World Calendars
Berber calendar date today
The Berber agrarian calendar has long set the rhythm of farm work in North Africa. It keeps the old Julian months, so it now runs 13 days behind the Gregorian calendar.
29 Tubeṛ 2976
29 ⴽⵜⵓⴱⵔ 2976
Wednesday, 13 days behind the Gregorian date
- In the Gregorian calendar
- Wednesday 11 November 2026
- This day began
- At midnight, as Wednesday 11 November 2026 begins
- This day ends
- At midnight, as Thursday 12 November 2026 begins
- Year 2976 began
- Wednesday 14 January 2026
- Next new year
- Thursday 14 January 2027 (in 64 days)
- This year has
- 365 days in 12 months
- Years count from
- 950 BC, an approximate date for the rise of the pharaoh Shoshenq I
- Who uses it
- Amazigh (Berber) communities in North Africa, mainly for farm work and festivals
- How it works
- Julian calendar months and leap years, with the year starting on 14 January
- Years count from
- About 950 BC, the rise of the Libyan-born pharaoh Shoshenq I
- Unusual detail
- Algeria marks its new year on 12 January and Morocco on 14 January
Next holidays in this calendar
64 days
Yennayer (Amazigh New Year) 1 Yennayer 2977
14 January 2027 · Berber (Amazigh)
How the Berber calendar works
The Berber agrarian calendar is almost certainly derived from the Julian calendar, which reached North Africa under Roman rule. The length of the year and of each month is the same as in the Julian calendar: three years of 365 days followed by a leap year of 366, without exceptions. Because the Julian calendar has drifted against the seasons, the Berber year now starts on 14 January in the Gregorian calendar, which is 1 January in the Julian calendar.
The month names come from the Latin ones, so Yennayer matches January and Furar matches February. Spellings differ between Berber languages, and in Morocco the names are also written in the Tifinagh script. Years are counted from about 950 BC, so 2026 corresponds to the Berber year 2976.
| No. | Month | Days |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Yennayer (ⵉⵏⵏⴰⵢⵔ) | 31 |
| 2 | Furar (ⴱⵕⴰⵢⵕ) | 28 or 29 |
| 3 | Meɣres (ⵎⴰⵕⵚ) | 31 |
| 4 | Yebrir (ⵉⴱⵔⵉⵔ) | 30 |
| 5 | Mayyu (ⵎⴰⵢⵢⵓ) | 31 |
| 6 | Yunyu (ⵢⵓⵏⵢⵓ) | 30 |
| 7 | Yulyu (ⵢⵓⵍⵢⵓⵣ) | 31 |
| 8 | Ɣuct (ⵖⵓⵛⵜ) | 31 |
| 9 | Ctembeṛ (ⵛⵓⵜⴰⵏⴱⵉⵔ) | 30 |
| 10 | Tubeṛ (ⴽⵜⵓⴱⵔ) | 31 |
| 11 | Nunembeṛ (ⵏⵓⵡⴰⵏⴱⵉⵔ) | 30 |
| 12 | Duǧembeṛ (ⴷⵓⵊⴰⵏⴱⵉⵔ) | 31 |
The Latin names are in Kabyle spelling and the Tifinagh names in the standard Moroccan form.
Variants and the method used here
We follow the Julian rule: 1 Yennayer is 1 January in the Julian calendar, which is 14 January in the Gregorian calendar, and the leap day is added to Furar as in the Julian calendar. This is the traditional date and the one Morocco uses for its public holiday. Year numbers are the Julian year plus 950, the count used by both Algeria and Morocco.
Some countries and bodies celebrate the new year on other days. Algeria's official Yennayer holiday is 12 January, a date some accounts describe as a likely mistake introduced by Berber cultural associations, and in Oran celebrations were held on 11 and 12 January. Morocco's Royal Institute of Amazigh Culture (IRCAM) celebrates on 13 January. Some accounts say the extra day of a leap year is added at the end of the year rather than to February; we have not found a reliable source for this and do not use it.
A short history
The calendar was used to regulate the farming year, and traditionally it had no year count; among the Tuareg some years were named rather than numbered. From the 1960s the Académie Berbère in Paris began counting years from about 950 BC, the approximate date when Shoshenq I, a pharaoh of Libyan origin, came to power in Egypt. The first calendar using this count was produced in 1980 by the writer and activist Ammar Negadi.
The new year, Yennayer, has since become a public holiday. Algeria first celebrated it as an official holiday on 12 January 2018. On 3 May 2023 King Mohammed VI declared the Amazigh New Year a national holiday in Morocco, and 14 January became a paid public holiday.
Sources
How this site calculates the date: The agrarian calendar of North Africa: Julian months and leap years, the year starting on Julian 1 January (now 14 January), years counted from 950 BC.