Une vitrine pour l’artisanat kabyle – Le Jeune Indépendant

The village of Ath Houel Hadj, located in the town of Aït Yahia Moussa south of Tizi-Ouzou, ended yesterday, Saturday, the third edition of the craft cane festival, which took place from August 28 to 30, 2025. This event, which highlights an ancestral craftsmanship, has brought together many craftsmen and visitors around the celebration of a unique traditional know-how.

Initiated by the Tafat association, the Ath Houel Hadj village committee, and supported by several local institutions and organizations, including the Directorate of Culture and the Arts of the Wilaya, this event, which started last 28, far exceeds the simple folk dimension. It is intended to be a real showcase of local identity and a tool for raising awareness of the essential role of crafts in the transmission of collective memory.

The festival also plays an important role as a lever for the local economy, by offering craftsmen an ideal platform to exhibit their work and stimulate their activity. This event is part of an approach to safeguarding intangible heritage, by valuing know-how often threatened by industrial production.

But what about Ath Houel Hadj cane? If cane is an object known around the world, particularly in pastoral societies where it has a common utility, it also takes on a special character in Algeria. At a certain age, even the still strong and vigorous men bring this object, because it symbolizes maturity and respect for the one who wears it.

In the pastoral world, and especially among make -up, cane is essential to maintain order among the herd, especially in horns. It can also serve as a self -defense tool if necessary. Based on this usefulness, certain regions of the interior of the country have developed what one could call “the art of the handling of the stick”, which is in fact a martial art. A specialist in cane handling can master several opponents at the same time. It is in this tradition that the craftsmen of Ath Houel Hadj institutionalized the cane festival.

In Kabylia, this versatile tool is generally made from oleaster wood. After cutting the branch, the craftsman body the body of her foliage before letting her dry. Once dried, the craftsman uses a blunt object, like a knife, to remove dry and rough skin, until you get the smooth surface of the stick. The last step is that of ornamentation. This aesthetic phase, whose shape of the handle depends on the taste of the person who commands it, is an essential element. The prices of the rods therefore vary according to the complexity and the nature of the ornamentation.