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Every January 13, Berber families across Morocco celebrate the Amazigh New Year with ritual food, circle dancing and a sense of cultural pride that has grown stronger since Yennayer became an official public holiday in 2024. Here is what to expect — and how to experience it as a visitor.
Yasmine El Amrani· Marrakech & Atlas Editor
Marrakech-born travel writer who has spent the last decade walking the medina’s souks and the High Atlas trails above Imlil. She covers the Red City, Berber villages and day trips into the mountains. Marrakech · 12+ years covering Morocco
Published 26 July 2025 Last updated 27 February 2026
Yennayer is the Amazigh New Year, and it falls on January 13 every year. In Morocco — home to the largest Tamazight-speaking population in the world — it is celebrated with a warmth and specificity that no guidebook quite prepares you for. The ritual foods differ by region, the dances vary by tribe, and the underlying feeling is something between a harvest festival and a quiet assertion of identity.
It became a formal national holiday in January 2024, which matters. For decades, Amazigh activists campaigned for recognition of Tamazight as an official language and for the New Year to receive the same standing as other public holidays. The palace eventually listened. Suddenly, January 13 is a day when schools close, families gather, and the state acknowledges — however symbolically — that Morocco's oldest inhabitants have a calendar worth stopping for.
If you are in Morocco around mid-January, this is worth planning around. The celebrations are not loud or showy in the way a European new year might be, but they are genuine. Eat the barley soup. Accept the amlou. Watch the ahidous if you can. You will leave understanding something about Morocco that the average tourist never sees.
Yennayer is above all a domestic celebration, but the public dimension has grown since official recognition. Here is a realistic timeline of what happens.
Eve of January 13
Preparations start the evening before. Families slaughter a chicken or a sheep if they can afford it — the act is symbolic, meant to ensure the household does not go without protein in the year ahead. In village homes across the High Atlas and the Souss, the kitchen fills with the smell of slow-cooked barley, dried figs and argan oil. Children are given small gifts, and older women sprinkle flour on the threshold — a gesture of abundance.
January 13 Morning
The centrepiece of Yennayer is the communal meal. In Amazigh households the standard dish is asekkif n uflu — a thick soup of barley or wheat, sometimes enriched with dried legumes and topped with a spoonful of argan oil or smen (aged butter). In the Souss region you will find amalou (almond, argan and honey paste) on every breakfast table. In northern Berber areas, couscous with seven vegetables and slow-cooked lamb is traditional for the main midday meal.
January 13 Afternoon
In village squares from the Rif to the Anti-Atlas, ahidous circle dances bring men and women together — rhythmic stamping, call-and-response singing, and the steady beat of bendir frame drums. In larger towns like Agadir, Tiznit and Khénifra, cultural associations hold public events, craft fairs and concerts. Since Yennayer became a recognised national holiday in 2024, urban celebrations have grown visibly.
Schools & Public Life
Since January 2024, Yennayer has been an official public holiday in Morocco, meaning government offices, banks, schools and many businesses close. This is a significant shift: for decades, Amazigh cultural advocates campaigned for formal recognition of the holiday. Travellers visiting in January should note that Monday-to-Friday services may be reduced on January 13.
No single dish defines all of Yennayer, because Morocco's Amazigh communities are spread across several distinct linguistic and cultural groups — Tachelhit speakers in the Souss and Anti-Atlas, Tamazight speakers in the Middle Atlas, Tarifit speakers in the Rif. Each has its own take on the ritual meal.
What unites them is an emphasis on abundance and earthiness: barley, wheat, dried legumes, argan oil, almonds, dates, figs. These are the staples of a pre-industrial agricultural economy, and eating them on Yennayer is a way of honouring that lineage. A family that serves a rich meal on Yennayer is symbolically ensuring the household will never go hungry in the year ahead.
The celebration happens everywhere Amazigh families live — but some places make it easier for visitors to participate meaningfully.
The Zayan Berber heartland. Public celebrations and folk music are common on the main square, and the surrounding villages keep some of the oldest ritual food traditions alive.
The Tachelhit-speaking south has the largest Amazigh population in Morocco. Cultural associations run concerts and exhibitions, and local restaurants serve Yennayer menus featuring amlou and barley soup.
Known for its silver jewellery and Tachelhit heritage, Tiznit tends to host public ahidous performances in the medina on Yennayer day.
Less obvious, but the mellah and older neighbourhoods of Fes have families of Middle Atlas origin who celebrate privately. Ask your riad host — many will share a bowl of barley harira if you ask.
Villages near Aït Benhaddou and along the Draa Valley observe Yennayer with slaughter rites and communal meals. A private guide can arrange a village visit where you eat with a local family — easily the most memorable way to experience the day.
Yennayer falls on January 13 every year in Morocco. It marks the start of the Amazigh agricultural calendar, which corresponds to the Julian calendar offset from the Gregorian date. The year 2026 will see Yennayer 2976 (the Amazigh calendar counts from 950 BCE, the year the Berber pharaoh Sheshonq I ascended the Egyptian throne). Mark January 13 in your diary — and be aware that services may be reduced since it is now a public holiday.
Yes, since January 2024 Yennayer is an official national public holiday in Morocco. King Mohammed VI announced the recognition in a landmark 2023 speech. Schools, government offices and many private businesses close on January 13. This makes Morocco one of the few countries in North Africa and the Middle East to formally recognise the Amazigh New Year at a national level — a significant milestone after decades of cultural advocacy by Tamazight speakers.
Food is the heart of Yennayer. The classic dish is asekkif n uflu, a warming barley-and-wheat porridge enriched with dried figs, almonds and a generous pour of argan oil or smen (a sharp, aged preserved butter). In the Souss region, amlou — a thick paste of toasted almonds, argan oil and honey — is eaten for breakfast. At midday, many families serve a Yennayer couscous with seven vegetables and slow-cooked chicken or mutton. The emphasis is on wholesome, earthy ingredients that speak to an agricultural year’s beginning.
The celebration is centred on home and family rather than public spectacle (though that is changing). The night before, women prepare the ritual meal and may sprinkle flour at the doorway to invite prosperity. On the day itself, the family eats together — often with extended relatives — and elders recount Amazigh stories and proverbs. In mountain villages, a communal ahidous (circle dance with drums and call-and-response chanting) follows the meal. Children receive dates, nuts and small coins. The atmosphere is warm and low-key — more like a harvest thanksgiving than a fireworks night.
The Souss Valley and Agadir offer the most accessible public events, including concerts and cultural fairs run by Amazigh associations. Khénifra in the Middle Atlas and Tiznit in the south host lively village-square festivities. For the most authentic experience, arrange a private visit to a High Atlas or Draa Valley village through a local guide — eating the ritual meal with a family in their home is something very few foreign visitors get to do, and the warmth of the welcome is remarkable.
The word "Yennayer" is thought to derive from the Latin "Ianuarius" (January), filtered through centuries of contact with Roman-era North Africa and later Berber linguistic evolution. The Amazigh calendar, however, predates Rome's influence on the region: it is dated from 950 BCE, when Sheshonq I — a Berber king from Libya — became Pharaoh of Egypt, in what Amazigh scholars consider the first historical moment of Berber sovereignty. So Yennayer 2026 corresponds to Amazigh year 2976.
Absolutely — and you will be genuinely welcomed. Amazigh hospitality is proverbial, and Yennayer is a day when families are especially pleased to share their food and traditions with curious outsiders. The key is to go with a local guide or through your riad host rather than showing up unannounced at a village. Public events in Agadir and Khénifra are fully open. For a private village meal, book a day in advance through a guide who has existing community relationships — this is where a private tour operator adds real value.
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