instrument El-Ganga and Tissiway songs, sung by women also dressed in their most beautiful outfits. It is a unique and authentic opportunity to discover the mysterious world of the Tuareg, because it has retained its ancestral character. The celebration of this holiday every year, not only to commemorate this historic agreement, but also the renewal of the principle of peace and to instill its values ​​in younger generations. Algeria has taken care, like the rest of society, of the Tuareg community in terms of their culture and their traditions because they are clinging to their heritage and their identity, and has worked for the institutionalization of the S'biba festival as a cultural festival and its promotion in 2009 and making the Tassili region rich in treasures of ancient Algerian man an attractive point for tourists and a propensity for researchers and history buffs. S'biba was included on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 2015 under the title: 'Traditions, rituals and ceremonies of S'biba at the Djanet oasis in Algeria'.