Ayyur (mythology)

Herodotus wrote in the fifth century BC that the Berbers sacrificed to the sun and moon. In addition, Ibn Khaldun reports that at the time of the Arab invasion of their territory, "those of the Berbers who had not been converted to the Christian faith worshipped the sun and the moon, as well as statues of deities". The name Ayyur appears in several inscriptions left by the Berbers of antiquity. == Symbology ==

For all Berbers, the moon is associated with fertility, culture, beauty, femininity and humidity, a symbolism confirmed by the study of Berber legends and rites. Among the Tuaregs, the link with water and fertility is even more explicit, as evidenced by a ritual recorded in the Hoggar at the beginning of the twentieth century by Charles de Foucauld on the occasion of the new moon. == In common culture ==

Rather, it refers to "moonlight", "the light of the moon", or even "the full moon" in that it is at its peak of light. In its primitive form, without an initial ta-/ti- mark, ziri was used as a personal name among the Berbers, as brilliantly attested by Ziri, founder of the Zirid dynasty and the (Kabyle) ethnonym Ayt Ziri, "descendants of Ziri". This short form is also attested in incantations to the moon included in Kabyle tales (Moulieras) where a character addresses the moon in the following way: Ziri, ziri, ma, yemma! = "Moon, Moon, mother, oh mother!". Despite these largely feminine attributes, Ayyur remains an ambiguous entity, sometimes described as feminine or masculin, The moon is also a symbol of (feminine) beauty: (Kabyle) tecbeḥ am waggur. In many tales, the beauty of the heroine-woman is directly compared and put in competition with that of the moon ("Which of us two is the most beautiful, O Moon?" ...).The moon is also an object of expectation and desire: "I wait for it like the moon" evokes the impatient expectation of a positive event. == Moon in different Berber dialects ==

At the new moon, the Tuaregs pray to God. They fire guns in the new month, saying: "Grant us victory over our enemies, whoever they may be! Give us your protection in this world and in the hereafter! God grant that you will be a blessed month. May he who plunged you into darkness make you appear to his light!" (Charles de Foucaud…, Textes touaregs en prose, Aix-en-Provence, Édisud, 1984 [texte n° 172, « Nouvelle lune », p. 293]). == References ==