Proposal to include the traditional women’s costume of eastern Algeria in the list of intangible cultural heritage – Al-Hiwar Al-Jazairia

The director of the National Center for Research in Prehistory, Anthropology and History, Suleiman Hashi, announced the proposal to include “the traditional costume of women of the Algerian East in the representative list of the intangible cultural heritage of humanity before next March 31,” days after the Algerian flag was registered as a world heritage.

In his intervention during a meeting with the national press at the Palace of Culture Moufdi Zakaria to present the file, Hashi stated that “an important file is being prepared on the traditional women’s costume of eastern Algeria in all its local types.”

For this purpose, a study day will be organized on the 15th of December in Constantine, where many experts will make interventions on the historical and anthropological sides of the traditional women’s costume of eastern Algeria and the “formation” of this new file, which will be deposited before March 31, 2023.

On the sidelines of this academic day, an exhibition will be organized that includes several costumes from different regions of eastern Algeria, some dating back to the seventeenth century, owned by some citizens of these regions who are keen to preserve them.

After reminding him of the ten elements that UNESCO included in its list of the intangible cultural heritage of humanity, Hashi referred to “the possibility of working on proposals for joint groups in the Maghreb, Arab, African and Mediterranean regions.”

After consecrating Rai as an Algerian folk song, Hashi said that “other types of Algerian traditional music will also be proposed.”

For her part, the Director of Heritage Preservation and Restoration at the Ministry of Culture and Arts, Nabila Chershali, affirmed that “it is now necessary to promote the song “Rai” by “organizing training workshops and sponsoring recording projects.”